Economy

Shang-Chi box office glory, iPhone notch-watch and running out of stuff

Planet Business: Don’t look down

French urban climber Alain Robert (second from right) and three of his similarly adventurous friends climb the Total tower in La Défense, Paris, on Tuesday. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP

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Laura Slattery
Fri Sep 10 2021 - 05:45

Image of the week: Spiderman returns

When it comes to scaling the Total tower in the Parisian business district La Défense, "French Spiderman" Alain Robert (59) is a bit of a regular. On this occasion, his 11th, he brought three young climber friends, who said it was an "honour" to join him in the insanely equipment-free pursuit.

Robert usually free-solos up buildings in the name of a cause – in January 2020, for example, his venture up the 187ft Total tower was his unique way of objecting to French government pension reforms. Since the pandemic, his protests have taken a distinct turn.

In early March 2020, he climbed to the top of the Agbar Tower in Barcelona to signal his feelings about the “fear” caused by Covid-19 being in his view “more contagious than the disease itself”, while this week’s La Défense outing was performed in the name of his opposition to France’s Covid health pass. It ended, as these things do, with his arrest.

In numbers: Shang-Chi surprise

$75.5m
Three-day US box office take for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings last weekend, with the Marvel film setting an unexpected new Labor Day weekend record by a massive margin.

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$80m
Shang-Chi was also the second-biggest US opening weekend of the pandemic, behind Marvel's Black Widow, which took $80 million in its first three days. But while Black Widow's takings soon plunged thanks to its simultaneous debut on Disney Plus, cinemas have Shang-Chi exclusively for 45 days.

€562,000
The Irish contribution to Shang-Chi's international take, making the superhero film starring Simu Liu the biggest cinema opening in the Republic since pre-pandemic times.

Getting to know: the iPhone 13

At next week's "California streaming" event, Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 13 to cater for global demand for a slightly better smartphone than exists on the market. Very little has been officially confirmed ahead of the great reveal, but much of the chatter has centred on the notch, that little black rectangle at the top of an iPhone screen that houses the front-facing camera and various other components.

The notch, though itself an improvement on the wider black strip that used to feature at the top of an iPhone screen, is unloved by perfection seekers, some of whom were jolted into screenshotting action by the recent sight of what appeared to be a notch-free iPhone in the Apple-commissioned comedy series Ted Lasso, believing it to be an unconventional advance promo. Other rumour-watchers have cautioned against getting too excited, however. The iPhone 13 will still have a notch, they say, it just might be smaller than the current notch. Notch-urally.

The list: Shortage warnings

Empty shelves are the new full stockrooms, with a spate of missing retail and hospitality items attributed to the overlapping crises of global shipping delays, a dearth of heavy goods vehicle drivers in Brexit Britain and manufacturers’ difficulties obtaining raw materials. So what else could be in short supply soon?

  1. Books. Waterstones, owner of Hodges Figgis, is upping its stocks now in anticipation of logistics problems come December, thereby saving customers from the disaster of having to open the unread books they bought ages ago.
  2. Turkeys. "Please, Emmanuel! Britons could have to buy French Christmas turkeys amid UK shortage." Behold, an actual headline in the Express.
  3. Mattresses. Ikea is now shy of a few. Indeed, about 10 per cent of the product lines it sells in Ireland are experiencing pesky supply chain issues.
  4. Toys. In awkward news for Santa Claus, toy manufacturers are anticipating major shortages of in-demand toys this year. Better get the elves on the case.
  5. Who knows? With Britain seeing shortages of everything from Haribo sweets to blood test tubes in recent months, all bets are off as to what much-loved/essential item will grow scarce next.
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