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“Knock at the Cabin,” a new film by director M. Night Shyamalan, is the first film adaptation of one of Paul Tremblay’s horror novels. It is set to be released in February.
Tremblay, whose novel “The Pallbearers Club” was published this month, spoke with CNBC about what it’s like having one of his works translated to film.
“I’ve had multiple producers say to me that they’re looking for horror that isn’t grim and has a happy ending, which means they’re not really looking for horror,” he said.

Paul Tremblay
Source: Paul Tremblay

Want to hear a scary story?
It was 2015. Paul Tremblay, a New England math wiz with a couple crime novels to his name, was experiencing his big breakthrough in horror fiction. His book, “A Head Full of Ghosts,” an internet-era spin on the demonic possession genre, arrived in June to rave reviews. It would go on to win the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for best novel of the year. Stephen King, the master of horror, tweeted that it “scared the living hell out of me, and I’m pretty hard to scare.”

A Hollywood adaptation appeared to be right around the corner. Indeed, a month before “A Head Full of Ghosts” was published, production company Focus Features won an auction for the film rights. Robert Downey Jr.’s Team Downey was attached as a producer. Given the novel’s reality TV-heavy premise and its tense family drama, it seemed like a natural candidate for adaptation. A no-brainer.
It’s been in development hell ever since.
“I don’t know who first coined the following, but I’ll credit writer Chuck Wendig as I first heard him say it: In publishing, it’s no, no, no, no, until it’s yes. In Hollywood, it’s yes, yes, yes, until it’s no,” Tremblay told CNBC in an interview conducted through email.

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Tremblay, 51, took the Tinseltown terror in stride, though. He and his wife have been raising two kids — one of them now a senior in college, the other a senior in high school. Tremblay also kept teaching math at a small private high school outside of Boston. (He will take his first sabbatical this coming year as he works on a novel due in May and pitches a film adaptation of one of his short stories.)
He also kept publishing stories and books, building a bigger audience and snaring more sparkling blurbs from King, a longtime showbiz favorite.
Tremblay’s works include “Survivor Song,” a novel about a deadly viral outbreak that happened to be published in summer 2020, just as the world was coming to grips with Covid-19 pandemic. His latest novel, the Hüsker Dü-infused “The Pallbearers Club,” about a teenage misfit who strikes up a friendship with a strange woman who may or may not be some kind of vampire, was published this month.
OK, so maybe it’s not such a scary story, after all — especially when you consider that one of Tremblay’s books has indeed been filmed for the big screen.
Director M. Night Shyamalan, the filmmaker behind twisty and disturbing hits such as “The Sixth Sense” and “Split,” just wrapped filming on an adaptation of Tremblay’s novel, “The Cabin at the End of the World.” The work focuses on a family besieged by apocalypse-obsessed strangers. The movie, titled “Knock at the Cabin,” is set to be released by Universal Pictures in February.
Here’s the Shyamalan-esque twist: After all that waiting, dealmaking and deal-remaking, Tremblay had to keep hush-hush about the movie’s source material. For months. Even after the film’s premise was revealed earlier this year, prompting many horror fans to say, “Gee, that sounds an awful lot like ‘The Cabin at the End of the World.”‘
Still, “Knock at the Cabin” – which features WWE star-turned-actor Dave Bautista, “Harry Potter” movie veteran Rupert Grint and Jonathan Groff, the voice of the “Frozen” movies’ Kristoff — may end up representing a sort of Hollywood beginning for Tremblay. A “Survivor Song” adaptation is in the works. And, yes, there is renewed hope for an eventual “Head Full of Ghosts” movie.
Tremblay is now clear to talk about “A Knock at the Cabin,” and he revealed to CNBC what it’s like to go from “cautious optimism to real-time excited” as his book was being made into a movie. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you find out M. Night Shyamalan was adapting “The Cabin at the End of the World” into a movie? What ran through your head?
I signed an option with FilmNation in late 2017. The production team then went on a search for a director and other talent to attach. While another director was briefly attached, I’d heard that Night had read the screenplay and was interested in possibly producing. When it didn’t work out with the first director, Night was still interested in producing, which then became him wanting to rewrite the script and direct as well.
Of course, it was thrilling to hear that he was interested as I’ve enjoyed a number of his movies. At the time, though, given my prior experience with the ups and downs and the waiting game of development, I’d heard lots of exciting names attached to or interested in my prior novels and then things inevitably would fall apart.
When it became clear that not only was Night interested and attached, that the movie was in fact going into preproduction and then production, I then moved from cautious optimism to real-time excited.
How much did you work directly with Shyamalan? What’s his process like?
I have no contractual say over the screenplay or filming, but at the start FilmNation was great about keeping me in the loop with the early draft of a screenplay and asking my input. Much later, when we were introduced via phone, Night and I discussed the book and I answered a bunch of his questions about character and story, about why I did what I did. I can’t speak to his screenwriting process. I did get to visit the set and watch him and crew work for two days. I came away impressed with the positive creative atmosphere he engendered.

“Glass” director M. Night Shyamalan.
Angela Weiss AFP | Getty Images

How did the actors respond to the material? How close did they come to your vision of the characters?
The actors were fully committed, engaged and emotionally connected to the story, and embodied the spirit of the characters from what I could see. Between shots, they asked me thoughtful questions about the book, and they were beyond generous with their time and attention. Getting to chat with them was one of my favorite parts of the set visit.
Shyamalan movies come with their own mystique, the way Alfred Hitchcock movies or, more recently, Jordan Peele movies have. How do you balance the marketing needs of the movie versus your own needs as an author looking to sell some books?
I honestly spent a chunk of my 2022 spring quelling internet rumors and putting out Twitter fires connecting the book and movie. It reached a point in early June where that became impossible, however, with all the information out there, including the IMDb page. I have been doing my part to be respectful of movie marketing desires and certainly wouldn’t dream of spoiling anything. Like the majority of adaptations, there will be story changes and differences compared to the book so my readers will still be surprised by the film.
No need to get into spoilers, but how did it feel to have your text adjusted for a movie that will, in large part, be someone else’s vision, as well?
I’ve always been fascinated by influence and the retelling of tales, particularly within the horror genre, a genre built on stories building off the stories and monsters that came before. Most of my novels, including “A Head Full of Ghosts,” riff on other films and novels. “The Cabin at the End of the World” is itself a reaction to the home invasion film subgenre. Most of me is excited and intrigued at the prospect of seeing my story reimagined or refracted on screen. But I’d be lying if I said I was egoless about the whole experience. This novel means a great deal to me. I lived inside the book for the year and a half I wrote it. Any story and character changes will be something I’ll have to deal with. A good problem to have, of course.
What has it been like waiting for something to come of “A Head Full of Ghosts?”
It has been a long wait for sure. The book has been under option since 2015. We’ve had many close calls, different directors and actors attached, a whole bunch of screenplay drafts, and like many projects, the pandemic derailed its momentum toward production. Luckily, the producers, Allegiance Theater and Team Downey, haven’t given up and remain committed to the book as well as communicating, being professional and honest with me, which I very much appreciate. We have a new director and screenplay, and it feels like we’re again getting close to something really cool being made.
How would you describe what it’s like to work with big studios and filmmakers versus working with the publishing industry?
No comment? Ha! I’m partially kidding. I don’t know who first coined the following, but I’ll credit writer Chuck Wendig as I first heard him say it: In publishing, it’s no, no, no, no, until it’s yes. In Hollywood, it’s yes, yes, yes, until it’s no.
Producing stories and art is not a science, clearly, and both industries have plenty of pitfalls, plenty of talented people and plenty of people who, let’s say, aren’t in it for the same reasons I’m in it. I’m just trying to navigate it all the best I can, advocating for the stories that feel important enough upon which to spend a year-plus of my writing life. I haven’t gone full Barton Fink. Yet.

Paul Tremblay’s novel “The Pallbearers Club” is displayed at Barnes and Noble in Woodland Park, NJ, on July 10, 2022.
Mike Calia | CNBC

Netflix has given several horror writers’ work a big platform. Take Adam Nevill’s “The Ritual,” for instance. How is the horror writer community reacting to recent warnings of cutbacks at streaming companies such as Netflix?
I haven’t been aware of a horror writing community-specific reaction to the financial shake-ups. I’ve heard more from friends who work in Hollywood and worry that studios and financers will take even fewer chances on stories that aren’t tentpole superhero blockbusters, will take less chances on horror stories that actually, you know, horrify. I’ve had multiple producers say to me that they’re looking for horror that isn’t grim and has a happy ending, which means they’re not really looking for horror. “Stranger Things” is fun and all, but we can’t make all “horror” into that. So many of us horror fans (most of the ones I know) also find hope and comfort in the horror that is grim and challenging.
How much do movies influence your work versus, say, music or other books?
Film was my first exposure to story. I spent my tween and teenage years watching and re-watching movies on cable and VHS. Three of my recent novels were directly inspired and informed by movies as well as novels. But I look to all the artistic modes you mentioned for inspiration. So many of my stories are inspired and informed by songs/lyrics, and my newest, “The Pallbearers Club,” is partly a love letter to ’80s punk and ’90s indie music.
Will we ever see a “Screenplay by Paul Tremblay” credit?
I hope we do, with the caveat that I don’t expect to be great or even good at writing screenplays right off the bat, or ever, being that it’s a format quite different than novels and short stories.
I’ve written a screenplay for my short story “Nineteen Snapshots of Dennisport.” It’s OK. Needs some work. I mentioned my short story adaptation group pitch earlier, and if “The Pallbearers Club” were to be optioned, I’d like to be in on the adaptation in an active capacity. Whether or not screenwriting opportunities arise, the Hollywood experience is all going into the next novel, though. I’ve already written about 60 pages. Muhahahahaha!
Disclosure: CNBC, Focus Features and Universal Pictures are all part of Comcast’s NBCUniversal.

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President Joe Biden on Friday said he will move forward with his own efforts to combat climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions, a day after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told Democratic leadership that he won’t support the climate provisions in the reconciliation bill.
The comments by Manchin, a key centrist who holds the swing vote in the 50-50 Senate, could potentially sink months of negotiations in Washington over the sweeping policy package and end hopes of Congress passing any major climate change legislation this summer.
Biden did not mention specific climate and clean energy policies but said his actions will create jobs, improve energy security and bolster domestic manufacturing and supply chains.

U.S. President Joe Biden holds a news conference before departing the NATO summit at the IFEMA arena in Madrid, Spain, June 30, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

President Joe Biden on Friday said he will move forward with his own efforts to combat climate change and curb greenhouse gas emissions, a day after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told Democratic leadership that he won’t support the climate provisions in the reconciliation bill.
The comments by Manchin, a key centrist who holds the swing vote in the 50-50 Senate, could potentially sink months of negotiations in Washington over the sweeping policy package and end hopes of Congress passing any major climate change legislation this summer.

“If the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment,” Biden said in a statement.

The president did not mention specific climate and clean energy policies but said his actions will create jobs, improve energy security, bolster domestic manufacturing and supply chains and protect the economy from future oil and gas price hikes.
“I will not back down: The opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to relent,” the president said. Biden also urged lawmakers to act quickly to pass other portions of the package that the senator does support.
Manchin, who comes from the coal-rich state of West Virginia, has previously opposed some efforts by Democrats to address climate change and curb emissions. Because of the 50-50 vote split in the Senate, Democrats would not be able to move the legislation forward without Manchin’s support for the domestic policy bill, which would allocate billions of dollars in incentives to slash emissions.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) delivers remarks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., November 1, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

During a West Virginia radio station interview, Manchin said that he was still open to negotiations and that he would only support swift action on the drug-pricing portion of the plan while holding off on other parts. He said he would not support any climate provisions until he had a better understanding of the inflation figures for July.

“I want climate. I want an energy policy,” Manchin said. “I would not put my staff through this — I would not put myself through this — if I wasn’t sincere about trying to find a pathway forward to do something that’s good for our country.”
Biden must now depend on imposing executive actions to address climate change, which can be overturned by future administrations. Potential executive actions include curbing oil and gas drilling on federal lands and imposing new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on power plant emissions.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., argued that the administration could impose a carbon border tariff on imports from countries with relatively worse greenhouse emissions, as well as require carbon capture from all major emitters and create stronger emissions controls on cars, lightweight trucks and heavy-duty vehicles.
“There is opportunity in this moment. The Biden administration has a wide lane to step up and start taking vigorous action to fight the climate crisis,” Whitehouse wrote in a tweet on Friday.
“With reconciliation foreclosed as a path for ambitious climate action, Congress must pivot to potentially bipartisan climate solutions such as a border carbon adjustment,” Whitehouse wrote in a second tweet. “Meanwhile, the executive branch has lots of tools at its disposal.”
Some environmental groups called on the president to declare a national climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act, a move that would unlock authorities like reinstating a ban on crude oil exports.

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Climate groups also urged Biden to direct the EPA to establish national limits for greenhouse gases and require the Interior Department to end new oil and gas leases and phase out the production of oil and gas on public lands and waters.
“This is the time for fast and furious executive action on climate,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Again and again, we’ve seen Manchin’s bluff and bluster come to nothing.”
Ashley Thomson, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA, said the president “has no more excuses” after Manchin’s opposition to the climate legislation, and must use executive powers to prevent the worst consequences of climate change.
“President Biden can end public land lease sales to fossil fuel companies, start regulating [greenhouse gases] through his existing powers with the EPA, and declare a climate emergency,” Thomson said. “We cannot continue to wait around for a bunch of corporate shills in Congress to do nothing while people are dying.” 
Biden has pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% from 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by mid-century. However, without a reconciliation bill that includes climate provisions, the country is on track to miss the president’s goal, according to a recent analysis by the independent research firm Rhodium Group.

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Kohl’s said its chief technology and supply chain officer, Paul Gaffney, is set to depart the retailer on Aug. 1.
Company exec Siobhan McFeeney is set to step into the chief technology role, effective immediately.
The current executive vice president of Kohl’s supply chain will now report to CEO Michelle Gass, a company spokeswoman told CNBC.

People walk near a Kohl’s department store entranceway on June 07, 2022 in Doral, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Kohl’s said its chief technology and supply chain officer, Paul Gaffney, is set to depart the retailer on Aug. 1, according to a securities filing.
Kohl’s said that Siobhan McFeeney, who has been with Kohl’s since January 2020 and most recently served as executive vice president of the retailer’s technology division, is set to step into the chief technology role, effective immediately.

The current executive vice president of Kohl’s supply chain will now report to CEO Michelle Gass, a company spokeswoman told CNBC.
Kohl’s didn’t give a reason for Gaffney’s departure in the 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gaffney wasn’t immediately available to comment.
News of Gaffney’s departure comes about two weeks after Kohl’s announced it was terminating talks to sell its business, saying the retail environment has significantly deteriorated since the beginning of what turned into a monthslong bidding process. Kohl’s had narrowed down a list of potential bidders to The Vitamin Shoppe owner Franchise Group.
Kohl’s also in late June cut its outlook for the fiscal second quarter, citing softer consumer spending amid decades-high inflation. It now sees sales down high single digits, compared with a prior forecast of a low single-digits decline.
Retailers in the U.S. have continued to grapple with supply chain complications as the cost to transport goods from overseas weighs on profits and as resources to move inventory — from truck drivers to pallets — remain hard to come by.

This dynamic has backlogged shipments and means that many retailers are receiving orders of goods weeks or even months after they had planned. These challenges are expected to persist through the all-important holiday season, too.
Kohl’s shares closed Friday at $28.23, down more than 42% year to date.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 1,400 monkeypox infections across 44 states and territories in the U.S.
The federal government has made more than 300,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine available to states since May, but demand is outstripping current supply.
The U.S. now has the capacity to conduct 70,000 monkeypox tests per week, according to the CDC.

A person arrives to receive a monkeypox vaccination at the Northwell Health Immediate Care Center at Fire Island-Cherry Grove, in New York, U.S., July 15, 2022. 
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 1,400 monkeypox infections across 44 states and territories in the U.S. and said it expects the outbreak to grow.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the demand for monkeypox vaccines is outstripping the available supply, which has led to long lines in places such as New York City — an epicenter of the outbreak.

“We know that this is frustrating,” Walensky said in a call with reporters Friday. The Health and Human Services Department is working to increase supply, she added.
Walensky said the agency expects cases to increase through July and August since symptoms of the virus usually start within three weeks of exposure. People who don’t yet know they’re infected will likely seek medical attention and get tested in the coming weeks.
The U.S. now has the capacity to conduct 70,000 tests per week after recruiting several commercial labs including Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp, Walensky said. The labs test for orthopox, the family of viruses that includes monkeypox. People who test positive for orthopox are assumed to have monkeypox infections, according to CDC official Dr. Jennifer McQuiston.
The tests involve a swab of the painful lesions that are characteristic of the disease, but it can take weeks from the time of exposure for those to develop. Walensky said there are no approved tests that can confirm orthopox another way.
The outbreak right now is primarily impacting gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Of the 700 patients who provided demographic information, the vast majority identified as men who have sex with men, according to Walensky.

More than 11,000 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed worldwide across 55 countries, according to the CDC.

Vaccine distribution

The U.S. has shipped out all doses of the monkeypox vaccine that states have ordered so far, 156,000 shots in total, with the vast majority them delivered in the past week, according to HHS. The federal government made an additional 131,000 doses available to local authorities on Friday, bringing the total supply made available since May to more than 300,000 shots.
The CDC vaccination campaign relies on the two-dose vaccine Jynneos, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2019 for adults ages 18 and older who are at high risk of monkeypox or smallpox infection.
The U.S. is also working with the Danish manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, to accept delivery of another 786,000 Jynneos doses currently stored in Denmark. HHS will preposition those doses in the U.S., and they will become available for distribution once the FDA signs off on the company’s facility. That approval is expected by the end of the month, according to Dawn O’Connell, the HHS official who leads the office that oversees the U.S. strategic national stockpile.
HHS has ordered 2.5 million more doses of the Jynneos vaccine from Bavarian Nordic that will ship to the U.S. strategic national stockpile over the next year. The U.S. placed an order for an additional 2.5 million doses on Friday, which will ship to the national stockpile in 2023. In total, the U.S. should have nearly 7 million Jynneos doses by mid-2023, according to HHS.
Local health authorities can also request the older generation smallpox vaccine ACAM2000 that is likely effective against the monkeypox virus, but the vaccine can have serious side effects and is not recommended for people with weak immune systems such as those who have HIV, individuals with some skin conditions and women who are pregnant. The U.S has more than 100 million doses of ACAM2000.
CDC recommends that people get vaccinated if they have had known or suspected monkeypox exposures in the past two weeks. Federal health authorities are prioritizing vaccine distribution to places with a growing number of infections but are also offering the shots to all jurisdictions with people who are at increased risk of monkeypox infection, Walensky said.
“It’s critically important for states and jurisdictions to quickly and accurately report all of their cases through CDC recommended reporting,” Walensky said.
The Jynneos vaccine is administered in two doses 28 days apart. Walensky emphasized that a single dose does not provide sufficient protection against the virus and that it takes two weeks for the second shot to provide full protection.

Symptoms and risk factors

Monkeypox is primarily spreading through skin-on-skin contact, close face-to-face interactions such as kissing and contaminated materials such as sheets and towels, according to the CDC.
In the past, the disease typically began with flulike symptoms and then progressed to a rash that can spread across the body. But the current outbreak has produced symptoms that are atypical, with some people developing a rash first or without any flulike symptoms at all. Many people have developed a rash, which can look like pimples or blisters, on intimate areas such as the genitals or anus.
Walensky said the CDC recommends that people avoid intimate physical contact with individuals who have a rash that looks like monkeypox, and consider minimizing sex with multiple or anonymous partners. People should also consider avoiding sex parties or other events where people aren’t wearing a lot of clothing. Individuals who do decide to have sex with a partner who has monkeypox should follow CDC guidance on lowering their risk, Walensky said.

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Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services on Friday reversed its stance on Spirit Airlines’ planned tie-up with Frontier Airlines.
ISS called JetBlue Airways’ all-cash bid a “superior alternative.”
ISS cited market volatility, energy prices and recession fears.

LaGuardia International Airport Terminal A for JetBlue and Spirit Airlines in New York.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services on Friday reversed its stance on Spirit Airlines’ planned tie-up with Frontier Airlines, urging Spirit shareholders to vote against the deal and calling JetBlue Airways’ all-cash bid a “superior alternative,” yet another twist in the battle for the budget airline.
ISS in May originally urged shareholders to vote against the Frontier cash-and-stock deal, then in late June changed its recommendation after Frontier sweetened its bid to include a reverse breakup fee that matched JetBlue’s.

Now ISS has withdrawn its recommendation citing market volatility, energy prices and recession fears that “may lead shareholders to conclude that the certainty of value of the cash consideration is preferable to the potential upside of the Frontier deal.”
Frontier’s CEO, Barry Biffle, on Sunday called its latest sweetened offer its “best and final” in a letter to his Spirit counterpart, and fretted about a lack of shareholder support for that deal.
Advisory firm Glass Lewis last month recommended shareholders vote in favor of the Frontier deal.
The change comes after repeated delays to a shareholder vote on the Frontier-Spirit deal, which Spirit has delayed four times. The vote is now scheduled for July 27.
“We remain confident that Spirit shareholders continue to overwhelmingly recognize the clear superiority of our proposal,” JetBlue said in a statement Friday, again urging Spirit shareholders to vote down the Frontier deal.
Spirit declined to comment, while Frontier didn’t immediately respond. JetBlue’s shares rose 2.4% on Friday, while Spirit’s rose 3.2% and Frontier’s ended 1.3% higher.

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Disney will raise the price of ESPN+ to $9.99 per month from $6.99 per month starting Aug. 23.
This is the largest ESPN+ price increase to date. Disney raised the price by $1 per month, first in 2020 and then in July 2021.
Disney isn’t changing the price of its Disney bundle, which consists of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, keeping it at $13.99 per month.

Mike Windle | ESPN | Getty Images

Disney is increasing the price of its sports streaming service ESPN+ to $9.99 per month, a 43% increase.
The previous price of ESPN+ had been $6.99 per month. The increase will kick in on Aug. 23. An annual subscription to ESPN+ will jump from $69.99 to $99.99.

It’s unusual for the price of a streaming service price to rise more than 40% in a single increase. Disney’s last two ESPN+ price rises have been for just $1 per month, first in 2020 and then last July.
The dramatic rate hike accomplishes several goals for Disney. Assuming customers stick with the service, it should help Disney boost revenue for its streaming products, which still lose money for the company.
Second, Disney hopes it will remind subscribers there’s a lot of new and valuable content on the service, including live National Football League games, exclusive Grand Slam tennis matches from Wimbledon and the Australian Open, PGA Tour events, and National Hockey League games. Increasing the price of ESPN+ will also help Disney pay for its most recent renewal of “Monday Night Football,” which cost the company $2.6 billion per year. As part of that deal, Disney has the right to simulcast “Monday Night Football” on ESPN+ when the company chooses.
Third, and perhaps most important for the company’s go-forward strategy, Disney isn’t changing the price of its bundle, which will remain $13.99 per month. It consists of Disney+, advertising-supported Hulu and ESPN+.

Boosting Disney+

Disney has a goal of reaching 230 million to 260 million Disney+ subscribers by the end of 2024. Disney ended last quarter with 137.7 million global Disney+ subscribers and 22.3 million ESPN+ customers.

While Disney doesn’t break out how many of the more than 22 million ESPN+ subscribers are paying for it through the bundle, narrowing the price difference between only paying for ESPN+ and paying for all three Disney streaming services should move some solo ESPN+ customers toward the bundle. That will help increase the aggregate Disney+ number, potentially enabling Disney to reach its 2024 target.
Hitting that mark is arguably Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek’s top priority. While Disney shares tend to trade on Disney+ subscription numbers, investors have largely ignored ESPN+ and Hulu’s quarterly performances. Disney renewed Chapek’s contract last month through July 2025.
ESPN+ has become a stronger product in the past year as Disney moves more exclusive live games to the service. ESPN+ now includes the NHL.TV out-of-market package and PGA Tour Live, which were once both subscription products that cost $9.99 per month or more by themselves.
Still, ESPN+ isn’t an exact replica of cable network ESPN, which shows all “Monday Night Football” games and many National Basketball Association games that aren’t yet available on ESPN+. The ESPN cable channel continues to take in billions of dollars annually for Disney, though sales fall each year as millions of Americans cancel traditional pay TV.
“Being in the sports space is still very valuable, but you’ve got to go where the consumer is going,” former Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger told CNBC in December. “The question that Bob [Chapek] will deal with and is dealing with is do you accelerate that or try to accelerate it, or do you hold back as long as you possibly can? I happen to believe the future of ESPN is bright if it can make that successful migration to the new platforms.”
Disney rose more than 3% in afternoon trading.
WATCH: Future of ESPN is bright if it can migrate in digital transformation, says former Disney CEO Iger

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“I don’t know if I’ll be physically able to play another British Open here at St. Andrews,” Tiger Woods said.
The 46-year-old golf legend and three-time British Open champion missed the cut Friday.

Tiger Woods of the U.S. reacts on the 18th during the second round of the 150th Open Championship – Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland, Britain, July 15, 2022.
Paul Childs | Reuters

After two difficult days at St. Andrews, Tiger Woods missed the British Open cut Friday, finishing nine shots over par.
He was visibly emotional as he crossed the Swilcan Bridge to the 18th hole. After finishing, he speculated that this may his last go-round there. He has called the storied Scottish course his favorite to play on.

“I don’t know if I’ll be physically able to play another British Open here at St. Andrews,” he said, according to NBCUniversal’s Golf Channel.
Woods, 46, has dealt with several health issues in recent years. He mounted a comeback this year after a 2021 car accident nearly forced the amputation of his right leg.
Since his return, Woods has played in three majors, including the British Open. He finished 47th in the Masters earlier this year at Augusta National, but skipped the U.S. Open. He made the cut in the PGA Championship, but withdrew for health reasons after a disappointing third round.
Woods has won 15 major championships since he turned pro in 1996. Of those, he won three British Open championships — two of those victories coming at St. Andrews.
Cameron Smith, Cameron Young and Dustin Johnson were atop the leaderboard as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet Friday that the electric car company could lower prices if inflation “calms down.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a higher-than-expected inflation rate this week.
Tesla hiked prices across its models as recently as June, increasing the cost of its Model Y long-range from $62,990 to $65,990.

Brand new Tesla cars sit in a parking lot at a Tesla showroom on June 27, 2022 in Corte Madera, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

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