⏳ “Dune” spices up theaters

“I must not fear”… the $26 sandworm popcorn bucket. More than two years after “Dune: Part One,” moviegoers will head back to Arrakis on Friday for the premiere of part two. Warner Bros. Discovery’s sandy epic was supposed to hit theaters in November but got delayed after Hollywood strikes forced a promotion pause. Now the box office is sucking the dregs of moisture from its stillsuit, desperately in need of a Bene Gesserit boost.

• Spicy: With an anticipated $60M to $80M opening weekend, “Dune”’s follow-up is poised to be the biggest movie of the year so far, which… isn’t saying much. US box-office sales are down 15% for the year, with two record-low weekends this month.

• Streamless: Part one’s pandemic-era hybrid release was a success, grossing $402M. Considering the first “Dune” hit theaters and streamer Max at the same time, the sequel’s big-screen-only debut could give it an edge.

Heartbreak doesn’t feel good… The box office is struggling to pull its feet out of the sand after a six-month production pause during which striking writers and actors secured better pay and protections. Theaters have been recovering since pandemic shutdowns, but this year’s forecast is still gloomy. Analysts expect revenues to dip 5% from last year, and 20% versus the average gross of recent pre-Covid years.

• Cue Nicole Kidman intro: AMC, which reports Wednesday, posted record Q3 revenue in November, boosted by “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.” But it said strikes could make for a challenging year as studios catch up to production schedules.

In a pea-protein pickle… Beyond Meat reports tomorrow as it tries to flip sagging plant-based patty sales with a revamped recipe (more protein, less sodium) announced last week. Beyond logged a net loss of $70M last quarter as sales fell 9% to an undercooked $75M. Its stock is down ~50% since the start of last year. After early IPO success and a Starbucks sando partnership, Beyond’s getting grilled by consumers’ wariness over its burgers’ price and ingredients. Not helping: beef with US meat lobbies, which have outspent alt-meat competitors by 190x.

Crazy Feta on deck… Fast-casual Mediterranean chain Cava reports tomorrow. In November, the pita purveyor reported 50% year-over-year sales growth and swung to a profit. The Chipotle rival went public in June, and the stock’s up over 30% since. Known for customizable bowls and falafel-stuffed pitas, Cava’s rapidly expanded its footprint to nearly 300 locations across the US. Chipotle crushed estimates last quarter despite price hikes (guac = extra extra), with foot traffic growing 7%. That could bode well for Cava.

Ozempic influencers… WeightWatchers got backlash last week after hosting its first “GLP-1 hype house,” a social-media marketing event for its new obesity drug prescription service. WW, which has long promoted lifestyle changes like dieting for weight loss, bought telehealth biz Sequence for $106M last year to tap into the Ozempic frenzy. WW is desperate to pivot as drugs threaten its biz: Zepbound maker Eli Lilly rolled out its own weight-loss prescription service last month. Shares of WW (which reports Wednesday) are down over 60% this year.

Tension at the block party… Americans are pushing back against Big Tech moving into town. Residents of a Texas county are trying to kick out crypto-mining giant Marathon Digital, which owns a local bitcoin mining facility with 80K computers that neighbors say run nonstop at the volume of a motorcycle. Across the US, folks living near mines have filed complaints about their noise pollution and power-grid usage. Amazon and other ecomm cos are facing similar pushback as communities reject proposals for new warehouses in their backyards.

• GPTea: A report found that nearly half of OpenAI's ChatGPT-3.5 responses contained verbatim plagiarism. The company is battling copyright-infringement suits from The New York Times and authors including John Grisham.

• Bezout: Jeff Bezos sold 50M shares of Amazon within nine trading days of announcing plans to sell (the shares were worth $8.5B). Bezos could save $600M in taxes on the sale thanks to his move to Miami.

• Odysseus: Intuitive Machines stock blasted off on Friday after the aerospace biz became the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon. It was the first US lunar landing since 1972.

• Monday: SCOTUS hears social-media content-moderation cases. Earnings expected from Berkshire Hathaway, Domino’s, Hims & Hers Health, and Zoom

• Tuesday: December US house-price index. February consumer-confidence index. NFL Combine begins. Earnings expected from Norwegian Cruise Line, J.M. Smucker, AutoZone, Lowe’s, Cava, Cracker Barrel, Macy’s, Beyond Meat, Virgin Galactic, eBay, Redfin, Vizio, Urban Outfitters, Bumble, Eventbrite, Boston Beer Co., and Imax Corp

• Wednesday: Earnings expected from AMC, Baidu, Dollar Tree, Advance Auto Parts, TJX, Warby Parker, WW International, Squarespace, Salesforce, C3.ai, Paramount Global, Okta, Duolingo, HP, and Marathon Digital

• Thursday: Leap Day added to leap year. Earnings expected from Best Buy, Birkenstock, AB InBev, Bath & Body Works, Six Flags, Papa John’s, Hormel, TD Bank, Dole, Zscaler, Fisker, and Dell

• Friday: Women’s History Month begins. SpaceX Crew-8 mission launches to ISS. F1 season opens this weekend in Bahrain. Earnings expected from FuboTV

Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Amazon, Norwegian Cruise Line, Nvidia, and Starbucks