Have you heard? ‘Chicken Shop Date’ in theaters, Hasan Piker in court, and CaylusBlox on shelves.

Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry.

This week, it’s time for a deep-fried movie theater experience, a progressive firebrand is hitting back at his critics, and a top Roblox creative is capitalizing on his success.

Pop culture minute

The finale of Chicken Shop Date will be screened in movie theaters. Amelia Dimoldenberg is ending her iconic interview series, but Chicken Shop Date is going out with a bang. Across ten theaters in London and Paris, Dimoldenberg will deliver content intended for the big screen before sharing the finale of her long-running YouTube treasure. Forget the popcorn — grab some thighs and drumsticks.

Radio Flyer brings back its animated series on YouTube. That’s right — the company known for its red wagons is in the content business now. Max & Maple are going on adventures and singing songs as they begin season two of their Radio Flyer series. It’s an interesting bet for a toy company — and we’ll surely see more of this strategy as the holiday season approaches.

CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker is using AI to turn true crime cases into interactive stories. Zuiker has been engaged in our space for an extremely long time, and he’s continuing to embrace emerging technologies. At the MIPCOM conference in France, he demoed Cinemalistics, an app that brings true crime tales to life. Zuiker said it himself: The CSI guy is dead, and this is his “autopsy.”

Creator commotion

Hasan Piker hits Scott Jennings with a $72 million lawsuit. Piker is looking for big damages by claiming that Jennings, a conservative commentator, doctored one of his Twitch clips. Piker has become a convenient target for the MAGA sect, but this case shows that the left-winger is willing to hit back when his content is taken out of context and used to defame him.

Tini Younger is bringing her social media following into the kitchen. After becoming one of the top chefs on TikTok, Younger is getting into the cookbook game with a culinary tome titled Today We Are Cooking… Younger may be just 24 years old, but she’s looking to spark a movement that gets Gen Z feeling more comfortable in front of the stove.

Minecraft creator Markus Persson lists his Beverly Hills mansion. The man known as “Notch” is looking for a buyer with enough wealth to buy his massive California abode. For that price, I would expect the mansion to come with some built-in creeper protection and a crafting table in every room.

The biz

Caylus is entering the consumer goods market by popping his own popcorn. After becoming one of the biggest stars in the Roblox community, Caylus bought a popcorn factory and turned it into the home base for Good Kernel, his new company. It’s the perfect snack to munch on while you watch all those creator-led movies that are screening in multiplexes across the country.

A new product suite will bring monetization to beehiiv podcasts. The platform that made its name by publishing newsletters launched podcasting tools earlier this year. Now, it is imbuing those audio programs with flexible revenue streams. Newsletter distributors are in the midst of an arms race, and the ones that help creators make the most money are likely to end up on the top of the heap.

Bluesky is letting creators link to the platforms they use to generate revenue. Monetization is still limited on the decentralized social hub, but its creator profiles now has a Links section that can be connected to Patreon accounts. Bluesky is taking the creator economy seriously without forcing its users to employ its own products. That’s a W!

Around the world

K-pop idols are promoting Korean language learning on YouTube. Ever wondered what the singers are actually saying in those K-pop bops? A Korean language institute wants to encourage learners who are trying to understand Hangul characters, so it brought K-pop idols to its YouTube channel as part of a cultural project.

A Ramadan cooking show headlines YouTube’s MENA slate. At a Brandcast event in Dubai, YouTube revealed original programs led by Middle Eastern and North African creators. Highlights include AbuRob‘s competitive cooking series centered around Ramadan, Azza Zarour‘s parenting competition, and Sh5baar‘s eclectic travel vlog.

U.K. high court to Big Tech: Ofcom’s demands are valid. Meta, TikTok, and X took a public U.K. watchdog to court to challenge demands for safety data, but that case went in Ofcom’s favor. The high court ruled that regulators have the right to enforce the Online Safety Act, which requires platforms to provide a safe experience for younger users.

The internet is a strange place

A hijacked QR code turned Lacy’s on-stream dinner into a nightmare. The Twitch star says that he ran up an unintended bill of approximately $12,000 after his viewers manipulated a QR code they noticed at the Japanese restaurant where he was eating. Note to streamers: Maybe blur out QR codes when you go out to eat, or, if it’s easier, just get nicer fans.

The iPhone Duo folds in two, but does it fold in two 10,000 times? Creator Tim Pan put Apple’s new product to the test by repeatedly folding it on its hinge to see how long it can stay operational. Apple might want to use this one in its ads, because after 10,000 folds, the Duo seemed to continue working.

Would you use hypnosis to forget your favorite film? A theater chain in the Netherlands is running a promotion for cinephiles who want to forget (and then remember) film classics. It would suck if you did the whole hypnosis thing only to read a spoiler on your phone while you’re walking in to the theater.

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