A Kansas City Chiefs Production

PRESENTED BY SUPERPLASTIC

It’s Wednesday, Future Party. Do you know what the longest novel ever published is? While War and Peace and Infinite Jest may be well-known doorstoppers, it’s actually Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time that takes the cake, clocking in at a whopping 1.3 million words for a total page count of over 3,000. Detailing the story of Proust’s life — intermixed with a lot of ruminating about truth, memory, and meaning — the novel was published in 13 volumes between 1913 and 1927. Reading this tome should be the next challenge on #BookTok.

DAILY TOP TRENDS

The Kansas City Chiefs Are Coming For Hollywood

The Kansas City Chiefs are forming a production studio that will make both scripted and unscripted content — seemingly a first for a major sports franchise.

Why It Hits: Movies and TV shows are no longer just the purview of Hollywood studios and independent production companies, as brands, fashion houses, and now sports franchises jump into the space to tell stories that are extensions of their vibe.

Behind the Scenes: The Chiefs want to make projects that celebrate “foolish dreamers” — “those pushing the limits to achieve greatness, whether on the field, at home, or in the game of life,” per the franchise’s press release.

• Foolish Club Studios will make original, long- and short-form scripted and unscripted content.

• The franchise noted that it plans to tell stories about the Chiefs and its history, heroes of Kansas City, and “also stories that reflect the spirit of humility, heart, and hard work that have been part of the team’s heritage since the beginning.”

• The studio will complement the franchise’s in-house, football-focused production arm, 65 Toss Power Trap (65TPT) Productions.

Closing Credits: The studio’s launch comes on the heels of the success of Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, a co-production between the team and Hallmark. It went all the way to becoming the number-one cable movie last year. It also released the viral claymation holiday short, A Kingdom Christmas Story: Hail Merry (the Chiefs clearly love the puns). Considering the difficulty in finding financing for indie productions, Foolish Club Studios could become a major player in kicking off sports, comedy, and uplifting drama projects.

Together with Superplastic

You’re Invited To The Most Mind-Bending Experience Ever

The creative wizards at Superplastic have gone out and created their most outlandish project yet: The Dopeameme Institute for Pleasure Research — a one-of-a-kind immersive experience at AREA15 in Las Vegas.

Step into Dopeameme, where you’ll be immersed in interactive rooms, real-time choices, and surreal sensory environments that blur the line between reality and fantasy.

• Who can join? Anyone, but guests under 16 must be with someone 18+

• Is it worth it? 100%

• Totally legal? We think so…

(No Superplastic collectibles needed — just your curiosity and a taste for adventure.)

Tickets are on sale now!

Get yours and enjoy $5 off with the code DOPEFP25.

The Internet Saves Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble is surging in popularity, sales, and store openings, thanks to going viral on TikTok.

The Big Read: Millennials and Gen Zers are rediscovering tangible, IRL joys, including hitting the movie theaters, reading books, and even finding people to date offline. By acting as a third space for people to socialize (it’s all about the vibes), Barnes & Noble is becoming more than a bookstore — it’s becoming a community hub.

Behind the Books: Barnes & Noble is getting a long-awaited sequel, writes Bloomberg.

• Sales have increased by “mid-single digits” since 2021, according to CEO James Daunt.

• That’s a huge step up from seven years of declining sales last decade, resulting in dozens of store closures.

• That growth has led the company to open 57 new stores last year. It plans to open over 60 more this year in cities like Las Vegas, Santa Monica, and Washington, D.C.

Last Chapter: The internet gives, and the internet takes away. Barnes & Noble’s initial decline was incited by the rise of Amazon, but now it’s being saved by TikTok (and, to a lesser effect, by YouTube and Instagram). Barnes & Noble has completely embraced the #BookTok effect, setting up dedicated displays to market titles that have gone viral, including novels by Colleen Hoover and Rebecca Yarros.

Over the past year, the virality of #BookTok has expanded to include viral stunts like hauls and challenges inside bookstores, especially Barnes & Noble. While bookstores are typically known for their hushed customers, management may be embracing the noise of another viral TikTok being filmed. At this rate, bookstores might soon see block-long lines for new book releases — something that hasn’t really happened since the Harry Potter era.

DEEP DIVES

• Listen: The Town chats with Academy Award-nominated producer Marc Platt about his multi-decade effort to get Wicked on the screen.

• Read: The Athletic breaks down the economics of Tom Brady’s 10-year, $375 million deal to commentate on Fox Sports.

• Explore: Keri Putnam, the former CEO of the Sundance Institute, teamed up with Harvard on a deep analysis of the independent film industry.

67.6% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Do you feel safe when flying these days?

“To be fair, I do work at a jet engine company, so I know how safe flying can be. There will always be situations, but flying is safer than a car if you look at accidents.”

“Much safer than driving with all the aggressive people on the road.”

“I feel safer on a commercial jet than being in a car (and definitely safer than riding a bicycle on city streets), but I’m also very much aware that my safety hinges on other people doing their job correctly.”

“Most of the time, something happening is always at the back of my mind. Don’t really have another choice, though, so I try not to think about it.”

“Agencies seem asleep on and off the tarmac.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

🏆 After Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter won the Grammy for Album of the Year, streams of the album surged 795% on Spotify.

📺 Season 3 of The White Lotus has booked a bunch of brand deals for Max, bringing a new form of advertising to typically ad-free HBO programming.

🎢 Universal Studios introduced after-hours “Fan Fests” at its theme parks to celebrate a wide range of popular IPs.

→ Technology (OpenAI edition)

🤖 In response to the growing popularity of DeepSeek and Meta’s Llama, OpenAI is considering open-sourcing its models.

🤓 OpenAI unveiled a new research-focused chatbot called “Deep Research.”

🦿 Several new trademark filings reveal that OpenAI is working on humanoid robots and wearable devices.

→ Fashion / E-commerce

🚢 The White House’s new tariffs on China are closing the trade loophole that made SHEIN and Temu products so cheap to ship.

💸 Elon Musk said X’s payment tools will be available by the end of the year.

🌭 Fresh off producing Kendrick Lamar’s now-Grammy-winning song, “Not Like Us,” Mustard is collabing with Heinz on, you guessed it, a custom mustard. Chef’s kiss.