Mountain Dew gets dirty, Jack Black goes Five-Timer, ‘Avatar’ up in the air, and the 200th Snackology

This is a very special edition of Snackology. Not only is it the 200th edition of this newsletter, it’s the first time that Snackology is bringing you a meat review. Snackology has covered fast food menu items that were meat-based in the past. Chicken nuggets, chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches. Burgers, steak Crunchwraps and beef burritos. I’ve even compared fish sandwiches. But for the 200th edition of Snackology, I’m talking about the American tradition of ripping open a package of bacon and firing up some hot dogs. I’m talking about Oscar Mayer Maple Bourbon Sliced Bacon. And I’m talking about Oscar Mayer Cheesy Smokehouse Stuffed Hot Dogs and Oscar Mayer Beef & Pork Franks.

Welcome to a dirty edition of Snackology. (No, not “dirrty.” It’s not 2003, and this isn’t Christina Aguilera on the cover of Maxim.) I’m talking dirty as in the dirty soda craze. Dirty Mountain Dew and Dirty Mountain Dew Zero Sugar officially hit shelves on Tuesday.

The prophecy has finally come true: Jack Black is a member of SNL’s Five-Timers Club. (I mean, I assume there was a prophecy. This is Jack Black, one half of Tenacious D, who we’re talking about.) It took almost a quarter century for Black to finally reach this moment, first hosting in 2002. You know what I love about Black as an SNL host? Between his triumphant return last season and my dive into his work on SNL the past week, it’s easy to see that Black enjoys hosting the show in a way where he doesn’t have to be the star of every sketch.

For the decade that stretched between the original Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, it was hard to escape James Cameron’s lofty talk for the future of the series. There would not only be a second movie but a third movie. Stories were plotted for films beyond that. There was even the question of whether Cameron would pass the baton off to a filmmaker, since obviously the Avatar franchise was going to run long past the director’s time. Avatar forever and forever, a hundred years, and so forth. But then Avatar: Fire and Ash made only $404.3 million in North America and $1.486 billion worldwide.

There was never any doubt that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was going to open with absolutely massive box office numbers. Since opening on Wednesday, the animated sequel has racked up $190.1 million in North America, with $139.9 million of the haul coming over the traditional Friday-to-Sunday weekend.