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From Fear to Skepticism to Hope, Top Producers React to Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger at the PGA Awards

Some of Hollywood’s most prolific and established producers weighed in on the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger Saturday night at as they walked the red carpet at the Producers Guild Awards in Los Angeles.

“It’s sad. A lot of people will lose their jobs unfortunately, which is no good, but [Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO] David Ellison love movies. He’ll make a lot of movies, which is a good thing,” said industry veteran Jerry Bruckheimer, who was nominated at the PGAs for producing Apple’s “F1: The Movie.”

Does Bruckheimer think it’s possible for Ellison to live up to his promise of releasing 30 theatrical films a year? “He could certainly try,” he said. “At least he’s trying rather than saying, ‘I’ll make five movies.’”

Jerry Bruckheimer on the “F1” sequel and the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger: “It’s sad that a lot of people will lose their jobs, but David Ellison loves movies and will make a lot of movies, which is a good thing.” #PGAAwards pic.twitter.com/5yBXX57RAZ

— Variety (@Variety) March 1, 2026

Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to be acquired by Paramount Skydance in a $110 billion deal reached on Friday after Netflix decided to back out of its bid for the studio.

Jason Blum, this year’s recipient of the Milestone Award at the PGAs, said he believes “it’s an overblown thing about the consolidation.”

He pointed to a decade ago when Netflix, Amazon and Apple were just starting to rev up their activities in film and TV.

READ MORE: ‘One Battle After Another’ Takes Producers Guild Award as Paul Thomas Anderson Pays Emotional Tribute to Warner Bros. Pictures Chiefs

“So there are three major new buyers so I think it’s not surprised that studios would consolidate,” Blum said. “But I believe David really really believes in the theatrical business and loves movies and I think he’s going to take very good care of Warner Bros.”

Blum acknowledged the “real fear” of people losing their jobs due to the merger. “There’s nothing worse than that,” he said. “That’s an absolute real fear and you know, the only thing that can stop that is the government, but that is a real fear. That is always a downside of consolidation.”

This year’s Norman Lear Achievement Award honoree Mara Brock Akil said there are still too many unknowns for her to form a definitive opinion. “I think that’s the scary part of it,” she said. “What do you do when you’re scared – crawl in the corner or take action? I think we need to decide who we want to be as a community, as artists and have a conversation with clearly what’s going to be the most powerful studio in the world…We need to start that now.”

Charles Roven isn’t exactly feeling bad for Netflix losing to Paramount. “Paramount – the Ellisons –were incredibly aggressive. Ted [Sarandos] made a nice deal for himself in picking up $2.8 billion for the breakup fee so no one’s crying for him,” he said. “We’ll see what happens because there’s still a lot of steps to do. It’s going to be interesting to see how all the different states and the Department of Justice look at the transaction because…Paramount and Skydance have things that Warner Bros. have – CNN and CBS, HBO Max and Paramount+.”

Roven, whose credits include about a dozen Batman and Superman movies at Warner Bros., believes the combined studios could release 30 movies a year – if the studios remain somewhat independent of each other. “If [Ellison] keeps Warners separate from Paramount, it’s conceivably possible,” he said. “I just think it’s going to be challenging depending on how dominate of a presence a guy at the top – and David is on the top – is going to be because he’s not going to have time to actually get granular on 30 movies. I don’t think. Maybe his is that brilliant. I don’t know.”

Funny or Die CEO Mike Farah said he was hesitant to offer an opinion because he wants “to give people time to figure it out.”

But then he said, “Generally speaking, many people – and I agree with them – believe this isn’t great for Hollywood because it is a form of consolidation and that will have impact. There is much disruption and change right now that I just want to take a beat, let’s see if any of it goes through – it probably will – and then let’s just take people at their words,” Farah said.

“Hamnet” producer Pippa Harris worries that she’ll have one less studio to pitch her wares. “Hopefully, whoever ends up running Warner Bros. they will keep it as an active successful studio and making the kind of movies they’ve been successful with this year,” she said.

(Pictured: Jason Blum, Mara Brock Akil and Jerry Bruckheimer)

March 1, 2026
HBO’s ‘DTF St. Louis’ Is a Perversely Hilarious Spin on an Erotic Thriller: TV Review

It is both an ineffective sales pitch and generally accurate to call “DTF St. Louis” the unsexiest erotic thriller ever made. The HBO limited series, all seven episodes of which were written and directed by “Patriot” creator Steven Conrad, combines sex, murder and betrayal in the entanglements between Clark (Jason Bateman), his new friend Floyd (David Harbour) and Floyd’s wife Carol (Linda Cardellini). But “DTF St. Louis” sets this story against an exquisitely banal backdrop to uncanny, off-kilter and ultimately hilarious effect.

The series’ first image is of Clark, a local weatherman, commuting to work on his recumbent bike, as dorky a mode of transportation as has ever been invented. Brands like Purina (where Carol works in the corporate office), Outback Steakhouse (where Clark and Floyd go on their first friend date) and Jamba Juice (where Clark gets his daily Go-Getter smoothie for an afternoon pick-me-up) are invoked to set the tone. St. Louis itself — though our heroes actually live in the fictional suburb of Twyla — is seemingly selected for its total lack of glamor or noirish allure.

“DTF St. Louis” is the second HBO series in six months, after Tim Robinson’s “The Chair Company,” to heighten the bland normality of suburban life into a staging ground for absurdist humor with its own distinct cadence. In fact, an early entry in my notes reads “Tim Robinson but quiet” — there’s a Robinsonian rhythm to simple, quirkily phrased lines of dialogue like “You want my dreams, at the Quality Garden Suites?” But Conrad’s characters aren’t loud, blustering oafs designed to explore masculine bravado, even if that’s part of what’s going on here; when Clark and Floyd, an on-air ASL interpreter, meet while covering a cyclone, the ensuing bromance has shades of “Step Brothers.” The central trio are mild-mannered people in economic and spiritual malaise of the sort that drives Clark and Carol to strike up an affair, and leads Floyd to wind up dead by a poisoned (and canned) Bloody Mary.

“The White Lotus” creator Mike White has described the dead body that opens each season as a kind of Trojan horse, successfully leveraging a murder mystery to a mass audience for the adult relationship dramedies that were already White’s stock in trade. “DTF St. Louis” feels like a potentially similar bait-and-switch for Conrad, even if Missouri may have less immediate allure than the Maui beaches of “The White Lotus” Season 1. Who killed Floyd and why is a simple, easy-to-understand framework for the story, driven in the present tense by investigating detectives Donoghue (Richard Jenkins, a masterful straight man) and Jodie (Joy Sunday). (Much of the show takes place in nonlinear flashbacks that fill in the gaps of Clark, Carol and Floyd’s dangerous liaisons.) While I can’t predict its popular success, the genre and HBO-Sunday-night perch of “DTF St. Louis” seem destined for at least a broader reach than Conrad’s prior CV of shows with a small but fiercely loyal audience. Ever heard of the stop-motion noir musical “Ultra City Smiths,” which aired for a single season on AMC+? If you haven’t, someone in your life is probably happy to wax rhapsodic.

“DTF St. Louis,” it should be said, is the name of an app catering to married but nonmonogamy-curious users in the titular urban area. Clark, whose early bird schedule has interfered with his sex life, initially pitches Floyd on joint exploration. Once Clark takes up with Carol, however, it’s Floyd who dives in, recounting his exploits in breathless detail for Clark’s vicarious enjoyment. Like Floyd’s job, which involves tasks as disparate as communicating the severity of a weather event to dancing along at a pop concert, or the St. Louis Sheriff’s Department severe Brutalist headquarters, the hyper-local app’s existence is a clue the show takes place in a universe that’s not exactly our own.

Another indication is how frankly, if dispassionately, everyone talks about sex. “Porn is a part of my marital sex life,” Jodie flatly informs Donoghue, her coworker. In recounting one of his app encounters, Floyd clinically says he “withdrew my ass” to politely signal a lack of interest. Though the deadpan delivery is clearly comedic, “DTF St. Louis” takes its subjects’ desires seriously; the roleplay Clark and Carol undertake in their rendezvous is too psychologically specific to be simply a gag. The result is an impressive balancing act: to joke around and about sex without making sex the punchline.

To pull it off, Conrad has the assistance of an exemplary cast. Last year, I criticized the Netflix series “Black Rabbit”, in which Bateman played a good-for-nothing troublemaker, for failing to realize the actor works best with bad guys who hide their flaws beneath a pleasant facade. Here, thankfully, he’s right back in his sweet spot. We don’t know whether Clark actually hurt Floyd, but at minimum, he’s the type of guy who lies to his wife about conducting a “Safety Sesh” on a swing set so he can ogle his neighbor. But as our perceptions of Clark shift with various revelations, Bateman masterfully modifies his bearing from blandly sinister to sweetly sincere and back again. The credits sequence alone, in which Bateman karate chops in slow motion to The Fifth Dimension, is an Emmy reel in miniature.

Harbour, for his part, seems to relish the reprieve from limiting, if lucrative, family genre fare like “Stranger Things” and the MCU. Saddled with 30 extra pounds and thousands in unpaid tax debt, Floyd is a bashful, self-conscious guy who nonetheless can’t help telling Clark about his penis deformity in their first-ever conversation. Harbour gives him both a childlike naivete and flashes of confidence, the qualities combining to help him connect with Carol’s socially maladjusted son Richard (Arlan Ruf). Clark may be cuckolding his much less financially secure friend, yet we still understand that Floyd, too, has something to contribute to their relationship. (Here is the space where I acknowledge that Harbour recently made headlines as the target of Lily Allen’s scathing breakup album “West End Girl,” about…sexual infidelity in a modern marriage. Does that have any real bearing on his work here? No! Is the parallel still too glaring to ignore? Yes!)

Cardellini’s Carol is, by design, the most opaque of the three. (Bateman and Harbour also executive produce, whereas Cardellini does not.) After the first couple episodes are framed from the men’s point of view, her perspective is the last to arrive. Until then, we get a former Don Draper mistress reentering seductress mode, with a “DTF St. Louis” twist: Carol and Floyd’s sex life has fizzled because she’s taken on a side hustle as a Little League umpire and he finds her getup, which we’re treated to at every possible ungainly angle, unattractive; the way Carol slices a carrot puts Kendall Jenner’s cucumber knifework to shame. Cardellini is equally plausible as a femme fatale and a woman who likely has an active Nextdoor profile.

As performers, Cardellini, Harbour and Bateman have the chemistry that their awkward, alienated characters sometimes don’t. “DTF St. Louis” isn’t exactly cringe comedy, but it is idiosyncratic enough that I expect some will find the show a tough sell; it certainly took me a few episodes to acclimate to Conrad’s stilted, precisely crafted world. That the performances are all so calibrated to each other’s wavelengths, if not a bewildered viewer’s, is an indication that “DTF St. Louis” is achieving its own goals, however inscrutable they are to an outsider. When I reached the end of the four episodes provided to critics, I was down for more — if not in the way the show’s title suggests.

“DTF St. Louis” will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on March 1 at 9 p.m. ET, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Sundays.

March 1, 2026
A closer look at Honor’s Robot Phone

While Honor has already made plenty of product announcements, with tablets, foldables and more, its most interesting device at MWC 2026 is the Robot Phone — and maybe the humanoid robot that came alongside it.

After briefly showing off a model at CES, Honor isn’t quite ready to launch its Robot Phone. However, we got more specs, tech demos and a closer look following the company’s MWC press event in Barcelona. The Robot Phone is currently set to launch later this year.

Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

Honor has put a lot of effort into ensuring its camera gimbal is highly mobile, to the point of creating a tiny personal robot that is, dare I say, adorable? The Robot Phone’s pop-up camera can cock its head, shake to say no, nod to agree, and even “flip” – or at least rotate 360 degrees. According to Honor’s presentation, it can even bop along to songs. A spokesperson told me that it’s got five songs in its repertoire, so it’s not clear whether they’re programmed for these kind of demos, or will be a feature of the final retail device.

Another demo here at MWC showed how you could make the Robot Phone “sleep” by covering its gimbal eye, though it’s odd that the camera is still exposed rather than folded away. My main concern with the Robot Phone is the robustness and durability of its robotic mechanisms. We’ve lived through several waves of smartphones that attempted much simpler mechanical camera functions and the threat of dust or heavy-handed users can’t be ignored.

Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

The company says it’s taken what it learned from foldables, regarding high-performance materials and simulation accuracy, and applied it to shrinking the camera module. On stage, Honor CEO James Li revealed what he calls the industry’s smallest micro motor, much smaller than a 1-euro coin and, he added, 70 percent smaller than existing micro motors.

As this component has been reduced substantially, the Robot Phone’s gimbal will be the industry’s smallest 4-degrees-of-freedom gimbal system. That’s a spec – we finally got a spec! It’ll also offer three-axis stabilization in this tiny camera package, with the primary camera using a 200-megapixel sensor.

The fold-away panel that the primary camera tucks into also reveals more typical cameras, so you’re not forced to use the gimbal if you don’t need it. Still, that’s one very thick camera unit:

Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

Honor has already started building out camera modes and features, with a Super Steady Video mode that enhances stability while swinging the Robot Phone around to capture video. AI Object Tracking will apparently intelligently follow subjects, while AI SpinShot supports intelligent 90-degree and 180-degree rotational movement for more cinematic transitions. We’ve seen these sorts of pre-programmed movements and functions in full-size phone gimbals and action cams. If Honor can nail it in such a tiny form, it’ll be impressive.

Other specifications during Honor’s press event were sparse, although the company announced a collaboration with ARRI Image Science to bring its cinematic smarts to the Robot Phone’s gimbal camera.

In a press release, Honor’s Li said the collaboration would bring ARRI’s “cinematic standards and professional workflows” into mobile imaging. It’s apparently the first time elements of ARRI Image Science are being integrated into a consumer device. Dr. Benedikt von Lindeiner, VP at ARRI, said the goal is to bring a true cinematic aesthetic, such as “natural color, gentle highlight roll-off, and a sense of depth,” to shooting with an Honor smartphone.

Image by Mat Smith

Honor also made a humanoid robot companion for its Robot Phone. The bot took to the stage alongside the Robot Phone, danced alongside human dancers, did a backflip and shook hands with CEO James Li. It didn’t say a thing, but fortunately, during some on-the-rails banter between the robot, Robot Phone and Honor’s CEO, the Robot Phone was particularly chatty.

Like the many humanoid robots we’ve reported on and seen in person, Honor hopes to put it to work in both industrial and domestic settings, pitching it as a central part of the company’s multi-million-dollar push into AI. For now, it’s being called Honor Robot.

March 1, 2026
Claims Spread That X Banned Cryptocurrency Ads: Here’s the Truth
Claims that social media platform X has included the cryptocurrency sector among the banned industries under its Paid Collaboration Policy have been found to be untrue.

It has been confirmed that reports circulating within the community that the crypto sector was banned from promotion as of March 1st are not based on any new regulations.

According to web-archive records, the cryptocurrency sector has been among the “industries ineligible for paid partnership promotion” since at least June 2024. This indicates that the ban is not a new decision.

Comparing the 2024 policy text with the current most up-to-date version, there is no change regarding the cryptocurrency sector’s inclusion in the prohibited category. However, some technical and administrative updates are noteworthy:
- Previously, paid content required the use of the “#ad (Advertisement)” tag, but the new text now mandates that the content be explicitly labeled as “Ad” or “Content Promotion”.
- While notifications were previously sent via email, the new regulation stipulates that this should be done through a form.
- A provision has been added to the current policy text stating that exceptions may be granted in certain circumstances.
Posts circulating within the crypto community claiming that X has “declared the crypto sector a new off-limits industry with its latest policy” are considered misinformation in light of archival records. The crypto sector has been among the industries ineligible for paid collaboration promotions since June 2024.

*This is not investment advice.
March 1, 2026
Everything announced at MWC 2026: Honor’s Robot Phone, the new Leica Leitzphone by Xiaomi, and more

MWC 2026 officially gets underway on March 2 and will continue through March 5, but the announcements are already coming ahead of its start. We can always count on the annual tech event to bring tons of new phones, laptops and tablets, and we’re expecting to see some robots and other gadgets too — plus plenty of AI news, of course. In addition to the announcements, MWC is our chance to get hands-on time with some of the most interesting new devices, like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra and Honor’s Robot Phone.

Engadget’s Mat Smith is on the ground in Barcelona, and we’ll be updating this story as the week goes on to keep you in the loop on everything that caught our attention. Keep checking back here for the latest MWC news.

Honor

The Robot Phone. (Image by Mat Smith for Engadget)

Honor teased its Robot Phone this past fall and we just finally got a proper look at it at MWC. And it’s pretty freakin’ cute. The phone is equipped with a camera that’s mounted on a highly mobile 4-degrees-of-freedom gimbal, which tucks away into a compartment on the back when it’s not in use (making for a pretty beefy camera bump). In a demo at MWC, the camera, which behaves like a little robot head, bobbed along to music and showed off some of its gesture skills, like cocking its “head” and nodding in agreement.

Honor didn’t reveal too much spec-wise, but the company says the primary camera uses a 200-megapixel sensor. The gimbal will offer three-axis stabilization, which will be coupled with camera modes such as Super Steady Video and AI Object Tracking. The Robot Phone isn’t quite ready for release at the moment, but the company says it will launch later this year.

Be sure to check out Mat Smith’s writeup on the Robot Phone for a more in-depth look.

Honor’s humanoid robot. (Image by Mat Smith for Engadget) (Image by Mat Smith)

It’s not a humanoid robot reveal without some backflips and a choreographed dance performance. Honor introduced its robot at MWC with all the spectacle we’ve come to expect (though the bot didn’t do any talking). It’s simply called the Honor Robot, and the company has plans for it to be used in both industrial and domestic settings.

Honor Magic V6 (Honor)

The Robot Phone isn’t the only phone Honor showed off at MWC. The company also announced its Magic V6 smartphone, which it says is the thinnest phone in its category, measuring 8.75mm folded and 4.0mm open in the white colorway. The other three colors — black, gold and red — are slightly thicker, at 9mm folded and 4.1mm open.

Not too much has changed from the V5, though, which only came out in August 2025. It does however have the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with 16GB RAM and 512 GB storage. As for the cameras, there are two 50-megapixel lenses and a 64-megapixel telephoto, plus a 20-megapixel f/2.2 selfie lens on the cover and internal display.

The international version of the Magic V6 will have a 6660mAh battery with 25 percent silicon content, while the version sold only in China will boast a battery with a rated capacity of more than 7000mAh and 32 percent silicon content. Honor hasn’t yet shared details about pricing and availability.

Honor MagicPad (Honor)

Ahead of MWC, Honor also announced what it claims is the thinnest Android tablet in the world: the 4.8mm thick MagicPad 4. We’re expecting to hear more about this at Honor’s press conference on Sunday, but so far we know it features a 12.3-inch 165Hz OLED display and weighs just 450g. It comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. The thinness doesn’t count the camera bump, Honor notes. The MagicPad 4 has 13MP rear and 9MP front cameras. It also boasts spatial audio, with eight speakers.

Just as the display is slightly smaller than the previous MagicPad, the MagicPad 4 has a smaller battery at 10100 mAh. It comes with a 66W fast charger. The MagicPad 4 will run Honor’s MagicOS 10. We don’t yet know how much it will cost, but we’ll update this after Honor’s press conference (where we’re also expecting to see the company’s robot) with any new details.

Xiaomi x Leica

Mat Smith for Engadget

Xiaomi kicked off MWC this year by announcing the global launch of its 17 Ultra smartphone, which debuted first in China back in December. It’s unclear if the phone will ever come to the US, but it’s now rolling out in Europe. Xiaomi teamed up again with Leica to make a photography-focused smartphone, and the 17 Ultra sports a 1-inch 50-megapixel camera sensor with a f/1.67 lens, a telephoto setup with a 200MP 1/1.4-inch sensor, and a 50MP ultrawide camera. There’s also a manual zoom ring around the camera.

Check out our hands on for our first impressions of what it’s like shooting with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. And there’s more to it than just the camera. The 17 Ultra has a 6.9-inch OLED 120 Hz display that peaks at 3,500 nits of brightness, and a 6000mAh silicon-carbon battery. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra starts at £1,299 (roughly $1,750).

Leica also announced a new phone made in partnership with Xiaomi at MWC. It looks a whole lot like Xiaomi’s 17 Ultra, but isn’t the 17 Ultra, exactly.

Leica Leitzphone by Xiaomi hands-on at MWC 2026 (Image by Mat Smith for Engadget)

Like the 17 Ultra, Leica’s Leitzphone by Xiaomi has a 1-inch camera sensor and physical controls for zoom and other settings, using a mechanical ring around the camera unit. It features a Leica-designed intuitive camera interface with the option to show just the essentials when you’re shooting, hiding all the modes and labels. There’s a monochrome shooting mode and Leica filters.

The Leica branding is splashed all over it in design and wallpapers, but it’s otherwise pretty similar to the 17 Ultra, with the same specs. Like the 17 Ultra, it has a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and a 6.9-inch 120Hz display. This one’s priced at €1,999 (roughly $2,362).

The Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro (Xiaomi)

In addition to the 17 Ultra, Xiaomi announced two new tablets at MWC this year: the Xiaomi Pad 8 and Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but they’re lightweight and thin, with both being 5.75mm thick and weighing 485g, and have a 9200mAh battery. The Pro model is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, while the regular Pad 8 uses the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset.

Xiaomi also unveiled a new 5000mAh powerbank, the UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 15W. The 6mm thick power bank comes in three colors with an aluminum alloy shell: orange, silver and charcoal gray. Along with that, the company introduced the Xiaomi Tag, its own take on the Bluetooth item tracker. The Xiaomi Tag has a built-in hanging loop so it can be attached directly to a keyring, and the company says it will work with both Apple Find My and Google’s Find Hub for Android.

Tecno

Tecno

We can always expect to see some wild phone concepts at MWC, and this year we’re starting with one from Tecno. The company unveiled a modular concept smartphone design that can be as thin as 4.9mm in its base configuration. There’d be 10 modules to choose from based on the announcement, including various camera lenses, a gaming attachment and a power bank, relying on magnets to keep it all together — or Modular Magnetic Interconnection Technology, as Tecno is calling it.

March 1, 2026
Strategy lifts STRC dividend to 11.5% as MSTR extends monthly losing streak to 8

Leading bitcoin BTC$67,086.98 treasury company Strategy has again raised the dividend on its STRC (“Stretch”) preferred series.

Led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, the firm lifted the annualized payout by 25 basis points to 11.5%.

While STRC to this point has performed as hoped by the company — continuing to trade in a tight range close to $100 — Strategy’s common stock, MSTR, has floundered alongside the price of bitcoin.

MSTR closed February with its eighth consecutive monthly decline, falling 14% as bitcoin tumbled nearly 20%.

Stretch is meant for steady income

Strategy describes STRC as a short-duration, high-yield savings account. This latest dividend increase marks the seventh since STRC began trading in July 2025.

A perpetual preferred stock that pays monthly cash distributions, the STRC dividend rate is set each month to help the shares trade close to their $100 par value and to limit price volatility. STRC closed at $100 on Friday but had traded somewhat below that level during part of February’s brutal month for crypto, necessitating the payout boost.

March 1, 2026
‘Real Housewives of Potomac’: Bravo Exec on Season 10’s Legal Scandals and What Really Happened With the Colorado Trip

The Real Housewives of Potomac will put a cap on its 10th season Sunday night, though it was the offscreen activities orbiting the show that have clouded its discourse.

Missing from the cast this year was Karen Huger, an original Housewife who joined during season one’s 2016 debut. She was absent because she was serving jail time tied to a DUI and DWI. And five days after RHOP season 10 premiered, Wendy Osefo and her husband were arrested and booked on 16 insurance fraud charges.

Legal scandals aside, Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, Stacey Rusch and Keiarna Stewart, alongside Osefo, , whose arrest occurred after filming had wrapped. Alongside mainstay Karen’s truancy, season 10 also included new additions Tia Glover and Angel Massie. Monique Samuels, a former Potomac Housewife, also returned in the “friend of” role.

Potomac is one in Bravo’s repertoire bursting with hidden gem moments from the Real Housewives filmography. The series is not based amid the glitz and glamour of Beverly Hills or the hustle-heavy streets of New York City, which Joshua Brown, vice president of unscripted production NBCUniversal, cites may be a reason for RHOP’s underrated reputation.

“Obviously, Potomac, [Maryland,] is not a huge city. It’s not a metropolis. It’s a very well-to-do suburb,” he says. “We like to, as people have certain expectations, surprise them with how entertaining and fun the show is. … It’s hard to compare when you just say the words Potomac versus New York or Atlanta. Those are gigantic cities, and we were sneaking up.”

It’s undeniable for Bravo fans not to take a look at RHOP nowadays, partly because of the legal attention circulating the series. It’s an unfortunate attraction, though as viewers tuned in to watch Karen’s awaited return in the final season 10 episode (plus the third part of the reunion, which airs Sunday) and Wendy’s addressing of her arrest, plenty of drama unfolded.

Freshman Housewife Angel delivered one of, if not the, most controversial group trips in Real Housewives lore. Inviting the women to her award-winning home in Colorado, the women were swiftly informed they were not staying in their friend’s house, but instead a separate house an hour away from her headquarters. Only Tia and Keiarna were invited to stay alongside Angel.

“I know that the women, or at least some of the women, genuinely thought they were going to all be staying at Angel’s house going into the trip,” Brown says. “They were genuinely surprised.”

Then havoc ensued.

After learning they weren’t staying together in one location as a cast, as Housewives typically do on trips, the running water in the guest home stopped working. And having to travel over an hour via car to meet up with Angel was an added layer of annoyance for the Potomac women.

The Housewives were outwardly angry with Angel for not providing suitable arrangements for their trip. But how did such a situation arise?

It’s understood that production typically foots part of the bill for Real Housewives’ trips, leaving the option for the women to cover additional expenses. Production’s involvement in paying for cast extravaganzas is something Monique brought up in a confessional interview during season 10.

“While the network covers certain expenses, it is our job as a host to be in line with production every step of the way,” Monique said in the interview clip while the cast was critiquing Angel’s accommodations. “I gave a list of activities, because why? My name’s on it,” she adding, referring to a trip she hosted in earlier seasons.

Brown declined to comment on production’s involvement with payment of Real Housewives trips. Though he notes that “the team really looked to her to help guide, in terms of activities and lodging,” which is what happens when a woman’s name is attached as the “leader” of said trip.

“Every year, not just on Potomac but Housewives in general, if someone is hosting the trip and ‘owning’ the trip, it’s really on them to take the lead in planning. We love when our cast members take ownership of a trip and really put their heart into it,” he explains. “Angel is from the area. She lives there. She has a house there. I know the team really looked to her to help guide, in terms of activities and lodging. She really took the lead on this trip, very much so particularly because she and her husband own a luxury travel company as well. The team really did organically rely on them for taking the lead.”

Aside from the Colorado controversy, most everyone in the cast seemed to be at odds with standout Stacey. After joining in season nine, this year served as her sophomore installment, a run that Vanity Fair recognized as part of their best performances of 2025 list. (She was the only Bravo-related talent featured on said list.)

The ethos of Stacey’s stint on RHOP being labeled a “performance” was posed as a question by Andy Cohen: “Stacey, do you consider what you do on the show to be a performance? One could say that is exactly what these ladies take issue with when it comes to you.”

But aren’t all Housewives, in some form or the other, performing on their respective shows? Sure, the show wasn’t conceptualized with hopes of Teresa Giudice flipping a table or Lisa Rinna smashing a wine glass on a table to solidify the franchise as an icon of the reality TV space, but it’s 2026 — there’s no need to deny the notion that Housewives are keen to put on a show for the cameras.

Brown, however, insists “it’s best if we don’t feel Housewives performing.” He adds, “I would say Bravo wants cast members where what you see on the screen is what you’re going to get in real life. If you met someone at BravoCon or on the street, I would hope they would feel like the same person that you see on screen.”

Addressing the elephant in the RHOP conversation, which the cast and Cohen get deep into in the reunion, the series’ passing legal controversies were an undeniable marker of season 10. Yes, it was a decade-marking year for the Potomac-based series, but it felt different with longtime leader Karen holding a champagne flute in the main title.

“With an amazing cast member like Karen, she’s always missed. I can’t say that we weren’t thinking about her. We missed her, for sure,” the vp of unscripted production at NBCUniversal notes. “However, I think we also had so much other amazing story going on. And the other women stepped it up in her absence.”

Among the stories led by the cast were Ashley’s frowned upon hook-up with former Potomac Housewife Charrisse Jackson Jordan’s son (which didn’t happen on the installment but was merely brought up); Keiarna’s moving back in with her boyfriend Greg who, instead of popping the question like she wanted, gifts her a picture frame as a move-in gift; and Stacey’s recommitment to her ex-husband whom she just divorced.

Karen and Wendy’s mostly offscreen conflict drove intrigue for season 10. The former Housewife’s release from jail on Sept. 2 was filmed as the final episode of the installment, alongside a sit-down interview with Cohen.

After filming had seemingly wrapped following Karen’s bonus episode, news of the Osefos arrest broke. One week after said arrest, they filmed a short segment that was featured in part one of the reunion.

Karen’s reintroduction and Wendy’s commitment to appearances (be that at BravoCon 2025 and to film the season 10 reunion) have drawn in backlash.

“We’ve been really happy to see how [Karen’s] doing since being released from prison, and really support her on the journey,” Brown says of Karen’s appearance at the end of season 10. He declined to comment on whether or not she will be reinstated as a full-time cast member for a potential season 11, or any of the women’s status. “But I’m a big fan of Karen’s and big supporter, and I’m rooting for her always,” Brown adds.

As for how his team navigated news of Wendy’s arrest, Brown says, “When something so kind of surprising and earth shattering happens with one of our series, we really put on our documentary hats and really just try and follow what’s really going on as best we can. We’re just following the events and what’s happening in real time, just like everyone else is as they’ve heard about it.”

Of her appearance on the reunion, where her charges were dissected and not shied away from the women to discuss, Brown notes, “I’ve always admired Wendy’s strength of character, and I continue to admire it. I think she is speaking her truth.”

With no confirmation on an 11th season, from an outside perspective, it appears the cast is rather disjointed. Brown acknowledges that this sentiment oftentimes arises “particularly at the end of seasons,” and he anticipates the ladies of Potomac will be able to regroup amid much divisive times.

“The women of Real Housewives of Potomac have an amazing ability always to come back together and to move forward when you think it’s not possible,” he asserts. “I’m optimistic for the future of this group. … Going into a second decade, I’m hoping we can graduate a level deeper with everyone’s stories, so that viewers can keep learning new incredible things about these women.”

“But I would never bet against them. That’s all I can say,” Brown concludes.

Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Potomac three-part reunion concludes Sunday, March 1, at 8 p.m. Uncensored reunion episodes will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.

March 1, 2026
Box Office: ‘Scream 7’ Scares Up Record $64M U.S. Opening, $97M Globally for a Victorious Paramount.

The good news continues for Paramount as Scream 7 blew past all expectations at the domestic box office, where the Spyglass Media pic open to $64.1 million domestically, a franchise-best and the year’s biggest launch to date. In North America, it’s also one of the biggest starts since Zootopia 2 after all but matching the debit of Avatar: Fire & Ash.

Friday’s haul of $28.8 million includes $7.8 million in Thursday previews, which began just as David Ellison’s Paramount-Skydance learned the path has been cleared for the company to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal that has left Hollywood rocked to its core after Netflix stepped away. The merger — which would mark be the biggest leveraged buyout in history — is bittersweet for many since it will see the number of legacy Hollywood studios dwindle from five to four and result in massive layoffs across film, television and corporate operations.

Back to Scream 7. The droves of moviegoers rushing to see the pic prove once again why many genre titles are generally review-proof. The pic — whose major coup was getting Neve Campbell to return after sitting out the last installment — currently sits at a series-worst 33 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, but the RT audience score is a good-enough 78 percent (studios generally want to see 80 percent and above). And it earned a B- CinemaScore; its predecessors likewise earned some variation of a B, which is a high grade for a horror title.

The demo breakdown couldn’t be better. The male split and females was relatively narrow, while the audience was notably diverse. Gen Zers of all ages and younger Millennials turned out in force.

Globally, Scream 7 launched to $33.1 million from 52 markets for a global start of $97.2 million, likewise ahead of expectations.

While Ellison’s hand-picked Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein inherited the Spyglass project, they, along with newly installed marketing head Josh Goldstine, successfully carried it over the finish line. Spyglass fully produced the movie, with Paramount co-financing half of the net $45 million budget.

Heading into the weekend, Paramount was forecasting a $40 million launch for the slasher pic, which would have still marked the best three-day launch of the year to date. Tracking was more bullish, with the National Research Group projecting $45 million. As of now, Scream VI, which launched to $44.4 million in March 2023, is the record-holder for the series’ top opener, not adjusted for inflation.

Scream 7 has another secret weapon in its arsenal — it will be the first installment to play in Imax. It is also booked across all other premium formats. Combined, they are ponying up 40 percent of the grosses. Imax doesn’t generally turn over most of its footprint to a horror title, but the 2026 pipeline to date has been relatively sparse when it comes to event studio product.

Kevin Williamson, who wrote the script for the original Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 4, directs the seventh installment. The story follows Sidney (Campbell) as she returns to a small town with her daughter (Isabel May), only to soon cross paths with a new Ghostface killer. The girl is named Tatum, the same name as Rose McGowan’s character in the 1996’s Scream, who was murdered.

A trailer released in October focused on Ghostface targeting Sidney and Tatum, with Sidney teaching her daughter the rules of surviving the brutal killer. Another ad played during the Super Bowl, underscoring how important the franchise is to the new regime at Paramount. In addition to Campbell, original star Courteney Cox returns as reporter Gale Weathers.

While Campbell’s return marks a highly anticipated moment for fans, two stars of the revival films Scream (2022) and Scream VI will not be back. Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream 7 because of her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war. Jenna Ortega had already left the film voluntarily before the firing, though it was not made public until after. Christopher Landon, who was set to direct the horror sequel, also exited amid intense fan backlash after Barrera’s firing, despite not being the one to fire the actress.

Other franchise stars returning include David Arquette as Dewey Riley, completing the legacy trio alongside Sidney and Gale. Matthew Lillard, one of the original co-Ghostface killers, is coming back as Stu Macher, as well as Scott Foley, Scream 3‘s Ghostface Roman Bridger — Sidney’s half-brother. Siblings Chad and Mindy, played by Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown, are also in Scream 7.

Among holdovers, Sony Picture Animated’ GOAT looks to gross $11 million to $12 million for a second-place finish as it finally pulls safely ahead of Warner Bros.’ Wuthering Heights, which is aiming for $7 million to $8 million. (Both titles are in their third weekend.)

After that, it is anybody’s guess where the next four movies will land, since they are all estimated to earn in the $3 million to $3.5 million range: the new concert doc Twenty Pilots: I Can’t Believe This is My Life, which is booked in more than 770 cinemas, including select Imax runs; Amazon MGM’s holdover Crime 101; Lionsgate’s I Can Only Imagine 2; and Baz Luhrmann‘s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.

From leading indie outfit Neon, Luhrmann’s pic is expanding nationwide this weekend after opening to a strong $3.3 million from 325 Imax runs a week ago. It is now playing in 1,608 locations, and received a coveted A+ CinemaScore from audiences on Friday after already earning glowing reviews. It opens four years after the filmmaker’s acclaimed biopic Elvis, starring Austin Butler, became the talk of the town.

Feb. 25, 7:20 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.

This story was originally published Feb. 27 at 8:59 a.m.

March 1, 2026
The US-Israeli war on Iran could rewrite Gulf security calculations

The United States-Israeli war on Iran is just one day old, and it is already clear it will have a profound impact on the Middle East and the Gulf in particular. The US-Israeli bombardment of Iran has killed a number of high-ranking officials as well as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Tehran has responded by attacking not just Israel but also various countries in the region.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman were all struck by Iranian missiles or drones, even though none of these countries had launched attacks on Iran from their territory. Various sites across these states were targeted, including US military bases, airports, ports and even commercial areas.

If the conflict drags on, it could become a real turning point for the Gulf – one that reshapes how states think about security, alliances and even their long-term economic futures.

For years, Gulf stability has leaned on a familiar set of assumptions: The United States remained the dominant security guarantor; rivalry with Iran was managed, contained and kept below the threshold of full confrontation; and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – despite its disagreements – provided enough coordination to prevent regional politics from unravelling entirely. A sustained conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran would strain all of that at once. It would push Gulf capitals to revisit not only their defence planning but also the deeper logic of their regional strategy.

In recent years, Gulf diplomacy had already been shifting – carefully, quietly and with a strong preference for hedging rather than choosing sides. The Saudi-Iran thaw brokered by China in 2023, the UAE’s pragmatic channels with Tehran and Oman’s steady mediation role all point to the same idea: Stability requires dialogue, even when mistrust runs deep. Qatar has also kept doors open, betting on diplomacy and de-escalation as a way to reduce risk.

But a prolonged war would make that balancing act much harder to sustain. Pressure would rise from Washington to show clearer alignment. Domestic opinion would demand firmer answers about where national interests truly stand. Regional polarisation would intensify. In that kind of environment, strategic ambiguity stops looking like smart flexibility and starts looking like vulnerability because everyone wants you to pick a side.

The economic shockwaves could be just as significant. Any extended conflict tied to Iran immediately puts maritime chokepoints back at the centre of global attention, especially the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most sensitive arteries in the world economy. Even limited disruptions could trigger sharp energy price increases, higher insurance and shipping costs, and renewed investor anxiety.

Yes, higher oil prices could boost revenues in the short term, but sustained volatility carries a different cost. It could scare away long-term capital, complicate megaproject financing and raise borrowing costs at exactly the moment many Gulf states are trying to accelerate diversification.

There is also a longer-term strategic risk. Major consumers, especially in Asia, may decide that repeated instability is reason enough to speed up diversification away from Gulf energy resources. Over time, that would quietly reduce the region’s leverage, even if it remains a major energy supplier.

Inside the GCC, the war could either push states closer together or expose the cracks. The bloc has always moved between unity and rivalry, and a crisis doesn’t automatically produce cohesion. Different members have different threat perceptions and different comfort levels with risk. Oman and Qatar have typically valued mediation and communication channels with Tehran. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have leaned more heavily towards deterrence, even if both have recently invested in de-escalation. Kuwait tends to balance carefully and avoid hard positioning.

If the conflict escalates unpredictably, those differences could resurface and strain coordination. But the opposite outcome is also possible. The crisis could drive deeper cooperation on missile defence, intelligence sharing and maritime security. Which direction the GCC takes will depend less on outside pressure and more on whether member states see this as a moment to compete or a moment to close ranks.

Zooming out, a prolonged war would also accelerate larger geopolitical realignments. China and Russia would not remain passive. Beijing, deeply invested in Gulf energy flows and regional connectivity, may expand its diplomatic footprint and present itself as a stabilising intermediary. Moscow could exploit the turmoil to increase arms sales and leverage regional divisions.

Meanwhile, if US military engagement deepens but Washington’s political bandwidth narrows, Gulf states may find themselves in a complicated position – more dependent on American security support yet more cautious about relying on a single patron. That dynamic could produce a new pattern, something like conditional alignment, where Gulf capitals cooperate militarily with the US but widen their economic and diplomatic options to avoid overdependence.

The deepest change, though, may not be military or economic. It may be cultural, in strategic terms. The Gulf states have spent decades prioritising stability, modernisation and careful geopolitical manoeuvring. A sustained regional war could disrupt that model. It could force painful trade-offs between security imperatives and development ambitions, between diplomatic flexibility and alliance discipline, between the desire to avoid escalation and the reality of living next door to it.

That is why the Gulf now feels like it is standing at a crossroads. It could become the front line of a prolonged, great power-inflected confrontation – or it could leverage the diplomatic capital it has built to push for de-escalation while strengthening its defensive resilience. Either way, the outcome won’t just shape Gulf security thinking. It could influence the region’s entire political architecture for years – possibly decades – to come.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

March 1, 2026
How US-Israel attacks on Iran threaten the Strait of Hormuz, oil markets

The US-Israeli attacks on Iran have triggered swift retaliatory attacks from Tehran, targeting their assets in multiple Middle East countries, including Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Oman.

Analysts are warning of a spike in global oil prices after Iranian officials hinted at shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important maritime routes in the world.

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On Saturday, an official from the European Union told the Reuters news agency that vessels crossing the strait have been receiving very high frequency (VHF) transmissions from Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), saying “no ship is allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz”.

However, the EU official added, Iran has not officially closed the strait. Instead, several tanker owners have suspended oil and gas shipments through the strait amid the ongoing conflict in the region.

“Our ships will stay put for several days,” a top executive at a major trading desk told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Countries like Greece have also advised their vessels to avoid transiting through the waterway.

Any instability in this important maritime route could rattle economic stability worldwide.

So what is the Strait of Hormuz, and how will its closure impact oil prices?

Where is the Strait of Hormuz?

The Strait of Hormuz is located between Oman and the UAE on one side and Iran on the other. It links the Arabian/Persian Gulf, or just the Gulf, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea beyond.

It is 33km (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lane just 3km (2 miles) wide in either direction, making it vulnerable to attack.

Despite its narrow width, the channel accommodates the world’s largest crude carriers. Major oil and gas exporters in the Middle East rely on it to move supplies to international markets, while importing nations depend on its uninterrupted operation.

How much oil and gas pass through the strait?

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), about 20 million barrels of oil, worth about $500bn in annual global energy trade, transited through the Strait of Hormuz each day in 2024.

The crude oil passing through the strait originates from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The strait also plays a critical role in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade. According to the EIA, in 2024, roughly a fifth of global LNG shipments moved through the corridor, with Qatar accounting for the vast majority of those volumes.

Where does it all go?

The strait handles both oil and gas exports and imports.

Kuwait and the UAE import supplies sourced outside the Gulf, including shipments from the United States and West Africa.

The EIA estimated that in 2024, 84 percent of crude oil and condensate shipments transiting the strait headed to Asian markets. A similar pattern appears in the gas trade, with 83 percent of LNG volumes moving through the Strait of Hormuz destined for Asian destinations.

China, India, Japan and South Korea accounted for a combined 69 percent intake of all crude oil and condensate flows through the strait last year. Their factories, transport networks and power grids depend on uninterrupted Gulf energy.

A spike in oil prices will impact countries such as China, India and several Southeast Asian nations.

How would the Strait’s closure impact oil prices?

According to Iranian state media, the country’s Supreme National Security Council must make the final decision to close the strait, and it has to be ratified by the government.

But energy traders have been on high alert in recent weeks amid escalating tensions in the region – home to one of the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world. Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at Kpler, told Al Jazeera that since the war began on Saturday, there has been a sharp drop in vessel traffic through the strait.

“At the same time, the number of vessels idling on either side – in the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf – has surged, as shipowners grow increasingly concerned about maritime security risks following Tehran’s warning of a potential navigation closure,” he said.

“The Strait of Hormuz is critical to the global energy market, as roughly 30 percent of the world’s seaborne crude oil transits the waterway. In addition, nearly 20 percent of global jet fuel and about 16 percent of gasoline and naphtha flows also pass through the Strait,” Muyu said.

“On Sunday, an oil tanker was struck off the coast of Oman just hours ago, signalling a clear escalation of the conflict and a shift in targets from purely military facilities to energy assets.”

Shipping data showed that at least 150 tankers, including crude oil and liquefied natural gas vessels, have dropped anchor in open Gulf waters beyond the Strait of Hormuz.

The tankers were clustered in open waters off the coasts of major Gulf oil producers, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as LNG giant Qatar, according to the Reuters news agency estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.

Moreover, on Sunday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it is aware of “significant military activity” in the Strait and said it has ⁠received a report of an ⁠incident two nautical miles north of Oman’s Kumzar, located in the ‌Strait of Hormuz.

Muyu from Kpler said a broad range of energy infrastructure is now under threat. “This is expected to sharply intensify the oil price rally and could keep prices elevated for a sustained period, potentially longer than during last June’s conflict.”

Ali Vaez, director of the Iran project at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera, “Closure of the Strait of Hormuz would disrupt roughly a fifth of globally traded oil overnight – and prices wouldn’t just spike, they would gap violently upward on fear alone.”

“The shock would reverberate far beyond energy markets, tightening financial conditions, fuelling inflation, and pushing fragile economies closer to recession in a matter of weeks,” he added.

When the US and Israel bombed Iran last June, there was no direct disruption to maritime activity in the region.

What does it mean for the global economy?

Any disruption to energy flows through Hormuz will also impact the global economy, driving up fuel and factory costs.

Hamad Hussain, a climate and commodities economist at the United Kingdom-based firm Capital Economics, said that for the global economy, a sustained rise in oil prices would add upward pressure to inflation.

“If crude oil prices were to rise to $100 per barrel and remain at those levels for a while, that could add 0.6-0.7 percent to global inflation,” he said, noting that this would also lead to an increase in natural gas prices.

“This could slow the pace of monetary easing by major central banks, particularly in emerging markets, where policymakers tend to be more sensitive to swings in commodity prices,” he added.

March 1, 2026