Space Battle of the Billionaires... Most people do summer vacays in Florida or Yosemite — billionaires go to space. Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson plans to board a test spaceflight on Sunday. Awkward, since that's nine days before Jeff Bezos is scheduled to embark on his Blue Origin space trip (announced before Branson's). Aside from fueling billionaires' egos, these trips are billboards for NASA-sponsored space tourism. The fact that CEOs are getting aboard helps build confidence in the emerging industry.
Marvel returns... with a vengeance. Marvel is releasing Black Widow in theaters and Disney+ on Friday, after delaying it for more than a year. It’s the first Marvel flick to debut in theaters since the pandemic began. Now: 80% of movie theaters are open, and Covid restrictions have relaxed. The US box office is seeing a strong recovery, but hasn't caught up to its pre-Covid success yet. Black Widow's ticket sales could give us a glimpse into summer demand.