There is a persistent myth in the film industry that movies only get made when someone with money gives permission. Low-budget films’ box office history, however, tells a very different story. Again and again, films made for modest budgets have outperformed expectations, launched careers, and demonstrated that money was never the real obstacle. Recently, Markiplier […]
The entertainment industry in 2026 is not collapsing—but it is clearly resetting. After years of expansion fueled by streaming competition, easy capital, and volume-driven growth, the entertainment industry in 2026 is now operating under tighter financial discipline. Budgets are shrinking, output is slowing, and efficiency has become just as important as creativity. What follows is […]
Every time a handful of films cross the billion-dollar mark at the international box office, the same question resurfaces: are movie theaters really back? In 2025, three Disney-backed releases — Avatar, Lilo & Stitch, and Zootopia — each surpassed $1 billion internationally. Outside of Disney, only one film reached that level: Ne Zha 2, which […]
This article explores how Hollywood is evolving as brands working within Hollywood move beyond advertising and sponsorships to become creators of original content. Over time, I’ve watched companies enter the entertainment industry not just to participate in storytelling, but to fund projects, develop intellectual property, and build their own content platforms—signaling a deeper structural shift […]
This article is Part 2 of a two-part series exploring the film and television production slowdown and where the industry is rebuilding. If Part 1 explains why production slowed down, Part 2 focuses on how the film and television industry rebuilding phase is already taking shape beneath the surface. While some parts of the industry […]
I entered the entertainment industry at a time when the film and television production slowdown we’re seeing today would have been hard to imagine. Over the years, I’ve worked on network dramas like Lost and Desperate Housewives, moved through reality and game television, contributed to animated projects, and more recently worked on shows such as […]
For most of my life, the future of the entertainment industry has been framed around one core idea: scale. Bigger audiences, bigger budgets, bigger openings, and bigger platforms were treated as the ultimate markers of success. If something didn’t scale globally, it was often dismissed as niche or temporary—useful only as a stepping stone toward […]