Hollywood Loses a Star, Disney Rebuilds Tomorrowland, and the $2 Billion Spider-Man

MayaGood morning and welcome back to The Morning Rundown.

DavidGlad you're here with us today.

MayaWe've got a mix of heavy and lighter stuff on deck. First, some very sad news. Hayden Panettiere passed away at thirty-six. AP News confirmed it this morning.

DavidYeah, that one hit different. We'll talk about her career in a bit.

MayaThen we shift gears. David, you've been digging into the Alex Cooper and UTA split.

DavidYeah, there's a money trail there-

MayaMm-hmm

David... worth following. Plus, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce just got spotted with wedding rings on.

MayaWait, actual rings? Okay, we need details.

DavidA few, later in the show.

MayaThen it's Disney's big D23 news. Tomorrowland's getting rebuilt, and Harrison Ford is coming back as Indiana Jones at the parks at eighty-four.

DavidEighty-four and still swinging a whip. We'll get into what that says about Disney's playbook.

MayaAnd box office. Spider-Man just crossed two billion worldwide.

DavidPlus, word Johnny Depp might be back for Pirates six.

MayaSo much to cover. Let's start with Hayden Panettiere. Before anything else this morning, Hayden Panettiere died yesterday. She was thirty-six.

DavidYeah, that's a hard one to lead with.

MayaAP News confirmed it. Her father, Skip, gave the statement to ABC News. No cause of death released yet.

DavidYeah. Heroes. Nashville. She was everywhere for a stretch.

MayaActing since she was a kid too. Voiced Dot in A Bug's Life. Was in Remember the Titans. Thirty-six.

DavidYeah. I don't have a joke for that one. Let's just sit with it a second.

MayaYeah. Okay, so David, you had a story that's kind of the flip side of fame.

DavidSort of. Uh, Alex Cooper just left UTA.

MayaWait, the podcast agency split? I thought she'd been with them forever.

DavidShe had, but Variety, Brian Steinberg's piece frames it as landing after months of media scrutiny on her.

MayaRight. All that stuff that's been following her around.

DavidWhat I keep coming back to, when your whole audience already comes straight to you, no network, no gatekeeper, what's the agency actually doing for you?

MayaHuh. So she doesn't need the machine anymore.

DavidMm-hmm. That's my read. Her audience is hers. The agency is a nice to have, and when the scrutiny gets loud, cutting ties is cheap.

MayaI mean, to be fair, some of that scrutiny is probably manufactured too. Outrage cycles need fuel.

DavidSure. I'm not saying she did anything wrong. Watch what she does next more than what anyone's saying about her now.

MayaOkay. Lighter note. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

DavidOh, here we go.

MayaUSA Today's got new photos, Morgan Evans and Kimmie Robinson wrote it up, both of them wearing their wedding bands.

DavidWow.

MayaGold rings. First time anyone's caught them on camera.

DavidAnd the internet lost it.

MayaObviously. Within an hour, there were zoomed in ring photos everywhere.

DavidIt's something how much of the famous person news cycle is just two people existing in public and everyone else doing the analysis.

MayaTotally. Half of it's not even news. It's us watching each other watch them.

DavidWhich fair, is basically what we're doing right now.

MayaYeah, no argument there.

DavidBut speaking of people getting looked at on a stage, there was a room full of actual Hollywood legends this weekend too.

MayaOh, yeah? Who was in the room?

DavidLet's just say if Robert Downey Jr. and Harrison Ford are both there for the same reason, it's not a small night.

MayaOkay. Now I want to know what that reason was. Okay, shifting gears because I need something lighter after rings and lawsuits.

DavidSay less. D23 happened this weekend, and Disney just told us where the money's going.

MayaOoh, tell me.

DavidTomorrowland. KTLA reported the whole area at Disneyland is getting rebuilt. New rides, the works.

MayaWait, the whole thing?

DavidThe whole thing, and when a company sinks that much capital into one land, that's not decoration, that's a bet on where guests are actually spending.

MayaSo they're betting on rides, not merch drops?

DavidRides, food, real experiences.

MayaMm-hmm.

DavidThe kind of stuff a family drives eight hours for.

MayaWhich fair, because we did that as kids, and I still remember the churros.

DavidChurros, Priorities.

MayaOkay, but the one that actually got me, Harrison Ford. He's eighty-four, and he's coming back as Indiana Jones.

DavidEighty-four?

MayaThe Independent reported he's set for what they're calling his next adventure at the parks. My jaw's on the floor.

DavidI mean, do the math with me for a second. Ford in the fedora at eighty-four isn't nostalgia. It's proof the character still sells better than half the stuff invented in the last decade.

MayaHarsh, but kind of true.

DavidI'm just saying, Disney's not chasing the newest thing. They're chasing the thing that already works.

MayaSpeaking of Ford, he was actually on stage this weekend for something even bigger.

DavidRight, the Disney Legends ceremony. Variety's Matt Donnelly covered it. Robert Downey Jr. and Ford were both there honoring Bob Iger.

MayaAnd Anne Hathaway got inducted too, and she teared up on stage.

DavidVariety's Angelique Jackson quoted her saying she feels like one of the luckiest people in the world.

MayaAnd that's sweet actually. Not everything this weekend was a business memo.

DavidTrue. Though her timing works out, her twenty twenty-six box office total just crossed two billion dollars.

MayaWhich is a pretty good excuse to make her a legend right now.

DavidFunny how that works.

MayaBut zoom out. Tomorrowland, Ford, family rides, characters people grew up loving. That's a clear direction for a company that's taken heat for chasing trends over telling stories.

DavidAnd parents are voting with their wallets. Nobody's flying a family to Anaheim for a message. They're going for Indy and a churro.

MayaEnding on churros. I love it.

DavidAnd speaking of numbers doing the talking, wait till you hear what happened at the box office this weekend.

MayaOoh, tease it.

DavidTwo billion dollars, and that's just one movie.

MayaBuilding on that, Spider-Man just crossed two billion worldwide too.

DavidTwo billion? That's the second one this year.

MayaAnd it's still number one. Rebecca Rubin at Variety reported it pulled in seventy million this weekend.

DavidMm-hmm.

MayaStill on top in its third weekend.

DavidThird weekend, still that strong?

MayaErik Childress at Rotten Tomatoes called it the second best third weekend ever, beating both Avatar movies.

DavidBeating Avatar's run, that's a serious number.

MayaAnd there's a new one, End of Oak Street, opened to twenty-one million, per Rubin's report.

DavidNot bad for a debut against a two billion dollar juggernaut.

MayaYeah, and get this, Variety's Angelique Jackson said Anne Hathaway's 2026 slate crossed two billion too, same week as her Legend induction.

DavidSo the receipts line up with the plaque?

MayaPretty much. And hold onto your calendars, Jeremy Fuster at TheWrap says pre-sales for Avengers and Dune 3 are already stacking up for what people are calling Dunesday.

DavidDunesday. Somebody in marketing is very proud of that one.

MayaProbably. But seriously, mark it. That's the release everyone's circling for the holidays.

DavidAnd Deadline's Destiny Jackson and Anthony D'Alessandro got Jerry Bruckheimer on record saying Johnny Depp is in talks for a sixth Pirates movie.

MayaSo Depp back in the hat after everything?

DavidThat's what Bruckheimer told them. No deal signed, but talks are happening.

MayaSpider-Man, Dunesday, maybe Pirates coming back. Theaters aren't struggling this year.

DavidI'd say it proves people didn't stop wanting to leave the house. They just wanted something worth the ticket.

MayaBig stars, big swings, actual event movies.

DavidGive people Indiana Jones at eighty-four and a Spider-Man crossing two billion, and they'll show up.

MayaPut it on the calendar. Doomsday is coming. Okay. That's the rundown. Rough note to start with Hayden Panettiere, but man, that Ford news at the end got me.

DavidEighty-four and still suiting up as Indiana Jones. That's not nostalgia. That's a track record.

MayaRight? Disney's betting the house on characters that already work.

DavidExactly. Old IP, new spending.

MayaSo if you liked today, subscribe and leave us a review. It actually helps.

DavidTell a friend too. We'll take it.

MayaThanks for hanging out with us this morning.

DavidSee you next time.