u/August_Spies_Ghost

Studios are just write-offs and vanity departments for these corporations these days.

What exactly is a movie studio for anyway?
It’s been a barnburner of a summer at the box office, with the 2026 exhibition returns now tracking 18% above last year’s and doing business not seen since pre-pandemic times. Surely this moment has offered a clarity of purpose for the long-troubled film business and the major corporations that are behind the entertainment industrial complex, right?

No, of course not. The July box office sends a decisive message, sure, but it belies inconsistencies across the entire business that have been articulated fairly directly over the past several weeks of quarterly earnings reports from the major players.

What is a movie good for? Depends who you ask:
“You mean the 95-minute ads for the parks?” says Disney. The Mouse has had a rocky time at the cinema — “Toy Story 5” was a hit, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” and “Moana” each expensive misses — but come on, profit was up 20% at parks and cruises. This is a theme park and toy licensing business that incidentally produces films to sell theme park tickets and toys.
“Good for?” asks Paramount under David Ellison. “The studio’s an albatross!” it may say, as the would-be acquisition of Warner Bros. has invited an interstate antitrust team-up trying to prevent the merger of the companies. Not helping matters is that Ellison’s on the hook for $650 million in fees every quarter the deal isn’t done, and faces a trial that isn’t until next year. It’s enough to make you want to leave Hollywood, which, incidentally, Paramount may!
“Movies are good for AI,” says Lionsgate, nervously looking at its activist investors who insist that the company either has to start using its library to make more money from AI labs or sell to someone who will.
“We prefer television — it takes more minutes to watch it,” frets Netflix, down 18% year to date, which is in a post-”Stranger Things” slump that no number of high-performing geezer teasers will shoot its way out of.
“Wait, we own a movie studio? Since when? Don’t we sell phones?” says Apple, which brought up its film business only once in their earnings call, a single mention of the “F1” movie.
“Oh, this one’s easy,” says Sony, where “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” made more money than its entire (non-Crunchyroll) 2025 and 2026 theatrical slate combined. “A movie studio exists to maintain the rights to Spider-Man by hiring Disney to make Spider-Man movies. That way we can prevent the Spider-Man rights from reverting to Disney.”
THE TAKEAWAY
So if none of the companies that actually make movies seem to have their hearts in the movie business, who does?

Imax, that’s for sure.

Just take a look at this chart from Goldman. At first glance at this chart that spikes dramatically, you may assume the y-axis refers to the Ithacan body count on the return home from Troy, but in fact, it is the domestic box office at Imax cinemas attributable to “The Odyssey”:

Sound the sirens, thanks to the steady hand of Odysseus, while the whole rest of the industry feels like it’s between a rock and a Charybdis, it’s smooth sailing ahead for Imax into the rosy fingers of dawn.
— Walt Hickey

Is it just me or has in the past week there have been a lot more posts across social media against Block and surveillance cameras. Even the news has done stories speaking out against them. I have been banned multiple times on next-door for posting about being against flock. And before my account was out unbanned again and now there are multiple posts speaking out against it

And the multiple news reports I saw the only people speaking for flock of course are the police. Became more popular during the 20th and I guess you can tell which politicians are getting people kickback because they’re like the only ones that support it. And the other ones are listening to the people.

It's ok and natural to criticize your union. It doesn't help posting in public forums, whether on reddit or any other social media. Members forget they are the union. If you just post memes or complain about union leadership, yet don't go to meetings or run for office, you're not helping fix the problems. Just posting on social media and getting random replies does nothing to solve any problems. To solve your union's problems, go to meetings. Run for office, pay attention to elections and do your research before you vote. Posting attacks/criticisms about your union or leadership also reflects on you, since as a member, you are the union.

Saw this video. Wonder how many people have been tagged by flock as stolen: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DH2DcETAK/

IATSE covers many different crafts in various fields, tv/film, stagehand, convention, animation, etc. So when asking questions, it would be helpful to list what craft you do, what local you're in and what state you're in. There's tons of contracts that vary per craft and state. By putting that, it will help people give you a possible answer instead of people just throwing stuff against the wall and hoping you get one that applies.