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‘Jungle Cruise’ Displays the Challenge Facing Hollywood; How Chinese Brand Shein Won Over American Shoppers |
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| ‘Jungle Cruise’ premiered simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+. PHOTO: WALT DISNEY/EVERETT COLLECTION |
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Good morning. After several weeks of encouraging premieres, Hollywood’s return to the box office has struggled with middling performances topping the charts, Erich Schwartzel reports. The latest example is Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, which premiered to $34.2 million in the U.S. and Canada. While that makes it a top performer in the pandemic era, the opening continues an uncomfortable reality for Hollywood: Box-office performances that are good in a pandemic year are still going to have a tough path to profitability. “Jungle Cruise” cost more than $200 million to make. |
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The timing doesn’t bode well, since the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 could send the industry into another tailspin of uncertainty and force studios to shuffle release dates once again. “Jungle Cruise” premiered simultaneously in theaters and on Disney’s flagship streaming service, Disney+, for a $30 fee, where the company said it made an additional $30 million. |
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“That’s the asymmetric passion. People who believe it’s going to hurt you are out there talking about it everyday. They’re driving hashtags and pushing content and doing everything they can do.” | — Renee DiResta, a researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory, on the difference between Covid-19 vaccine skeptics and the influencers being enlisted to counter them |
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| Shein has no physical stores and exports to customers in more than 220 countries, but it doesn’t sell to mainland China, where competition among low-price apparel makers is intense.. PHOTO: JUSTIN CHIN/BLOOMBERG NEWS |
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The online-only, fast-fashion marketer Shein is winning over America’s younger shoppers and offering proof that a clothing brand from China can build traction in the West, Eva Xiao and Trefor Moss write. The brand, pronounced She-in, in the span of a few years has developed a loyal following among American teens and 20-somethings with low prices, an ever-changing inventory, and partnerships with Instagram influencers and celebrities like Katy Perry and Lil Nas X. It distributes orders to thousands of factories in China, enabling it to pump out new products at low prices. The approach helps consumers overlook questions about the sustainability of fast fashion, said Katrina Gagliano, 29, a Shein shopper in Manassas, Va. “All that stuff kind of falls to the wayside because you just get so much for your money,” she said. |
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$29 billion | Price that Square agreed to pay for Afterpay, an installment-payment company that promotes its service as a cheaper and more responsible alternative to a credit card |
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| Marlboro Ranch, an 18,000-acre Montana property with a faux ghost town, had hosted Marlboro customers for two decades. FAURE HALVORSEN ARCHITECTS |
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The shifting winds in tobacco marketing have put an end to Marlboro Ranch, a Disneyland for smokers. [WSJ] Shapewear brands are trying to reposition themselves to be more inclusive. [Modern Retail] Foot Locker is buying athletic retailer WSS and Atmos, a Japan-based streetwear and sneaker shop, as it looks to expand its reach beyond U.S. shopping malls. [WSJ] Motorola’s new ad campaign aims to reach influencers and “change agents” who are open to smartphones that don’t come from Apple or Samsung. [Adweek] Burger King executives hope marketing can help the chain’s growth catch up to that of rivals. [Restaurant Business] ViacomCBS plans to boost Paramount+ with a “Star Trek” entertainment universe that sprawls as widely as Marvel’s. [NYT] |
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We bring you the most important (and intriguing) marketing news every day. Write me at nat.ives@wsj.com any time with feedback on the newsletter or comments on specific items. We want to hear from you. And follow the CMO Today team on Twitter: @wsjCMO, @natives, @alexbruell. |
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