With the benefit of hindsight, we see that was the last weekend of the "old" internet. While ChatGPT had launched in November 2022, the mass integration into entertainment was just brewing.
A review of the Disney Channel Broadcast Archives from February 24, 2023, shows an aggressive reliance on premium animated imports and flagship IP to retain audience share.
[Gaming IP] ───(High-Budget Adaptation)───► [Mainstream SVOD Hit] │ │ ▼ ▼ New Game Sales Surge New Audience Segment The Adaptation Boom
On the weekend of February 24-26, 2023, theaters were dominated by two very different high-energy films.
: Entertainment media was heavily focused on the aftermath of the BAFTA awards and the lead-up to the Oscars, with Steven Spielberg famously telling Tom Cruise he "saved Hollywood's ass" with Top Gun: Maverick . Popular Media Trends in Early 2023
As entertainment blurs with reality, the week of "24 02 23" witnessed the first major mainstream deepfake scandal. A fabricated video of a prominent political figure endorsing a fictional media conglomerate went viral for 12 hours before being debunked.
The undisputed queen of the box office that weekend was Elizabeth Banks' bloody, chaotic comedy-thriller, Cocaine Bear . Loosely inspired by a true story of a 175-pound black bear who ingested a duffel bag of cocaine that fell from a plane, the film earned an astounding $23 million against its modest $30-35 million budget. Critics and audiences alike embraced the film's wild premise—the film focused on a 500-pound apex predator high on the drug and the thrill of the kill. The project also served as the final film role for the late Ray Liotta, who passed away shortly after re-recording lines for the film.
: The virtual band released their guest-heavy eighth album, featuring collaborations with Stevie Nicks , Bad Bunny , and Tame Impala .
Friday is "New Music Friday," and was a bloodbath of releases. Major artists dropped projects that showcased the split personality of the music industry:
Every piece of entertainment content exists within a broader socio-economic context. On February 24, 2023, several macroeconomic factors were reshaping how popular media was produced and consumed:
HBO’s television adaptation of the hit video game was nearing its first-season finale in late February. The show dominated weekly pop culture discourse, breaking the "video game adaptation curse" and setting a new benchmark for how interactive media could be translated into prestige television.
The question for creators and consumers is no longer "What is good?" but rather "What is next?"
