For thirty years, we called it "Peak TV." The golden era of the antihero. The streaming wars. The binge. For three decades, the entertainment industry operated on a simple, unspoken contract: we will give you more than you can possibly watch, and you will remain glued to your couch, forever chasing the season finale high.
Prediction one: While SAG and WGA fought for protections against generative AI, the technology is already here. We will see AI used for background characters, translation dubbing (saving the lips to match the language), and "interactive" stories. The first AI-generated hit movie is likely less than five years away. It will be awful. It will also make a billion dollars. a27hopsonxxx
The algorithm does not care about your three-act structure. It cares about retention, shares, and emotional spikes. Consequently, popular media has become hyper-kinetic, self-referential, and allergic to silence. The "Marvel quip"—that deflating joke after an emotional moment—is no longer a style; it is a survival mechanism. If you don't make them laugh in the next four seconds, they will scroll. Hollywood, meanwhile, is trapped in a gilded cage. For thirty years, we called it "Peak TV
The rise of TikTok and YouTube has democratized entertainment to a terrifying and thrilling degree. The line between "user-generated content" and "professional media" has dissolved. Consider the success of the FNAF (Five Nights at Freddy’s) movie, a Blumhouse juggernaut built entirely on a franchise born from a single indie game. Consider the rise of "Skibidi Toilet," a bizarre, surrealist animation series on YouTube that has generated billions of views and has reportedly been optioned for a film. For three decades, the entertainment industry operated on
Prediction two: Not because studios are nice, but because the streaming wars have cratered. With Wall Street demanding profitability over subscribers, studios can no longer afford to only make $200 million blockbusters. They will have to make Aftersun and Past Lives again—$10 million dramas that make their money back slowly, over years, on digital rental.
The living room is dead. Long live the bedroom, the subway, and the treadmill. We watch on phones with subtitles permanently on (a study showed 80% of Gen Z uses subtitles, not because they can’t hear, but because they can’t risk missing a line while looking away). We watch at 1.5x speed. We watch "explained" videos instead of watching the actual show.