Honda’s “Grrr,” out of Wieden + Kennedy (W+K), London, scored Best of Show at The One Show, which was held this week (5/11) at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center. Meanwhile, Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken,” out of Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, won Best of Show at the One Show Interactive competition….SHOOT’s third annual New Directors Showcase—which will be marked by an evening screening and panel discussions slated for next week (5/19) at the DGA Theatre in New York—offers a total of 21 helmers (including a two-man team) from diverse backgrounds….Representatives from ad agency in-house post shops throughout the country met for the second straight year during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention last month in Las Vegas, moving closer to the goal of forming a trade association with chapters on both coasts and in the Central U.S….Greg Popp has signed with bicoastal Supply & Demand—the production house headed by managing partners/executive producers Tim Case and Kent Eby—for exclusive representation as a director. Popp had been senior VP/group executive producer at DDB Chicago….Cutters, the Chicago-based editorial house that this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, has spent recent months getting its new Venice. Calif. operation up and running. Heading up the office as executive producer is Nicole Visram, who made a shift after three years as a senior producer at Ogilvy & Mather, Culver City. The Venice base also includes three new Cutters editors: Dustin Robertson, formerly of Santa Monica-based Brass Knuckles; Tessa Davis, from Orchestra Blue in Johannesburg; and newcomer John Mailloux, formerly of bicoastal Lost Planet, where he served as an editorial assistant to editors Hank Corwin and Paul Martinez….
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