Together with
Riddle me this. Happy Monday, Future Party people. Before we kick off the week, here’s a little brain teaser to help get those neurons firing this morning: What weighs 600 pounds, is 11 miles long, and lasts just three hours? (No, this is not a yo mama joke.) Believe it or not, it’s actually the IMAX film rolls for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming movie Oppenheimer. Apparently, the acclaimed director used a “combination of IMAX 65mm and Panavision 65mm” to capture the highest possible resolution. Talk about epic.
In other news… the Spider-Verse reimagines animation (yet again), Amazon makes a few phone calls, and professional Pickleball goes mainstream.
Top Trends
Twitter → Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Google → Manifest
Reddit → Eric André
TikTok → “Cruel Summer” - Taylor Swift
Spotify → “Forever Young” - Bob Dylan
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ENTERTAINMENT
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse redraws the limits of animation
The Future. Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse both caught a lot of business this past weekend and upped the bar for every animated movie moving forward. Brought to life by some of the best artists in the industry, Across the Spider-Verse may demonstrate the unique allure of original human creativity in the midst of a generative-AI revolution.
Pen slingers
The sequel to 2018’s Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse shows what the collective imagination of 1,000 human artists can pull off.
For the first movie, the team built a new tech that could mix 2D, 3D, hand-drawn, and computer-generated animation, which allowed all the styles to bleed into one another.
The sequel pushes that capability, giving each Spider-Man (hundreds of them, thanks to the multiverse) their own unique visual style.
And six completely different animation styles were used across the film’s many timelines.
These wildly ambitious feats were only made possible by animators across the various teams working together so that all the parts felt like a cohesive whole — overseen by directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson.
Expect another Academy Award for Spider-Man in this timeline.
TECHNOLOGY
Shipping cell service // Illustration by Kate Walker
Amazon may dial up a mobile service for Prime members
The Future. Soon, even your cell service could be covered by Amazon, with the company in talks with several major carriers to offer their coverage through Prime. While it’s possible that the deals could never go through, the offering could possibly price the carriers out of their own direct product… and they may allow it just to recoup the costs of those newly-expanded, pricey 5G networks they built.
Prime Phone
Soon, even your cell service could be covered by Prime.
Amazon is reportedly in discussions with Verizon, T-Mobile, DISH, and AT&T (on and off) on reselling wireless plans through Amazon Prime.
The deal is still in the discussion phase, but it would offer Prime members cell service for a low price or even for free as part of typical Prime benefits.
Everyone denies the deals are happening, but that didn’t stop the major carriers from taking a hit to their stock (DISH’s were up, though).
Why the stock drop? If Amazon gets into the mobile-service resale business, it could undercut the major carriers by offering a price so low that it’ll be a no-brainer for everyone to cancel their current plans and just have it through Prime.
And for Amazon, Prime subscription growth has flatlined after the company raised the price from $119/year to $139/year. Offering cell service would likely boost that.
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SPORTS
Playing with cash // Illustration by Kate Walker
Major League Pickleball is ready to hit the mainstream
The Future. Pickleball is exploding in popularity thanks to an influx of investment, celebrity backers, and the general accessibility of the game. As TV sponsors rush to get in on the action and spread the passion, expect the sport to become a new American tradition.
Courting popularity
Pickleball is growing because of all the fresh green.
After Tom Brady posted a video of why he loves the sport, Major League Pickleball CEO Brian Levine said followers of the sport doubled the next day. Same when LeBron James announced he was buying the team, the New York Hustlers.
Marc Lasry, a co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, says that the $100,000 he spent on acquiring a pickleball franchise in 2021 is already worth $10 million.
And as pickleball participants increased by 159% in three years, CBS and ESPN have signed up to broadcast games.
With all that in mind, it’s no wonder MLP’s prize pool is already at $5 million.
Why all the love? Gary Vaynerchuk, a pickleball team owner, tells Bloomberg that it’s because it's a sport that is accessible to almost anyone of any age can participate in — it’s low impact and fun.
No wonder real estate developments are attracting potential residents by building courts. Even NYC’s Central Park is getting on the craze, breaking ground on 14 new courts for parkgoers.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
After getting unceremoniously axed from Disney, Peter Rice has landed at A24 with a film and TV deal that positions him as a financed mini-studio at the label. Read more → thr
Jemele Hill joins other Black podcasters by leaving Spotify after the streamer cut back on the pricey podcast deals it struck with creators just a couple of years ago. Read more → bloomberg
Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie used so much pink paint on set that it caused an international shortage. Amazing. Read more → insider
Fashion & E-Commerce
The EU is supporting a raft of recommendations to essentially end fast fashion on the continent by supporting sustainability, outlawing the destruction of unsold textiles, and encouraging consumers to make more ethical choices. Read more → businessoffashion
SHEIN is in hot water after the platform was caught selling fake Air Jordans, Yeezys, and other designer products. Read more → hypebeast
FreeKick, a financial product from Austin Capital Bank, allows people between 14-25 to build credit by letting their parents make an initial deposit into an account that “activates credit building.” Read more → fastcompany
Tech, Web3, & AI
Vitalik Buterin is transitioning from Ethereum co-founder to techno-commune ruler with Zuzalu — a “secret pop-up city” in Montenegro. Read more → theinformation
UK car rental service Fetch has its EV fleet of cars remotely driven from its HQ to wherever its customers are. Read more → theverge
News app Artifact, co-founded by Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, uses AI to rewrite clickbait headlines for users if they flag them as such. Read more → techcrunch
Creator Economy
The Aarthi and Sriram Show, hosted by married couple and tech investors Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan, have struck a podcast deal with iHeartMedia. Read more → thr
Marketing and tech company Viral Nation has released a product that lets companies know if user-generated videos contain any copyrighted content. Read more → tubefilter
TikTok’s still-in-testing Shop feature has three unique tiers for merchants and is making livestreaming a key component of its experience. Read more → insider
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Editing by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.