Ben Fritz
Ben Fritz covers the entertainment industry for The Wall Street Journal, with a focus on how studios, streaming platforms and technology companies reshape Hollywood’s business and its biggest franchises. He brings a background in artificial intelligence and national news editing to entertainment coverage, which gives his stories a strong emphasis on corporate strategy, technology and the power of long-running intellectual property. His work spans reported features, critical reviews and audio storytelling, often centering on how companies like Disney, major filmmakers and tech firms compete for audiences and cultural influence.
Before focusing on entertainment at the Journal, Fritz served as an artificial intelligence editor and as a West Coast U.S. news editor, experience that sharpens his reporting on emerging technologies and their impact on media and business. Earlier in his career he covered Hollywood for other major outlets, building a long track record on the film and television industry and the companies that finance and distribute it. He has also written books on the transformation of the movie business and on political communication, and has received awards for both reporting and editing from industry organizations.
Disney Beefs Up Tech Ambitions
A recurring strand in Fritz’s recent work is close coverage of Disney as a global media and entertainment company.
He writes on Disney’s corporate decisions, including a piece on the creation of a chief technology officer role that examines how the company is elevating technology within its leadership structure. Drawing on a beat that explicitly includes streaming, film, television, franchises and theme parks, he tracks how Disney’s strategic moves in technology and artificial intelligence connect to the experiences it offers on screen and in its parks. His stories in this vein read less like traditional entertainment pieces and more like business and tech coverage, tracing how product strategy, executive changes and new roles shape the future of the company and the wider industry.
Fritz also contributes to the Journal’s audio coverage of Disney and its peers, appearing on news podcasts to explain how specific corporate steps fit into broader strategies around technology and content.
In those segments he extends the same analytic lens found in his articles, linking executive decisions, new titles and reorganizations to the competitive landscape in streaming and theme parks. This combination of written and audio reporting makes him a consistent guide to how Disney’s leadership responds to technological change and investor pressure.
‘Toy Story 5’ and the Future of Franchises
On the creative side of the entertainment business, Fritz writes about franchise storytelling and the evolving expectations of audiences.
In his review of “Toy Story 5,” he frames Woody and Buzz’s latest outing as a battle not just with a new antagonist but with a tablet, reflecting his interest in how technology and modern life intrude on classic characters and stories. His focus on a long-running Pixar series underscores a broader fascination with sequels, branded universes and the tension between nostalgia and innovation in mainstream film.
Fritz’s article “Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Proves Hollywood’s Top Directors Are Franchises Now” illustrates how he treats filmmakers themselves as brands, arguing that certain directors function like franchises in their own right. In that piece he uses the release of a large-scale film to examine how a director’s name can anchor a global box office strategy, mirroring the way studios market superhero or toy-based properties. Across these stories he approaches reviews and features as chances to analyze the industrial logic behind creative decisions, showing how character arcs, sequel structures and marketing campaigns are shaped by business imperatives.
His long-form work outside daily news deepens this franchise focus.
Fritz reported and hosted the Journal’s podcast miniseries “With Great Power: The Rise of Superhero Cinema,” tracing how comic-book movies reshaped Hollywood economics and audience habits. He is also the author of “The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies,” which chronicles how superheroes, sequels and toy-based properties rose to dominate studio slates, and co-author of “All the President’s Spin,” reflecting a broader interest in narrative control and messaging. Together, these projects show a reporter who treats franchises as a lens on corporate decision-making as much as on fan culture.
The Woman Fixing a Microsoft Mess
Fritz’s years in technology and news editing still surface in his bylines for the Journal’s technology section. In “The Woman Fixing a Microsoft Mess With Brutal Honesty,” he profiles a leader charged with addressing a high-profile problem at a major software company, focusing on how candid communication and internal reform can repair reputational damage. The piece reflects his interest in accountability, leadership and the organizational consequences of technological missteps.
That story, alongside his coverage of artificial intelligence as an editor and reporter, highlights a dual focus on emerging technologies and the institutions that govern them. He writes about AI, corporate governance and digital risk in the same precise, accessible style he applies to entertainment, making links between how tech companies and media conglomerates manage rapid change.
These threads give his work a consistent preoccupation with the power and limits of corporate leadership in industries facing technological upheaval.
With Great Power and Beyond
Beyond individual articles, Fritz’s body of work is marked by sustained attention to superheroes, branded universes and the business of fandom.
“With Great Power: The Rise of Superhero Cinema” extends his reporting on comics-based films into a narrative series about how these stories came to dominate the box office and reshape studio strategy. His book “The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies” similarly explores how superhero franchises, sequels and toy-based properties became central to Hollywood economics, while original films for adults grew rarer on major studio slates.
Alongside those projects, Fritz has earned recognition from organizations such as the Los Angeles Press Club and the Society for Advanced Business Editing and Writing, and has edited coverage honored by groups including the National Association of Black Journalists and the New York Press Club. That combination of award-winning reporting, editorial leadership and long-form storytelling underpins his current coverage, where entertainment is treated as a convergence point for technology, corporate power and cultural change.
4 more entertainment journalists.
Aaron Couch
Aaron Couch connects fan-driven genre stories with the business of filmmaking at The Hollywood Reporter, where he is film editor and co-writer of the Heat Vision newsletter. He covers big-budget franchises, comic book properties, horror and genre cinema, studio deals, film development and the producers who shape them. His beat includes trailers, superhero films, franchise strategy, comic-to-film adaptations, production deals and the people behind repeatable genre hits. He has written about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man return, Sony acquiring Michelle Yeoh’s The Surgeon, adaptation interest in a Boston Globe article about lesbian bars, and horror producers Roy Lee and Steven Schneider. He reports on both fandom and industry mechanics, connecting trailers, creators and comics with careers, dealmaking, publicity cycles and franchise stewardship.
Adam Blevins
Adam Blevins tracks how major entertainment projects perform, stall, and evolve across theaters and streaming platforms. He is a senior author at Collider covering film, television, superhero and science-fiction franchises, and gaming-related screen projects. His core beat is box office results, streaming performance, release windows, budgets, production changes, cancellations, sequels, and franchise durability. He has written exclusives involving Avengers: Doomsday, The Penguin, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Earlier, he wrote gaming features at Screen Rant and became a senior editor at Agents of Fandom, where he interviewed talent connected to Marvel Studios, House of the Dragon, and Planet of the Apes. He also visited the set of The Chosen. His reporting is high-volume, direct, and data-driven, using metrics, release details, interviews, and production context to explain commercial prospects and fan interest.
Adele Ankers-Range
Adele Ankers-Range is a senior writer at MovieWeb who tracks streaming thrillers, book-to-screen adaptations, and industry announcements through the fan conversations around them. Writing professionally since 2015, she has also contributed to IGN, Sideshow Collectibles, Screen Rant, and other genre-focused brands. Her beat covers new and upcoming film and television titles, especially thrillers, high-concept genre releases, literary franchises, and projects moving from development to release. She reports on teaser reveals, casting, release dates, CinemaCon announcements, platform strategy, and early critical response. Her coverage often uses reception metrics such as Rotten Tomatoes scores to show how a release is landing. She returns to adaptations as they develop, following announcements, talent attachments, marketing, and final release details. Her work is fast, news-driven, concise, and attentive to fan theories, speculation, and the reasons a project matters.
Adrianna Freedman
Adrianna Freedman turns fan-driven TV and streaming moments into fast, service-focused entertainment stories for Good Housekeeping. She covers network dramas, procedurals, Hallmark titles, streaming releases and book-to-screen projects, including renewals, premiere dates, cast news, release timing, platforms and pricing. Her work centers on how developments affect committed viewers. She also reports on daytime hosts and celebrities, covering health updates, family milestones, career changes, social posts and fan response without gossip or speculation. Freedman conducts interviews and writes features on subjects such as personal books, career milestones and awards. She has written for or across Hearst titles including ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health and Town & Country, as well as Prevention and Oprah Daily. Her coverage of television, movies, music and celebrity pop culture uses clear language, concise explainers and direct, headline-driven angles.