Welcome back to What I’m Hearing. I’m finally home in L.A. for the rest of the summer, thanks again to Julia Alexander and Jonathan Handel for driving the party bus this past week.

Programming note: I’m on CNBC at 6:50 a.m. eastern tomorrow discussing the scoops in this email. I joined Kara Swisher, Franklin Leonard and Brooke Hammerling on Kara’s On podcast to debate Barbenheimer lessons (listen here). Plus, this week on The Town: Lucas Shaw and I looked at Sound of Freedom and its “pay it forward” strategy, and Warner Bros. marketer Josh Goldstine revealed the Barbie materials that were most debated internally. Subscribe here and here.

And if you’re still not a Puck member, click here.

Discussed in this issue: Mike Hopkins, Fran Drescher, Tom Staggs, Jimmy Pitaro, Kevin Mayer, Bob Iger, Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Peter Chernin, Mel Gibson, Sarah Silverman, Guillermo del Toro, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Jen Salke, Greta Gerwig, Javier Grillo-Marxuach... and Obama’s shady playlists.

But first…