Keith Reinhard, chairman, CEO of DDB Needham Worldwide Communications Group Inc., has been named the ’99 jury president for the Cannes International Advertising Festival. The Chicago-based Reinhard will be joined by Nina DiSesa, chairman, chief creative officer of McCann-Erickson Worldwide, New York, on the film jury, and by Bill Ludwig, vice-chairman, chief creative officer of Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Warren, Mich., on the press and poster jury.
Reinhard heads the largest agency network in the U.S. and the second largest in the world; with the worldwide network setting a record by winning 34 Lions at Cannes in ’98. In ’84, Reinhard gained election as the first American jury president by his colleagues on that Cannes jury.
Screenvision Cinema Network, the U.S. representative for the 46th Cannes International Ad Fest, announced the selection of Reinhard, DiSesa and Ludwig as well as the U.S. contingent set to serve on Cannes’ CyberLions, the interactive competition launched last year. Three prominent U.S. interactive executives have been chosen to serve on the ’99 CyberLions jury: Adam Heneghan, COO, Giant Step, Chicago; Jan Leth, executive creative director, Ogilvy Interactive Worldwide, New York; and Kyle Shannon, chief creative officer, Agency.com, New York.
In its inaugural year, the CyberLions competition generated more than 400 entries. Organizers anticipate an entry landslide that will far exceed that tally.
Also being introduced to the Cannes Ad Fest mix this year is a media competition to honor progressive, strategic media planning and thinking.
The ’99 Cannes International Advertising Festival will be held June 21 to 26. More than 7,000 delegates from around the world will be in attendance, with over 12,000 entries expected.
“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