Steve Pond's Blog, page 166

Jimmy Kimmel Says Thanks to Trump ‘We’re Already Going to Loan Sharks for Lunchables’ | Video

Jimmy Kimmel had a rather blunt observation about the state of things, economically, amid the chaotic economic situation thanks to Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“This is something that I’m pretty sure voters didn’t have in mind – when Trump promised to lower prices on day one,” Kimmel said as he started to make his observation. “An increasing number of Americans are using short-term loans to pay for groceries.”

“25% of Americans are financing their grocery purchases using buy now, pay later. 100 days in, we’re already going to loan sharks for Lunchables with this guy,” Kimmel joked, adding while imitating a gangster, “‘you’re a week late on those turkey and cheddar cracker stackers!'”

“60% of economists who were polled believe there is a ‘high or very high’ chance of a recession, so the President now is distancing himself, from himself,” Kimmel continued. “He wrote, ‘This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden Overhang. This will take a while, has nothing to do with tariffs, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. be patient!!!'”

“Be patient,” Kimmel responded. “What happened to the guy who promised it would all happen on ‘day one’? Be patient? What happened to the guy who – less than a hundred days into his first presidency, crowed, ‘since November 8th, Election Day, the Stock Market has posted $3.2 trillion in gains and consumer confidence is at a 15-year high. Jobs!’ That was in March, that was 41 days after he took over for Obama.”

“Now, a hundred days after Biden, oh he has nothing to do with it. It’s not his stock market. The buck stops wherever he wants it to stop. And consumer confidence – is at its lowest level since May of 2020. You remember what happened in May of 2020? We were fighting old ladies for toilet paper in May of 2020,” Kimmel added.

Watch the whole monologue below:

The post Jimmy Kimmel Says Thanks to Trump ‘We’re Already Going to Loan Sharks for Lunchables’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Rust’ Review: The Specter of a Real-Life Death Haunts This Tragic Western

It’s nearly impossible to critique a film like Joel Souza’s western “Rust” because, in many respects, the film itself feels irrelevant. No matter how “Rust” turned out the inescapable truth is that on October 21, 2021 a tragedy occurred on set, ending the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The film’s star, Alec Baldwin, was rehearsing a shot, brandishing a gun in front of the camera. It fired. It should not have. Regardless of who is to blame — which is a very important question, but not one I’m qualified to answer — Hutchins died from her wounds. The film was put on hold, then finally resumed production, and now… here we are.

Is it a good movie? That depends on your definition of “good,” I suppose. It’s hard to celebrate any production where such an unthinkable, avoidable event took place. And it’s nearly impossible to stop thinking about Hutchins while the film is playing, in part because the cinematography — which was completed by Bianca Cline (“Marcel the Shell with Shoes on”) — is extraordinary. Even though it’s not clear which scenes were photographed by Hutchins and which were by Cline, it’s clear that Cline had to match Hutchins’ pre-existing footage, so all of these breathtaking images stem directly or indirectly from the original, deceased cinematographer’s vision.

But also, “Rust” is a film about death, and men who escape the consequences of the dead bodies they leave in their wake, and the toll it takes on a person after they end a human life. It’s not an astoundingly poignant film about those topics, but it’s an indelible part of the production.

There are those who argue that we should be able separate art from the artist, and by extension art from the context of its creation, but that’s crap and I think we all know it. “Should” doesn’t enter into this. The simple fact is that while we watch many films blissfully unaware of how they were made, whether those backstories are beautiful or despicable, we also cannot un-know what we know. We cannot pretend that “Rust” is just another movie, and as such easily judge it by the simple act of watching it. Not if we know anything about it, that is.

The dilemma recalls Alex Proyas’ “The Crow,” his 1994 film about a dead man coming back to life that was immortalized by tragedy — the on-set death of star Brandon Lee. The loss of an undeniable talent taken too soon — under eerily similar circumstances — altered that film’s narrative, literally and figuratively, just as firmly as the loss of Hutchins affected “Rust.”

If we were able to watch “Rust” free of context, it would just be another western. A good one, granted; not a proper classic but involving and handsomely presented. Like many westerns it’s a saga of machismo, as larger-than-life men tear their way across the American frontier, laying waste to those who oppose them. If they’re heroes they feel bad about it at the time. If they’re antiheroes they feel bad about it afterwards. If they’re villains they feel nothing.

“Rust” stars Patrick Scott McDermott (“Goosebumps”) as Lucas, a teenager raising his younger brother after their parents died. He’s at the end of his rope, unable to take care of his kin, and accidentally starts a feud with another farmer. When Lucas tries to shoot a wolf and accidentally kills the farmer, the law declares it could be no accident, so despite his tender age Lucas is condemned to die by hanging.

Into Lucas’s life wanders Harland Rust (Alec Baldwin, who co-wrote the story), an aging gunslinger with a storied history of robbery, arson and murder. He breaks Lucas out of jail and escorts him to the Mexican border, all the way from Wyoming, because he’s Lucas’s estranged grandfather. They don’t get along because of course they don’t. You can’t have two protagonists crossing the country for two-thirds of a movie if they love each other’s company. That’s Screenwriting 101.

Lucas and Rust have a bounty on their heads, and it’s a big one, so they’re hunted by every bounty hunter in the country. There’s the soft-spoken, sinister Preacher (Travis Fimmel), the tortured lawman Wood (Josh Hopkins), and a gaggle of memorable, smaller characters who don’t last very long. Preacher and Wood represent a yin and yang of sorts, the vile opportunist and the downtrodden do-gooder, both of them beholden to their place in what can only be called a legalized murder economy.

The western genre typically takes place at the edge of known civilization, where rules are bent and broken, and people live by their wits and their mettle, if they live at all. It’s a genre that’s prone to larger-than-life caricatures, to the extent that even complicated figures in a film like “Rust” play into the film’s folkloric quality. Hutchins’ and Cline’s cinematography goes a long way towards justifying writer/director Joel Souza’s heavy-handed storytelling but it’s hard to ignore the film’s tendency to overplay every hand. The dialogue is earnest at its core, arch in its articulation, and it leaves the tale feeling less resonant that it probably should be.

Then again, the resonance of “Rust” doesn’t emanate entirely from its story. “Rust’s” sadness, guilt and grief are amplified by the unfortunate fact of the film’s own existence, the tragedy that took place mid-production. Let’s be clear: that cannot make it better. The very implication is ghoulish. But it does have an impact, and it leaves the film with an aura that’s inexorably grim. “Rust” is about death, it’s about grief, it’s about collateral damage.

That’s what the plot is about too.

The post ‘Rust’ Review: The Specter of a Real-Life Death Haunts This Tragic Western appeared first on TheWrap.

Chris Hayes Can’t Believe ‘the Golden Toilet Guy’ – Trump – ‘Is Preaching Minimalism’ Amid Tariff Economic Turmoil | Video

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes was taken aback by Donald Trump’s blithe reaction Wednesday to the economic turmoil his own policies have inflicted on the country.

In response to the news that his Tariffs are going to cause shortages and price hikes for children’s toys and other Christmas wish list items this year, Trump dismissed such concerns and effectively told Americans to accept less.

“Oh, the golden toilet guy is now preaching minimalism,” Hayes asked incredulously.

The remark came during his opening segment on Wednesday’s “All In,” where Hayes began by noting “100 days in the Trump presidency, the US economy is now shrinking the first time in years, and it’s all Donald Trump’s fault.”

Hayes admitted “that may sound overly simplistic or unfair, but in this case, it’s just really true, much truer than it usually is with President.” The MSNBC host then proceeded to discuss the proof of that assertion in detail, starting with a detailed explanation of how good the economy was for four years under Joe Biden.

“As wages stayed high and unemployment near record lows, they ended up with this kind of Goldilocks, ‘not too hot, not too cool’ economy, a very difficult trick to pull off. It never went into recession, something so many people on TV kept saying was coming right around the corner, over and over and over. And the upshot of all this was that Joe Biden handed Donald Trump an American economy that had gone through unbelievable turmoil and had emerged as the global growth leader,” Hayes explained.

“All Donald Trump had to do was just not screw it up. But he’s really, really intent on screwing it up. So today we got this big flashing warning sign, which is that the American economy contracted, meaning it shrank the nation’s GDP, all the goods and services we all produced, the total value of the economy could shrank in the first quarter of this year by 310 of a percent,” Hayes continued.

This is because, Hayes went on, “everyone’s scared of higher costs and emptier shelves from the tariffs, okay, but again, that’s not some act of God. It’s not a pandemic. People are behaving that way because Donald Trump has started this wildly destructive trade war, which is likely to continue to cost enormous amounts of growth and jack up prices on all imported goods and possibly pitch the economy fully into recession.”

Hayes then touched on how this may end up affecting Christmas 2025. “The supply chain is taking very long time to materialize. Retailers are even ordering ahead for Christmas season, and toy makers and retailers are now pausing orders the winter holidays. 90% of America’s Christmas goods come from Yes, you guessed it, China, Barbie dolls, things like that, China. And if you’re waiting for Jolly Old Saint Trump to save Christmas, listen to this speech.”

Hayes then played a clip of Donald Trump saying, in part, “Somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be empty.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. But we’re not talking about something that we have to go out of our way.’

“Oh, the golden toilet guy is now preaching minimalism?” Hayes said with a smirk. “Who needs all this stuff really? Imagine if that had been Donald Trump’s 2024, campaign message. ‘You already have too much crap. You spoiled brats. You and your kids are going to have to make do with less, and the less stuff is going to be more expensive.'”

“Every economic expert CEO has been warning him for months this would happen, but he’s not listening to them, because he’s listening to himself and his own experts,” Hayes continued.

There’s a lot more. You can watch the whole commentary below:

The post Chris Hayes Can’t Believe ‘the Golden Toilet Guy’ – Trump – ‘Is Preaching Minimalism’ Amid Tariff Economic Turmoil | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Stephen A. Smith Gets Trump’s Presidential Endorsement: ‘I’d Love To See Him Run’ | Video

Stephen A. Smith just extended his ESPN contract by 5 years in a deal reported to be worth as much as $100 million, a ton of money that could come in handy if he were to ever actually run for president.

Of course, that’s a huge if, but if he did, Donald Trump approves. Trump said so during his town hall interview on NewsNation, hosted by Chris Cuomo, that aired Wednesday night.

The event also featured Smith, as well as Bill O’Reilly, the former Fox News star fired in 2017 after the New York Times reported that the network had paid millions to settle multiple sexual harassment lawsuits.

At one point, O’Reilly asked Trump if he had any advice for Smith if the ESPN host were to run for president.

“No, Stephen A., he is a good guy, a smart guy,” Trump replied. “I love watching him. He’s got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him.”

“You know, A lot of these Democrats I watch, I say they have no chance. I’ve been pretty good at picking people and picking candidates, and I tell ya, I’d love to see him run,” Trump added, as Smith looked both amused and slightly embarrassed.

Watch the exchange below.

President @RealDonaldTrump says he “would love to see” @StephenASmith run for president in 2028. Watch #CUOMOTownHall live: https://t.co/MMLMKOKbtB pic.twitter.com/UqX5s9jEEb

— NewsNation (@NewsNation) May 1, 2025

Smith isn’t much of a Donald Trump fan, as indicated back in February during the same episode of his podcast in which he revealed he has, kind of, considered running for president.

“After this election, I might entertain” running, he said, adding, “I just might change my mind one day. I doubt it, but I might. Because how much would it take to beat ya’ll. And Trump can’t run again. He’s done.”

Shortly after, Smith criticized the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity initiatives at length, saying in part, “what you’re really saying is we want white dominance again. That’s what you’re really saying. You want white dominance.”

The NewsNation Trump interview was conducted on the same day it was confirmed that the U.S. economy shrank during the first quarter of 2025 – largely thanks to the Trump administration’s economic policies.

The post Stephen A. Smith Gets Trump’s Presidential Endorsement: ‘I’d Love To See Him Run’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Fortnite’ to Return to App Store After Judge Rules Apple Violated Injunction Set by Epic Games’ Antitrust Lawsuit

“Fortnite” is set to return to the iOS App Store in the United States after a legal victory over Apple.

According to documents obtained and reviewed by TheWrap, a judge found that Apple violated a court order following the 2021 antitrust lawsuit filed against them by “Fortnite” developer Epic Games. Epic’s lawsuit argued Apple acted as a monopoly, taking as much as 30% of all App Store transactions. An injunction set by that lawsuit was “issued to restrain and prohibit Apple’s anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing,” according to Wednesday’s ruling, which found Apple in “willful violation” of that injunction.

“Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers wrote.

Rogers continued: “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order. Time is of the essence. The Court will not tolerate further delays. As previously ordered, Apple will not impede competition. The Court enjoins Apple from implementing its new anticompetitive acts to avoid compliance with the Injunction. Effective immediately, Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases.”

Adding to Apple’s legal demands, the court referred the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California for a probe to see whether criminal contempt proceedings should follow.

“Apple willfully chose not to comply with this Court’s Injunction,” Rogers wrote. “It did so with the express intent to create new anticompetitive barriers which would, by design and in effect, maintain a valued revenue stream; a revenue stream previously found to be anticompetitive. That it thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation. As always, the cover-up made it worse.”

Epic Games Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney responded to the news on X Wednesday after news dropped and announced the game would be on the App Store next week.

We will return Fortnite to the US iOS App Store next week.

Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court's friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we'll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic. https://t.co/bIRTePm0Tv

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 30, 2025

“We will return Fortnite to the US iOS App Store next week,” he said. “Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court’s friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we’ll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic.”

Representatives for Apple did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

The post ‘Fortnite’ to Return to App Store After Judge Rules Apple Violated Injunction Set by Epic Games’ Antitrust Lawsuit appeared first on TheWrap.

Chappell Roan’s Next Career Move Is Becoming a Film Actress, According to John Waters

Chappell Roan is still riding the high of her lesbian country hit “The Giver,” but the Grammy-winning recording artist apparently has a fan in John Waters — and he thinks he’s got her next career move pinned.

In a wide-ranging interview with W Magazine, Roan, covering the fashion publication’s Pop Issue, was asked if her overnight blast to fame led to film offers flooding in.

The “Pink Pony Club” singer didn’t exactly answer the question, but she did recount a meet-cute she had with the prolific Waters just the night before.

“I met John Waters last night, which was insane. One of my idols! And I was talking about how there are only so many ‘firsts’ you can have with your career,” Roan said. “And he said, ‘No, no, no — there are all the firsts to go through when you become an actress!’ And I said, ‘I’m not an actress — what are you talking about?’ He said, ‘Every singer is an actress!'”

The encounter left Roan thinking: “OK, maybe I am! Damn! If John Waters says I’m an actress, maybe I am!”

It’s not the first time Roan has given Waters a shoutout while making the press rounds for her new single, “The Giver” — which will presumably lead her highly anticipated, as-yet-announced follow-up to her Grammy-winning debut, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” Interviewing on the “Las Culturistas” podcast earlier this month with hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, Roan credited Waters and the art of drag as being formative to her as an artist and queer person. Growing up in Missouri, she said, did not allow for such culture to permeate her life, and when she saw her first drag show, she admitted to being a bit taken aback.

“That has taken a long time for me to be like, that is in my blood now. And to realize all of that, how it freaked me out at first, was really just me not having any gay culture at all expressed in my life whatsoever,” she shared. “I had no idea who John Waters was, and it was so cool to see a whole community of people being gross on purpose for the sake of pearl-clutching. That is amazing to me.”

Roan then listed some of the left-of-center attributes that she’s drawn to — all of which feel at home in Waters’ body of work.

“I love tackiness, I f–king love grit, I love bad hair, I love bad style, I love cameltoe,” she said. “I love, love, love a bad dye-job — I love roots. I f–king love when people get their teeth knocked out. I love that s–t! Give me a nip slip, that’s the least you could do. That culture of, like, trashy-on-purpose is so freeing to me.”

Watch her full “Las Culturistas” appearance from April 16 below:

Roan won her first Grammy for Best New Artist in February of this year, coming hot off the chart-topping successes of her debut album and its follow-up single “Good Luck, Babe!” She was also nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance, Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Good Luck, Babe!” and “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year.

The post Chappell Roan’s Next Career Move Is Becoming a Film Actress, According to John Waters appeared first on TheWrap.

More Kneecap Festival Appearances Canceled Amid Coachella Fallout and Accusations of Antisemitism

Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap had a number of upcoming shows in Germany canceled amid continued fallout and accusations of antisemitism from the band’s controversial Coachella performance.

German festivals Hurricane and Southside, both of which are organized by FKP Scorpio, removed Kneecap from the music lineups following the Indio-based Coachella set. On April 25, the band confirmed on X that they would no longer be playing at the respective festivals, but still listed links for shows in Cologne, Berlin and Hamburg which were set for September. However, as of Wednesday, the links to ticket seller site Evintim.de note that those events have since been canceled as well.

The music trio (made up of DJ Próvaí, Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap) responded to the canceled tour dates in Germany by saying that the reaction to their pro-Palestine and anti-Israel Coachella set is “not about us,” but is a “loud warning to other acts to say silent.”

In a post shared to X on Wednesday, the band wrote, “It’s about distraction and a loud warning to other acts to stay silent or we will try silence you.”

Let's not loose sight of why the entire political class of Britain and their media are so "outraged" about Kneecap and have no outrage for a mass slaughter of children

You cannot tell the truth at Coachella.

It's not about us, it's about distraction and a loud warning to… pic.twitter.com/nNdLw7njwK

— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 30, 2025

Kneecap are not the story.
Gaza is the story.
Genocide is the story. https://t.co/iUjMzk3NjA

— KNEECAP (@KNEECAPCEOL) April 30, 2025

The caption on the clip reads, “Let’s not lose sight of why the entire political class of Britain and their media are so ‘outraged’ about Kneecap and have no outrage for a mass slaughter of children. You can not tell the truth at Coachella.’

The band also quote tweeted a supportive post from British band Massive Attack, which said, “Kneecap are not the story. Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story.”

The group first made waves during the first weekend of Coachella in early April when rapper Mo Chara told the Coachella crowd, “The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the f—king skies with nowhere to go. The Palestinians have nowhere to go.” Chara then led the crowd in “Free Palestine” chants. Projections on the screen behind the group read “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine” along with another screen that accused Israel of “committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Since their Coachella show, the band has been dropped by their booking agency Independent Artist Group and been blasted by Jewish groups in the music industry, such as the Creative Community for Peace, which called for the band’s visas to be revoked.

UK counter-terrorism authorities are investigating footage from past concerts in 2024 and 2023, including one in which a member of the group allegedly urged the audience to “kill your local MP [member of parliament],” and said, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory.”

On Monday, Kneecap shared a lengthy statement to Instagram in which they wrote that they “reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever.”

They also have denied being antisemitic, writing in their IG statement, “We do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah” and said that footage from their past concerts is being “taken out of all context” and is being “weaponized.”

The hip-hop trio formed in Belfast in 2017.

The post More Kneecap Festival Appearances Canceled Amid Coachella Fallout and Accusations of Antisemitism appeared first on TheWrap.

Quinta Brunson Promos Ill-Advised Tariff Sketches Ahead of ‘SNL’ Gig, Debuts Heidi Gardner’s ‘Toilet Paper Mama’ | Video

Quinta Brunson teased some ill-advised “Saturday Night Live” sketches in a promo Wednesday ahead of this week’s hosting gig, centering her pitches around President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a character named “Toilet Paper Mama.”

The video sketch highlighting the intentionally bad sketch kicks off with Andrew Dismukes and Brunson brainstorming ideas for the comedy sketch show’s May 3 episode.

“Quinta, welcome back, how ya feelin’?” Dismukes asks.

“I am so excited! But I’m also a little nervous,” Brunson says, clarifying that she’s not nervous about hosting the show, but “nervous about these tariffs.”

“But what if we did sketches centered around the items affected by the tariffs — and then we can keep the items after the show?” she poses.

That’s when Heidi Gardner comes in wrap-dressed in rolls of toilet paper. Welcome to the stage: Toilet Paper Mama.

“Hey, so, um, question about this character, Toilet Paper Mama. I kinda don’t get it,” she says.

Brunson reassures: “Heidi, it’s hilarious. I mean, it could be your new, like, original character. You know how Rachel Dratch plays Debbie Downer or Sarah Sherman plays herself?”

Gardner, still reluctant, perks up at the promise of a catchphrase: “If there’s pee, it should be on me.”

“That’s really funny, right?” Brunson says through laughter. “Well, you know what? Don’t worry about the character, just go ahead and take the costume off, leave it in my dressing room. Take it off super careful, leave it intact, all the rolls … Don’t get that dress dirty!”

As Gardner leaves, Brunson goads her to say her other catchphrase: “Wipe me!”

Brunson and Dismukes erupt in laughter.

Of course, we can just about guarantee that not every “SNL” sketch on Saturday will be about Trump’s international trade war — but Brunson certainly found a clever way to poke fun at the stress everyday Americans are feeling over everyday items like toilet paper thanks to the administration’s tariffs this month.

Watch the full promo clip below:

Brunson, the creator and star of “Abbott Elementary” on ABC, is set to host “Saturday Night Live” this week for second time with musical guest Benson Boone. The Emmy-winning actress and writer first hosted the sketch comedy series in 2022.

Previewing the May 3 hosting gig earlier this month on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Brunson said that the opportunity “feels very natural for me.”

“I come from an improv and sketch background — this is honestly scarier,” Brunson said, meaning her time doing late night press. “Talking with no direction constantly scares the crap out of me.”

Asked if she pre-plans sketches or jokes ahead of her week of writing and playing at 30 Rock, Brunson said that’s never been her goal.

“No, I didn’t the first time. This time I think I feel a little bit more comfortable,” Brunson explained. “I really just wanted to go in for my first time and let them do their thing, but now I feel like I have a better understanding of the engine. And my goal is always to become, like, part of the machine. And now I understand how to do that. So any ideas I have will be just things I know already work on that kind of show.”

Here’s to hoping that when Saturday rolls around, we’ll see that Toilet Paper Mama has been wiped clean from the comedy slate.

The post Quinta Brunson Promos Ill-Advised Tariff Sketches Ahead of ‘SNL’ Gig, Debuts Heidi Gardner’s ‘Toilet Paper Mama’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Writers Guild Voluntarily Recognizes Staff Union

The Writers Guild of America West has voluntarily recognized its staff’s intent to unionize with the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, allowing the bargaining unit to move forward on its first labor contract.

“We have an agreement on our first demand, and we’re excited to take this important step towards having a voice in improving our workplace and organizing without fear of retaliation,” WGAW Operations Coordinator II and Writers Guild Staff Union leader Doug MacIsaac said. “We’re happy to be able to advocate for ourselves and look forward to negotiating our first collective bargaining agreement.” 

The WGSU had collected unionization cards from 81% of WGA staffers by the time it started its counting process. The bargaining unit will consist of more than 110 staffers, including in departments such as finance, residuals, public policy and contracts.

“May 1 marks 25 years of being an employee of the WGAW, and what a journey it has been! I am honored to be a part of the historic formation of the WGSU and excited for all the possibilities ahead,” WGAW Contracts Coordinator IV and WGSU member Genevieve Gonsal said. “Here’s to solidarity, progress and the next chapter!”

The WGSU joins unionized staffers at other entertainment unions, including WGA East, which is unionized under United Steelworkers. Staffers at SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity are also unionized under OPEIU Local 537.

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AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron Sees 2024 Pay Drop to $11.4 Million

AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron saw his total compensation fall to $11.35 million in 2024, down 55% from $25.4 million in 2023.

The package included a $1.5 million base salary, stock option awards of $5.44 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation of $4.38 million and $29,868 in “other” compensation, including $13,800 in 401(k) match contributions paid by the company and $16,068 in life insurance premiums.

The decline from 2023 was due to the value of his annual equity grant decreasing approximately 37%. Aron’s base salary and annual bonus opportunity did not change, resulting in a reduction in total compensation at a target of 25%. The movie theater chain’s CEO pay ratio was 974 to 1, with a median annual total compensation for all employees of $11,659.

In addition to Aron, chief financial officer Sean Goodman saw his total pay for 2024 fall 29% to $4.8 million, chief operations officer Daniel Ellis saw his pay dip 26.8% to $2.21 million and chief content officer Elizabeth Frank saw her pay tumble 38% to $2.03 million.

The executive pay disclosures come as industry box office performance for 2024 stabilized after a years-long recovery from the COVID pandemic in 2020 and Hollywood’s double labor strike in 2023. However, the latter caused delays in movie release schedules through the first half of 2024.

The North American industry box office for 2024 came in at $8.7 billion, compared to AMC’s internal projection of $9 billion at the beginning of the year and a 2019 pre-pandemic level of $11.4 billion. Industry box office during the first half of 2024 was $3.1 billion compared to $5.6 billion in the second half of 2024.

Shares of AMC Theatres are down 8.8% in the past year, 33.58% year to date and 39% in the past six months.

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