Podcast Summary: The Town with Matthew Belloni

Episode: The Townies: Hollywood’s Best and Worst of 2025
Date: December 22, 2025
Host: Matthew Belloni (Puck)
Guests: Lucas Shaw (Bloomberg), Craig Horlbeck (The Ringer)

Episode Overview

In this annual “Townies” episode, Matthew Belloni and Lucas Shaw, joined by producer Craig Horlbeck, hand out their irreverent awards for Hollywood’s most remarkable, perplexing, and infamous moments of 2025. They dive into exclusive industry reporting, backroom drama, business moves (and misfires), cultural phenomena, and who really won or lost in a turbulent year. The conversation is candid, insider-y, and often playful, as they debate, dissect, and reminisce about what defined Hollywood in 2025.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Setting the Stage: 2025’s Tumultuous Hollywood ([00:00–03:44])

• Massive Industry Shifts: Studio buyouts (Warner Bros., attempts at Paramount), Netflix’s aggressive expansion, Amazon landing James Bond, and Apple’s surprising theatrical hit with “F.1.”
• Culture Shift: “A cloud of funk” — layoffs, slowing production, AI as an existential threat, continued fallout from high-profile scandals, and a sense of unease pervading the industry.
• AI & 'Slop': OpenAI’s rapid advances and controversy; Merriam Webster’s ‘word of the year’ ("slop") reflects fears about low-quality, mass-produced entertainment, with Disney striking a landmark deal with OpenAI.
• Pop Culture/Politics: Diddy jailed, directors going to “director jail,” Donald Trump’s outsized (and often damaging) influence on Disney/Paramount.

2. The 2025 Townies Awards Ceremony ([03:44–47:55])

Format:

• Craig Horlbeck serves as the MC, calling out category after category as Matt and Lucas debate nominees, discuss context, and ultimately declare winners.

Biggest Flex ([04:04–08:07])

• Winner: Mike DeLuca & Pam Abdy (Warner Bros.)
  • Matt: “They were literally being escorted out of the building by the media in March…then they fire off five movies in a row that are all big hits.”
  • Lucas: “Disney will end up with the most grosses…but I still feel like this was sort of Warner Brothers’ year.”
• Other Nominees: Taylor Swift (buying her albums back), Lily Allen (career revival with new album).

Most Destructive Public Backlash ([08:08–11:53])

• Winner: Disney's "Snow White" ([08:14])
  • Matt: “Seemed to be hated by everyone…205 million worldwide. Big money loser for Disney. Marc Webb, maybe director jail, maybe not. I don’t blame him for this.”
  • Lucas: “It was kind of doomed before it came out. And that's always—”
• Runner-Up: OpenAI’s Sora launch / Copyright controversy ([09:17])
  • Lucas: “Just, like, completely blew up in their face. Then they had to retrench…do this deal with Disney…”
• Honorable Mention: Trump’s tweet about Rob Reiner ([10:52])
  • Matt: “A late winner for this one…so awful and sad, but man.”

Most Baffling Success ([11:53–16:56])

• Lucas’ Winner: David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery CEO)
  • Lucas: “This is someone who, if you were to…[do] a performance review…probably the most hated executive in Hollywood…then he ends up pulling this deal off where the stock price shoots up…he can go out a conquering hero.” ([12:13])
  • Matt: “It’s baffling because this guy is not a builder…in fact, he did so much that hurt the company that it got bidders in place to say, oh, we can go after this.”
• Matt’s Winner: "Dancing With the Stars" Season 34 ([15:27])
  • Matt: “The finale generated 10 million viewers…they finally leaned into casting social media stars…putting clips on TikTok…and it worked.”

Most Annoying Media Narrative ([16:59–21:45])

• Winners:
  • “Mini (micro) dramas as the next big thing” ([17:06])
    • Lucas: “I want to ask everyone who sends me that, do you watch them?…We have just decided without a lot of evidence that this is the next huge trend.”
  • “‘$800M is the new billion’ for box office hits” ([21:10])
    • Matt: “You heard that all the time when these movies like ‘Jurassic World’ and ‘Minecraft’…did not get to a billion. And that's a problem…can't just say…‘billion is the new 800’—arguably it should be ‘a billion is the new 800.’”
  • Other narratives: “Studios don’t make movies to make money,” “original movies are back,” endless talk of carriage fights, and revolving rumors about execs losing jobs.

Least Believable Announcement ([21:48–23:30])

• Winner: Trump’s Tariff Plans
  • Lucas: “He spends some time talking to Stephen Paul and Jon Voight and he talks about tariffs and then there is zero follow-up. He clearly knows nothing about what he's doing.” ([21:51])
• Other nominees: “Colbert was fired for his budget” (Matt: “I actually kind of believe that… but the widespread belief…is that politics was the only reason.”), Jeremy Zimmer’s “retirement” at UTA.

Sneaky Success ([23:31–26:46])

• Winners:
  • “Wizard of Oz” at the Sphere, Las Vegas ([23:35])
    • Matt: “$2 million a day at the Sphere…that is insane and totally a surprise to me…would not have thought that people would pay 150, $200…”
    • Lucas: “…Some of the Wall Street researchers have been publishing updates and I think the numbers are still good. They've come down a little, but they're still quite strong.” ([24:44])
  • “Ney Zha 2” (Chinese film) — Possible highest grossing movie globally this year ([25:04])
    • Matt: “First time that has ever happened that a non-US movie has become the highest grossing in a year. That's a big deal.”
  • Lucas adds: “Demon Slayer” (anime), and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” (Amazon TV) as other underappreciated hits.

Best Press Tour (Press Tour de Force) ([28:01–31:38])

• Winner: Timothée Chalamet
  • Lucas: “He sort of mastered the press tour…goes on the different podcasts and has clearly over prepared and knows all the things to say.”
  • Matt: “Going on SNL as Bob Dylan, that's not too much?”
  • Notable mention: Sydney Sweeney ("kept her in the culture… permanently"), Pam Anderson/Liam Neeson’s faux-couple act for "Naked Gun."

Sneaky Bomb / Bad Deal ([31:40–36:25])

• Winners (tie):
  • K-Pop Demon Hunters slate deal (Sony/Netflix):
    • Matt: “They produced a slate…one turned out huge…And there is no ‘schmuck insurance’ in this deal…Hundreds of millions of dollars [Netflix made].”
    • Lucas: “It’s one of those deals that looks worse in retrospect…They made enough money. I don’t feel bad.”
  • “Electric State” (Netflix movie):
    • Lucas: “It just came and went like that…It was the most expensive significant movie that they released this year.”
    • Matt: “And it had the biggest star on Netflix—Millie Bobby Brown…they promoted the shit out of it…then it just came and people were like…’”

Franchises That Died (In Memoriam Award) ([36:25–39:38])

• Winners: “M3GAN 2.0” and “Tron: Aries”
  • Matt: “Tron: 200 million budget, 140 million worldwide…reviled. But what makes M3GAN 2.0 a bigger bomb? Everybody asked for a sequel…and it still flopped.”
  • Lucas: “They were trying to build a universe out of it, which they had to walk back…That’s a big deal to…completely immolate a franchise via choices.”
• Additional mentions: “Mission Impossible” might be winding down, “Smurfs” bombed.

Larry David Spite Store of the Year ([39:42–43:09])

• Winners: Taylor Sheridan (moving from Paramount to Universal, three years ahead of contract) & Chris McCarthy
  • Lucas: “Taylor Sheridan says [to Paramount], fuck you. I’m going three years before I’m announcing, three years before my contract is up that I’m out.”
• Runner up: Cindy Holland at Paramount targeting ex-Netflix talent.
• Matt: “Her spite store is to bring the talent over to Paramount…even though the Duffer Brothers went there because they're getting movies in theaters.”

Deal of the Year ([43:09–47:29])

• Winner: Netflix buying Warner Brothers
  • Matt: “In terms of impact…earth-shaking inability to talk about anything else…It fundamentally changes Netflix…puts Warner Brothers under new ownership. It impacts theaters, the theater business…It's why I've written about almost nothing else.”
  • Lucas: “Unquestionably the biggest deal of the year.”
• Other notable deals: Netflix K-Pop Demon Hunters (for value created), Amazon acquiring James Bond from Broccoli family, Taylor Sheridan’s Universal move, Disney/OpenAI deal, Paramount’s $8B UFC deal.

Notable Quotes

• Matt Belloni [04:06]: “They were literally being escorted out of the building…Then they fire off five movies in a row that are all big hits.”
• Lucas Shaw [12:13]: “This is someone who…became probably the most hated executive in Hollywood…then pulls this deal off where the stock price shoots up…”
• Matt Belloni [08:14]: “The Rachel Zegler ‘Snow White’ that was…seemed to be hated by everyone.”
• Lucas Shaw [17:13]: “Mini dramas are one of those things where, like, someone does a story…and every other news outlet has to do a story.”
• Matt Belloni [21:10]: “800 is the new billion…these movies would have grossed a billion dollars in the pre-COVID times.”
• Lucas Shaw [21:51]: “He [Trump] spends some time talking…about tariffs and then there is zero follow up. He clearly knows nothing about what he’s doing.”
• Matt Belloni [23:45]: “$2 million a day at the Sphere…that is insane and totally a surprise to me…”
• Lucas Shaw [28:43]: “Chalamet…sort of mastered the press tour…he goes on different podcasts and has clearly over prepared and knows all the things to say.”
• Matt Belloni [31:47]: “It’s the K Pop Demon Hunters deal Sony did…there is no schmuck insurance in this deal…that pays Sony hundreds of millions…”
• Lucas Shaw [36:49]: “They were trying to build a universe out of [M3GAN]…that they had to walk back…That’s a big deal to…completely immolate a franchise via choices.”
• Matt Belloni [43:42]: “It fundamentally changes Netflix, which is the biggest company in the industry right now. It puts Warner Brothers…under new ownership. It impacts the theaters, the theater business…”

Key Timestamps for Segments

• Industry recap, state of Hollywood: [00:00–03:45]
• Biggest Flex: [04:04–08:07]
• Most Destructive Public Backlash: [08:08–11:53]
• Most Baffling Success: [11:53–16:56]
• Most Annoying Media Narrative: [16:59–21:45]
• Least Believable Announcement: [21:48–23:30]
• Sneaky Success: [23:31–26:46]
• Best Press Tour: [28:01–31:38]
• Sneaky Bomb/Bad Deal: [31:40–36:25]
• Franchises That Died: [36:25–39:38]
• Spite Store of the Year: [39:42–43:09]
• Deal of the Year: [43:09–47:29]
• Teaser for Part Two: [47:29–47:55]

Memorable Moments

• Belloni and Shaw’s affectionate ribbing about their own reporting and media colleagues, notably around the “mini drama” trend and endless exec firing rumors.
• Detailed, industry-insider breakdowns: e.g., Sony’s unforeseen misfortune in the Netflix “K-Pop Demon Hunters” deal ([31:47]).
• The playful “flop off” between “Tron” and “M3GAN 2.0” for the biggest franchise disaster.
• Chalamet’s press brilliance/delusion dissected in real time (“There’s just no way that a theater kid from New York City knows that much about WWE wrestling.” [29:36])
• Blunt, often biting, commentary on business (“Nobody’s buying Warner Discovery because ‘Sinners’ did well in theaters…they’re buying it because of the library…” [13:49])

Conclusion

For anyone wanting an unvarnished, deeply knowledgeable—and very current—insider’s read on Hollywood’s shifting sands in 2025, this Townies episode delivers. The debates and recaps provide context you won’t find in mainstream trade coverage, with Belloni and Shaw’s running commentary exposing both the genius and absurdity of the business. Expect frank opinions, context that connects the dots, and a countdown of both the industry’s unheralded winners and most egregious mishaps.
Teaser: Part two promises a showdown over “Biggest embarrassment for a once dominant filmmaker.”