🥱 Disney fatigue

PLUS: Startups battling single-use plastics. November 29, 2021 [The Hustle]( Hustle subs: We’ve got legendary news. Today only, you can still access our best Black Friday sale yet. [Get Trends at $100 off](, plus get a free course worth up to $300. Oh yeah, in December we’re also giving away $15k in cold hard cash to Trends subscribers. Read on to learn more... Today’s rundown: - Superhero fatigue: Disney has dozens of Star Wars and Marvel projects lined up. Do we still want to see them? - Making green by going green: The startups raising millions to get rid of single-use plastics. - The week in digits: Black Friday, Uncrustables, and rare coins. - Around the web: Encrypted emojis, bird migrations, and more internet finds. Let’s do it. The Big Idea [Mickey Mouse waving a wand]( Is Disney creating too much Marvel and Star Wars content? Disney is known as “The House of Mouse.” But, in recent years, the engine behind the $269B entertainment giant has been superheroes and Jedis. Marvel and Star Wars films under the Disney brand have pulled in ~$34B at the box office, per [The Wall Street Journal](. And more is yet to come Like your 4th serving of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, Disney wants to stuff your face with content: - Star Wars has at least [16]( film/TV projects in the pipeline including a new trilogy and spinoffs for popular characters like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi. - Marvel Cinematic Universe recently released its [26th]( film (Eternals) and premiered its 5th TV series (Hawkeye) last week. There are [20+]( projects planned over the next 2 years. Disney acquired Marvel in 2009 for $4B… … and Lucasfilm (owner of Star Wars) in 2012 for [$4B](. It’s recouped these investments many times over, but the quality bar may be slipping. While Disney scored a big hit with [The Mandalorian]( TV series in 2019, there have been notable misses. The most recent Star Wars film -- 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker -- has the [2nd-worst]( Rotten Tomatoes score for the series, while Eternals has the [worst]( Marvel Disney film rating ever. This content is crucial for Disney+ Disney’s streaming service currently has 118m+ paying subscribers, with plans to hit 260m by end-2024, per WSJ (somewhat crazily, it’ll spend $33B on content in 2022, up from $8B this year). In comparison, Netflix is projected to have ~300m (that’s a lot of people “chilling”). Unlike Disney -- which has to stay somewhat family-friendly -- Netflix can be more adventurous with its projects (think [Squid Game](). That’s a big advantage that no amount of Spider-Man and Darth Vader can fix. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Is+Disney+creating+too+much+Marvel+and+Star+Wars+content%3F%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11292021-Disney-Star-Wars%3Futm_campaign%3DDisney%2BStar%2BWars%26utm_content%3D11292021-Disney-Star-Wars%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS Omicron: News of the latest COVID variant led to a broad market sell-off on [Friday](. Governments and global health organizations are working through the implications of the discovery. Space Giant: NFL legend Michael Strahan announced he would [join]( the crew for the next Blue Origin spaceflight, scheduled for Dec. 9. MVP round: WatchBox, a watch marketplace startup, [raised]( $165m from investors, including Michael Jordan and Giannis Antetokounmpo. What’s that song? Spotify [debuted]( a Netflix Hub, where listeners can find songs and podcasts from Netflix series and films. IPO buzzkill: Stripe co-founder John Collison [said]( the company is “very happy” as a private company, countering speculation that the $95B payments company would IPO next year. AI words: Verbit, which offers AI-powered transcription and captioning services, [raised]( $250m at a $2B valuation. RIP: Influential fashion designer Virgil Abloh -- who was the men’s artistic director for luxury giant LVMH -- died of cancer at the age of [41](. A long-time collaborator with Kanye West, Abloh set trends in fashion, entertainment and culture. --------------------------------------------------------------- Hey — enjoy getting quick updates on what you care about? Take [20 seconds]( to personalize your Snippets. Pick your preferences👇 and we’ll send you more of what you love. Boom. [Personalize my Email →]( Delivery Tech [plastics]( These startups offer alternatives to single-use plastics Between 4.8m and 12.7m metric tons of plastic [winds up]( in the ocean every year. Much of this waste comes from single-use plastics, like disposable straws, food containers, and grocery bags -- which is why some startups are rethinking how we do takeout and delivery. In France, most employers... ...are [required]( to provide employees with either an on-site subsidized canteen or meal vouchers for lunch. Pyxo has raised [$7m+]( to provide sustainable containers for canteen startups -- like [Foodles]( and [Popchef]( -- and restaurants, per [TechCrunch](. Here’s how it works: - Food companies and restaurants purchase containers from Pyxo - Containers are tracked with QR codes and near-field communication (NFC) chips - Cleaning companies pick up dirty containers and drop off fresh ones Customers who get takeout in Pyxo’s containers can use an app to find nearby drop-off spots. Pyxo may soon offer rewards to incentivize this behavior. Who else is in this game? [DeliverZero]( is a delivery startup that serves ~135 restaurants in NYC. Customers order food online, and restaurants pack it up in DeliverZero’s reusable containers. Customers can return containers to the courier the next time they order takeout or to any DeliverZero restaurant, but are charged [$3.25]( per unreturned container. Dispatch Goods in San Francisco has placed its stainless steel containers in ~50 restaurants, per [The Guardian](. Customers receive delivery orders in the tins, then Dispatch Goods picks them up later. BTW: If you’ve ever wondered how to get plastic out of the ocean (other than not putting it in there in the 1st place), check out [these machines](. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=These+startups+offer+alternatives+to+single-use+plastics%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11292021-single-use-plastics-startups%3Futm_campaign%3DDisney%2BStar%2BWars%26utm_content%3D11292021-single-use-plastics-startups%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Free Resource Your Google-certified Google Ads kit Snazzy copy is just the tip of winning Google Ads. The rest of it is detailed in this blueprint, written by Google and one of its business keyword leaders (HubSpot -- that’s us). Learn pay-per-click bidding, the art of keywords, budget optimization, and more. [The Google Ads Kit](: Master key strategies from start to finish This gorgeous guide complete with templates and checklists is for people who just get things done. If you haven’t noticed, we keep on trying to feed you. Unzip this folder for resources you can use forever. (Also: learn how to write snappy Google-optimized ads in this [8-minute video]( by your favorite HubSpot host.) [Google ad(venture)s →]( Digits [Uncrustables]( Half-a-billion dollars sold! (Source: Food Dive / Smucker’s) By the numbers: Black Friday, Uncrustables, and rare coins 1) Seems like the days of trampling random 5-year-olds to get your hands on an Xbox may be moving behind us. In-store traffic at retail stores on Black Friday was [down 28.3%]( from 2019 levels. 2) Prices for Christmas trees will be around [10%-30% higher]( than usual this year. A little over 10 years ago, during the recession, struggling Christmass tree farms reduced plantings -- and now, years later, we have fewer Christmas trees. 3) Unbelievable. Unstoppable. Uncrustables. Smucker’s Uncrustables absolutely crust it this past year, [selling ~$500m]( of their crustless sandwiches. The company forecasts $1B in annual Uncrustables net sales within the next 5 years. 4) Prefab is looking fab. After shipments of manufactured homes dipped throughout the 2000s, numbers are on their way back up. There were at least [104k manufactured houses]( shipped so far this year, with an average cost of $87k. 5) A rare Colonial New England coin minted in 1652 and recently discovered in a candy tin [sold for $350k+]( at an auction this past weekend. The coin’s owner is a descendant of William Wentworth, an early settler of New England. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=By+the+numbers%3A+Black+Friday%2C+Uncrustables%2C+and+rare+coins%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F11292021-digits%3Futm_campaign%3DDisney%2BStar%2BWars%26utm_content%3D11292021-digits%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( trends On Friday we dropped our [Black Friday sale](. Hundreds of new Trends members took us up on [the offer](. But while we were in a food coma, we realized that we forgot something BIG. In December, we’ll be giving $15k to Trends members in cold, hard cash. All you have to do is participate in our kickass community. If you’re reading this, you’ve got one final shot at our [best deal ever:]( - $100 off your first year - A free course worth up to $300 - Access to our live review sessions And yes… a chance at $15k next month. [Don’t miss out](. [Get the deal →]( AROUND THE WEB 🐈 On this day: In 1935, physicist Erwin Schrödinger [published]( his thought experiment about a fictional cat in a box who is dead, alive, or… both? 😄 Cure boredom: Cryptoji is [a website]( that lets you create emoji messages that your friends can “decrypt” with a secret key. 🦆 That’s cool: This interactive map [visualizes]( the migration patterns of various bird species. 😣 How to: There’s regular burnout. Then there’s holiday burnout, which, according to one expert, can manifest during the “most guilt-ridden, nightmare time of the year.” Here are [some tips]( to beat it. ⚰️ That’s interesting: Mic attended the National Funeral Directors Association’s annual expo in Nashville and found an industry in flux -- and it’s a [fascinating read](. ☀️ Wow: Seán Doran stitched together 78k+ frames of the sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory to make this stunning [time-lapse](. The movement you see comes from the sun’s [coronal loops](. Meme of the day [Marvel Meme] Astounding range (Source: Facebook / [Marvel Memes]() [The Hustle Recommends] [Watch: The Smash Brothers]( The easiest way to describe this documentary series is a 30 for 30 for a quirky Nintendo 64 video game. It’s insanely entertaining, and keeps you questioning whether the cast of characters are idiots or savants. -Rob How did you like today’s email? Refer friends. Help us grow. 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