The Right and Wrong Lessons From ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’

About this episode

Matt Belloni and Lucas Shaw discuss lessons for movie studios from recent box office trends and make predictions about future ratings.

Matt is joined by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to discuss what movie studios should learn from the remarkable weekend at the box office, whether this is really like the '70s all over again in Hollywood, the unique timing as 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' struggles at the box office, and more (02:01). Matt finishes the show with a prediction for the 2026 NBA Finals ratings (27:58). Host: Matt Belloni Guest: Lucas Shaw Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Matt Pevic Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Matt Belloni

Guest: Lucas Shaw

Topics covered

• box office
• Hollywood
• movie studios
• NBA Finals
• streaming struggles
• 1970s cinema

Keywords

• box office
• Hollywood
• movie studios
• NBA Finals
• The Mandalorian
• streaming
• 1970s

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloomberg

Books & works: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Backrooms, Obsession

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• Is the ‘60 Minutes’ Blowup a Threat to Ellison’s Empire? · June 9, 2026 · 36 min
• 'Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons on Bursting into Hollywood, Internet Fandom, and Old IP · June 4, 2026 · 37 min
• Is This Hollywood’s First Practical Solution to Control AI? · June 3, 2026 · 35 min
• Peter Chernin on ‘Backrooms’ and Where the Smart Money Is Going in Hollywood · May 29, 2026 · 45 min