Knox Avenue, the downtown Los Angeles-based production company headed by founder/executive producer Brooke Dooley, has secured Yvette Lubinsky of independent representation firm Yvette Reps to handle sales on the West Coast….Artist management agency RIAD Represents, led by founder Sherry Riad, has broadened its roster of talent to include digital communications shop the STUDIO. Under the aegis of company president Mary Nittolo, the STUDIO, which is based in New York City, specializes in 2D and 3D animation, graphic design, digital content, character development and strategic thinking. The STUDIO’s clients include major advertising agencies such as TBWA, FCB, The Burns Group, Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis, mcgarrybowen, DePirro/Garrone, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, MomentumWW, Young & Rubicam, Walton Isaacson, Euro, Digitas, Grey, and BBDO; and brands like Chase, Verizon, Pfizer, Pepsi, Sony, Kraft Foods, Colgate, Novartis, Avon, Bacardi, Starbucks, Turner Broadcasting, GE, Best Buy and Target department stores. Additionally, RIAD has added to its staff Rose Wind Jerome as an agent, responsible for new business development for the company’s talent lineup, which includes such artists as photographers Michele Asselin, Thierry Des Fontaines, Troy House, Shaniqwa Jarvis, Keena, Michael Prince, Joe Windsor-Williams and Bil Zelman, along with the newest addition, the STUDIO. Prior to joining RIAD, Jerome was the program associate at The Center for Photography at Woodstock in Woodstock, New York….Austrian cinematographer Christian Berger, who’s handled by Dattner Dispoto and Associates, is shooting director Angelina Jolie’s By The Sea. Additionally, Dattner Dispoto and Associates has signed production designers Ariana Nakata and Carl Swanberg….
Is “Glicked” The New “Barbenheimer”? “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” Hit Theater Screens
"Barbenheimer" was a phenomenon impossible to manufacture. But, more than a year later, that hasn't stopped people from trying to make "Glicked" — or even "Babyratu" — happen.
The counterprogramming of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in July 2023 hit a nerve culturally and had the receipts to back it up. Unlike so many things that begin as memes, it transcended its online beginnings. Instead of an either-or, the two movies ultimately complemented and boosted one another at the box office.
And ever since, moviegoers, marketers and meme makers have been trying to recreate that moment, searching the movie release schedule for odd mashups and sending candidates off into the social media void. Most attempts have fizzled (sorry, "Saw Patrol" ).
This weekend is perhaps the closest approximation yet as the Broadway musical adaptation "Wicked" opens Friday against the chest-thumping sword-and-sandals epic "Gladiator II." Two big studio releases (Universal and Paramount), with one-name titles, opposite tones and aesthetics and big blockbuster energy — it was already halfway there before the name game began: "Wickiator," "Wadiator," "Gladwick" and even the eyebrow raising "Gladicked" have all been suggested.
"'Glicked' rolls off the tongue a little bit more," actor Fred Hechinger said at the New York screening of "Gladiator II" this week. "I think we should all band around 'Glicked.' It gets too confusing if you have four or five different names for it."
As with "Barbenheimer," as reductive as it might seem, "Glicked" also has the male/female divide that make the fan art extra silly. One is pink and bright and awash in sparkles, tulle, Broadway bangers and brand tie-ins; The other is all sweat and sand, blood and bulging... Read More