Can conservatives reclaim pop culture?

Remember when the Duke ruled movie Westerns … studio moguls Walt Disney, Sam Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille called the GOP home … and the Hays Code kept movies squeaky-clean?

Well, Hollywood took a left turn about 50 years ago and hasn't looked back.

Both Mark Wahlberg, a star of deep Christian faith, and actor Zachary Levi are mulling production studios far from the Golden State.

Are we finally ready for a course correction?

Coming attractions

We’ve already seen rebel outfits like the Daily Wire, Breitbart News, and this site's parent company produce feature films and TV shows from a non-progressive lens. Dude-bro podcasters Joe Rogan and Andrew Schulz ignored the DNC talking points during the 2024 presidential election, with some suggesting their political chats played a role in President Donald Trump’s re-election.

Liberal late-night TV may be going the way of the eight-track tape, given current trends, while the right-leaning “Gutfeld!” outperforms Colbert and company.

That all may be dwarfed by what’s coming next.

David Ellison, son of billionaire Trump supporter Larry, now calls the shots at Paramount after a high-profile deal secured the purchase earlier this year. David Ellison isn’t MAGA, but he’s also not woke or eager to mock half the country.

One of his first deals with Paramount was to secure the rights to UFC events, hardly a coastal elite move. Next June, expect an MMA battle royale on the White House lawn to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday.

He also purchased the Free Press and named founder Bari Weiss the head of CBS News. Weiss’ company gave conservatives a fair shake and treated the news like … news, not progressive propaganda, under her management.

That suggests Ellison understands the culture wars and thinks appealing to the middle is a wise path forward. It explains why Paramount denounced a far-left celebrity push to boycott Israeli-themed films due to the nation’s so-called genocidal actions against Palestinians.

That’s more MAGA than Hollywood business as usual.

The right stuff

Plus, a November report from Variety shared several Paramount projects with a definitive Heartland appeal, from a “Top Gun” sequel to a “Taken” variation with a cowboy spin. And then there’s the much-publicized “Rush Hour 4” sequel, spurred on reportedly by none other than President Trump himself.

The one early flaw in Ellison’s plans? He allowed TV superstar Taylor Sheridan to flee Paramount for NBCUniversal. Sheridan’s red-state-friendly shows, from “Yellowstone” to “Landman,” have upended the TV landscape, and he’ll only grow stronger under his new deal.

Sheridan’s emergence is another reason for right-leaning optimism. Once again, the prolific creator isn’t conservative, per se, but he’s willing to tell stories today’s Hollywood wouldn’t touch. His male characters exude a rugged, old-school masculinity that is often missing in other parts of the TV landscape.

A Sheridan show sounds and looks different from most modern programs. A perfect case in point? Billy Bob Thornton’s character, a world-weary oil guru, eviscerates the green movement in “Landman” season one. Would a similar rant be heard on any broadcast show? HBO Max? Netflix?

Unlikely.

Zach attack

More intriguing signs abound. Both Mark Wahlberg, a star of deep Christian faith, and actor Zachary Levi are mulling production studios far from the Golden State. That’s more potential disruptions to the status quo, fed by storytellers who don’t pledge allegiance to the progressive flag.

Angel Studios, the successful TV company now making feature films, offers a fresh take on the standard Hollywood slate.

And then there’s the current first lady. Melania Trump is the focus of a new documentary film bowing next month. She’s using her Hollywood close-up to announce a new production company called Muse Films.

That’s following in the Obamas’ footsteps. The former first couple created Higher Ground Productions and partnered up with Netflix after leaving the White House. No matter where one stands on the Obama record, the couple knows cultural soft power matters.

So do the Trumps.

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Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

Retaking Hollywood

The real X factor may be AI run wild. Conservative artists don’t have the same access to cash that liberals possess. What if a savvy libertarian could create a film via AI, post it on YouTube or Rumble, and rock the culture without breaking the bank? How might that even the culture wars in ways the modern left can’t stop?

Conservatives still have a long, long way to go. Far-left auteur Aaron Sorkin revisits Jan. 6 in the upcoming “The Social Reckoning,” a movie sure to gin up Oscar buzz and endless fawning press coverage following its Oct. 2026 release. It is one of many projects that subscribe to a hard-left perspective.

Take this year’s “One Battle After Another,” a morally warped love letter to anti-government violence. It’s the odds-on favorite to win the Best Picture Oscar come March. Another Oscar darling is “No Other Choice,” director Park Chan-wook's anti-capitalist screed.

Plus, the Hollywood press will cover most right-leaning entertainment projects in a negative light, hoping to keep pop culture firmly in the hands of progressives. Remember how reporters raged against “Sound of Freedom,” a film cheering efforts to stop child sex traffickers? That movie wasn’t conservative or faith-based, but some assumed it was one or both, and that was enough for media outlets to both pounce and seize on it.

And for every rebel documentary like “The Fall of Minneapolis,” “Am I Racist?” or “October 8,” there are dozens promoting hard-left agendas. The existing Tinseltown infrastructure nurtures and promotes left-leaning stories and storytellers.

That won’t be easy to duplicate, let alone compete against.

Team Ellison will face overwhelming pressure to reject right-leaning impulses from Democrat politicians, media platforms, and garden-variety progressives. It could end up easier for Ellison and company to go along with Hollywood’s liberal orthodoxy than to effect real change.

Or Ellison could see this moment as the perfect time to perform an ideological pivot. The days of ignoring, if not insulting, half the country no longer makes business sense. It’s show business, after all.

And at last that half of the country finally has some storytellers to call its own.