Educated guesses, smart takes and back-of-the napkin math on what entertainment industry insiders will be talking about in the next 12 months.
THR Illustration; images: Adobe Stock, Michael Buckner
YouTube decimates TV. Netflix buys Warner Bros. Bob Iger ties Disney to a boundary-pushing AI startup. Donald Trump picks which media moguls rule, gets broadcast newsrooms to pay him massive legal settlements and strong-arms studios to drop inclusion and diversity efforts. Given the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction year we just lived through, forecasting 2026 may be a fool’s errand. But, below, The Hollywood Reporter‘s journalists have a few educated guesses and smart takes about what the next year may have in store for the entertainment industry.
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Disney + Taylor Swift
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Disney’s next big acquisition will shock the world in 2026. The purchase? Taylor Swift — for a cool $4 billion, the same price it paid for Lucasfilm in 2012. Well, not quite Swift herself, but a 360-degree Swift production and live event company that encompasses touring, film, TV, merchandising, experiential and future IP. Something with a catchy name (Evermore Entertainment, SwiftCo., etc) over which the ultimate showgirl will retain full creative control and veto power. In exchange, Disney+ will become the exclusive home to Swift content — an ever-expanding universe of concert docs, songwriting rooms and other behind-the-scenes exclusives. The deal will also see the “Fate of Ophelia” singer moving into scripted entertainment with a slate of interconnected streaming series and theatrical features — the Swift Cinematic Universe (SCU). Disney’s consumer products division will…
