Walter Hickey

3 days ago | numlock.com | Walter Hickey

By Walt HickeyRyan Coogler’s original vampire movie Sinners made $45.6 million domestically, the biggest debut for an original film at the North American box office since Jordan Peele’s Us. With great word of mouth and pretty stellar reviews, the movie looks like it’ll have a bit of a runway, which is great news for a box office that has been bordering on panic through much of March.

4 days ago | numlock.com | Walter Hickey

By Walt HickeyThis week, I spoke to Anthony Del Col, who this week is out with the latest book in his Kill Shakespeare comic franchise, Romeo vs. Juliet: A Kill Shakespeare Adventure. Anthony and I go way back — we won a Pulitzer together, and I’ve always enjoyed his work — and when I learned he was coming out with a new book I was thrilled to read it. The book also comes out at a fascinating moment in the comics industry.

6 days ago | numlock.com | Walter Hickey

By Walt HickeyHave a great weekend!A new analysis of the 52 million chords used across 680,000 songs found that — to the expectation of anyone who’s strummed a guitar string or tickled the ivories — G major and C major were the most commonly found. I’ve never done either of those things — drummer, baby — so this information came as a surprising and delightful new fact. G major and C major accounted for 24 percent of all chords used, followed by D major, A major and F major.

1 week ago | numlock.com | Walt Hickey |Walter Hickey

By Walt HickeyWomen had long been elusive for titans of the energy drink world like Monster Energy and Red Bull. But this gender skew was solved by a newcomer to the business, Alani Nu, which launched an energy drink in 2018, hyping 200 milligrams of caffeine and a splash of the vitamin biotin for about 10 calories, packaging the brew in a colorful package and fruity flavors. This strategy managed to be the ticket to a new audience base.

1 week ago | numlock.com | Walt Hickey |Walter Hickey

By Walt HickeyWith the window for Tony Award eligibility closing soon, it’s been a busy couple of weeks for a high-wattage season on Broadway, with several contending shows opening to a substantial buzz and remarkably high grosses. Good Night, and Good Luck starring George Clooney set the weekly record for highest-grossing play in the history of Broadway, earning $3.78 million across 8 performances during its first full week since opening. Average tickets came in at an eye-watering $303.40.