Numlock News: December 1, 2025 • Zootopia, Escargot, Tencha

Dec 01, 2025

By Walt Hickey

Welcome back!

2topia

Zootopia 2 smashed expectations and launched into the record books this weekend after earning $156 million domestically and $400 million overseas, good for a magnificent $556 million globally. That is the fourth-biggest global opening in box office history, the largest launch for an animated film and the biggest opening of the year. It was the greatest opening weekend increase for any animated movie sequel ever, grossing 239 percent more than Zootopia did when it opened. And that movie went on to gross $1.02 billion worldwide.

Rebecca Rubin, Variety

Snails

A farm that raises snails for high-end restaurants has been robbed of 90,000 euros worth of French snails. 450 kilograms of snails disappeared from the L’Escargot des Grands Crus last week. France is home to 271 snail farms, though the domestic snail business has been struggling; French people consume 14,300 tonnes of the food per year, but 95 percent of those snails are imported, mostly from Romania, Belgium, Turkey, Hungary, Greece and Indonesia. At the present time, Interpol is begging French thieves to steal something normal for once.

Adam Sage, The Sunday Times

Matcha

Global demand for matcha has sent Japanese producers scrambling to switch from producing typical sencha green tea leaves to the tencha kneaded dried tea leaves, which are eventually powdered to produce matcha. The leaves are grown differently, with the plants shielded from the sun to bring out more flavor. Producers have been shifting production in phases to both capitalize on the trend while not overcommitting to a tea format that may not be trendy forever. Japan exported 5,162 tons of powdered tea from January to August, already eclipsing the 5,091-ton total last year. Getting that number any higher is going to take work. Right now, SOMA — Shizuoka Organic Matcha, formed by tea companies in 2018 in anticipation of growing demand for matcha — is capable of producing 300 metric tons of matcha annually. Ito En, the largest maker of green tea beverages, is aiming to double its matcha capacity to 630 tons per year by adding two new hammer mill grinders to its plant. Those mills are even now hard to come by; Ikeda Seicha Kikaiten, which makes mills, has cut off accepting new orders as it deals with a backlog.

Yuiya Shibata, Nikkei Asia

Lightning

A study published in Nature, based on an analysis of 28 hours of microphone recordings captured by the Perseverance rover on Mars over the span of two years, argues that Mars indeed has lightning. The researchers found 55 electrical events, nearly all of which occurred during the top 30 percent of wind speeds over the two-year period of study — conditions that might foster dust devils. This would indicate that wind activity is crucial for building up electrical charge in Mars’ thin carbon dioxide atmosphere, where conditions are more conducive to the electrification of dust.

Payal Dhar, Scientific American

Vehicle Kits

Toyota is developing a truck for the African market called the IMV Origin, which is a stripped-down mini-truck with a single seat. The neat thing about the truck is that 70 percent of the vehicle is constructed at a standard assembly plant, but the remaining 30 percent will be assembled locally. The semifinished kits are shipped wherever they need to go, such as into rural villages, where any further alterations can be made. It’s a truck that is explicitly designed to be repaired locally, important given the state of the roads in many parts of rural Africa. It is also designed to be altered to suit the unique local needs of the buyers, aiming to be a step up from motorcycles that often fill the niche today.

Masaki Ishihara, Nikkei Asia

Storms

The 2025 Atlantic Hurricane season officially came to a close on Sunday, a season in which no major hurricane made landfall on the United States but which nevertheless produced more Category 5 storms than any season besides 2005. It was a strange season: 20 straight days of dormant skies during the traditional season peak in September, only to be followed by a six-week stretch of storms that accounted for 70 percent of the overall activity of the 26-week season.

Michael Lowry, Eye on the Tropics

Stars

Lest the overall American commitment to democracy be called into question, signs are clear that the United States remains deeply committed to the vote, the resolution of disputes through the fair ballot and exercising the franchise through suffrage. You just have to know where to look. Dancing With The Stars posted its highest ratings in years, with 9.25 million viewers tuning into a season 34 finale that saw 72 million votes cast. This was a capstone to a season where over 500 million votes were cast. Plus, nobody is out there suggesting that Andy Richter still has a shot if only Mike Pence does the right thing.

Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter

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