The Town with Matthew Belloni The Townies: Hollywood’s Best and Worst of 2025
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Dec 22, 2025 
Lucas Shaw, an entertainment reporter at Bloomberg, joins Matt Belloni to celebrate Hollywood's quirkiest moments of 2025 with the annual Townies. They hilariously dissect contenders for the Biggest Flex—from Warner Bros.' film turnaround to pop-star maneuvers. Controversies like the Snow White backlash steal the spotlight in Most Destructive Public Backlash. Shaw reveals the surprising success of Dancing with the Stars and they critique annoying media narratives. Tune in for a humorous rundown of Hollywood's highs and lows!
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Hollywood’s Year Of Turmoil And Unexpected Wins
- 2025 felt like a downturn for Hollywood with studio sales, layoffs, production slowdowns, and AI anxiety dominating the year.
- Despite troubles, there were notable successes and surprising box office wins that complicated the narrative.
Fast Turnaround Can Fix Executive Reputations
- Warner Brothers' film leads Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdi were ousted then engineered multiple surprise hits, flipping perception overnight.
- Their turnaround shows theatrical slates can rapidly reshape executive reputations despite earlier turmoil.
Failing Upwards At A Mega Studio
- David Zaslav's tenure looked like failure but he engineered a sale that produced massive payouts and stock gains.
- This is a textbook example of 'failing upwards' where perception and shareholder outcomes diverged.