"What a day for a daydream" is how the old song goes and in a sense, it characterizes the conceptual underpinning for a campaign promoting Frisch’s Restaurants out of Sive/Young & Rubicam, Cincinnati. "Giant Fish Sandwich"-a :15 directed by Oscar Bassinson of Shadowrock Productions, Beverly Hills-opens on an underwater scene in which a mermaid comes upon a Moby Dick-sized filet of fish sandwich. She looks at the entree longingly and opens her mouth to take a giant bite. But just as she’s about to chomp down, the spot cuts to reality: A female worker making a face-first lunge into the office watercooler. She was obviously daydreaming about the delectable food at Frisch’s.
The gag of a food fantasy that assumes a larger-than-life proportion was conceived by a Sive/ Young & Rubicam team that consisted of creative director Michael Kitei, art director Clifton Lin, copywriter Andy Conroy and producer Doug Bergheger.
In another Frisch’s :15, a man, outfitted for rock climbing, rappels down the side of what appears to be a limestone cliff. Only when he begins his descent does it become clear that he is actually scaling down the side of a massive ham sandwich. However the man gets a rude awakening when he slams into the side of the sandwich bun. At that point, it’s revealed that he’s a window washer who has collided with a building while fantasizing about lunch.
Bassinson’s support team at Shadowrock included president/exec. producer Herb Schwartz and exec. producer Kathryn Bishop. Production support came from Aviator Pictures, Vancouver, B.C., where the campaign was shot on stage at BCTV Production Studios by DP Ron Williams. Key contributors from Aviator were exec. producer Jason Hunt and producer Victoria Frodsham.
Editor was Ian Jenkins of Coast Mountain Post, Vancouver. From Northwest Imaging & FX, Vancouver, were online editor Rob Appleby, Inferno artist Brian Moylan and Flame artist Randy Egan. Colorist was Gary Shaw from Post Haste, Vancouver.
Craig Zarazun of Wave Productions, Vancouver, was audio engineer/mixer. Also from Wave was composer/arranger/sound designer Bob Smart.
-Millie Takaki
“Smile 2” Tops Weekend Box Office; “Anora” Glitters In Limited Release
Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend. "Smile 2," in its first weekend, and "Terrifier 3" in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d'Or winner"Anora" got the best per-theater average in over a year.
"Smile 2" was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected $23 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror "Smile," his debut. Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. "Smile" became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.
The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first's $22 million.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "The Wild Robot" in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as "The Wild Robot," and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into "Terrifier 3," which is not rated, instead. Either way, Damien Leone's demon clown movie, which cost only $2 million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated $9.3 million, bringing its total to $36.2 million.
"Rumors like that are PR gold," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. "There's... Read More