Today's Topics
Is it getting crazier out there? (Joker, 2019)
- Joker just became the first R-rated movie to gross a billion dollars at the box office - what came close before it?
- Amazon is making some crazy profits in its cloud computing business. We explore.
- True crime podcasts are thrilling people all over the world. When did people get hooked on them?
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The Most Successful R-Rated Movies Of All Time
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Producing a billion dollar blockbuster isn't easy*, but producing an R-rated movie that smashes through that milestone was totally unheard of before this year. Enter Joker, which just smashed through the billion barrier, becoming the first movie to do so.
We went searching for the data behind the other most successful kid unfriendly films of all time. We wanted to explore if we could find anything in common with them, but when it comes to the types of R-rated movies that do well, anything goes it seems.
Genre-bending efforts like Deadpool, where superheroes meet dark comedy, powerful biblical dramas like Passion of the Christ, comedies such as the Hangover, action flicks such as American Sniper, Terminator 2 and Saving Private Ryan, and touching dramas such as The Intouchables all make the list of the most successful. Oh, and Fifty Shades of Grey.
One thing we noticed is that reviews don't seem to matter much. The Hangover Part II and Fifty Shades of Grey both got horrible reviews, both smashed the box office. Similarly, no-one seems to have been put off by some of the controversial reviews of Joker - if anything they seem to have fuelled the fire of intrigue.
*Unless you're Disney who will probably notch up their 6th of the year when Frozen 2 comes out.
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Most people know Amazon as the online retailer that gets stuff, that you don't always even need, to your door in less than 24 hours.
That level of convenience has propelled Amazon's e-commerce business to become the giant it is today. It's the biggest in the game and it's still growing at an absurd rate for a business of its size (almost 30% growth in 2018).
But for Amazon, the majority (57%) of their operating profits actually from their cloud computing business - Amazon Web Services - and not e-commerce.
Why is AWS so profitable?
By getting into the game really early on, Amazon has been able to stack products on top of products on top of products. Their website currently lists 165 different services from database storage, machine learning tools, blockchain networks, server hosting and application integration - to name but a few. That huge array of products wins them business from small companies, big companies, and even governments.
Who else is in this game?
Amazon has lots of competitors - but Microsoft's Azure platform is their biggest. A few weeks back Microsoft won the so-called "JEDI" contract, which is a huge contract with the US Department of Defense that could be worth up to $10bn. Amazon had a bit of a moan, suspecting that Trump's personal dislike of Jeff Bezos may have somehow influenced the decision.
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Podcasts are hot property at the moment. Some people listen to be inspired, some listen to be informed and some just want to be thrilled and scared on their commute home by listening to a chilling story about a "true crime".
In the last 5 years, the number of people searching Google to find a true crime podcast has exploded. So what happened?
Towards the end of 2015 arguably the most popular true crime podcast Serial was just getting going on its second season. At roughly the same time, in December '15, Netflix aired the documentary Making a Murderer for the very first time. Its popularity launched a wave of shows and content just as podcasts were also gaining traction.
Why do we like true crime?
It's like the car crash you can't look away from. Shows like Serial and hundreds of others play on our most primal instinct - fear.
Interestingly, the popularity seems to differ between men and women. Ozy reports that nearly 75% of all true crime podcasts listeners are women. It's not clear why, although Michael Mantell - chief psychologist at the San Diego Police Dept. - suggests that women fear being crime victims more than men and so may relate more to the stories told.
If you love true crime podcasts - or you've never tried them - here's a decent list from Vulture of 10 popular ones.
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Data Snacks
1) The "OK Boomer" meme has officially peaked: the website domain okboomer dot com has just sold for over $10k.
2) Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has founded a "Facebook rival" called WT:Social and has reportedly already hit 200k users. He promises the site will never sell user data.
3) Just 6% of Brits believe Prince Andrew's version of events regarding his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, in light of his car-crash interview with the BBC.
4) The OECD has cut its forecast for global economic growth to 2.9% for next year.
5) For less than $5 a month you could be reading handpicked stories from premium publishers - try Mogul News today.*
6) Tesla just revealed its "Cybertruck". With 500 miles of range, and costing less than $40k, it sounds pretty good on paper. But looks wise... it's out there folks.
*This is a sponsored snack.
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