The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will recognize Mattel’s chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz as Entertainment Person of the Year. Presented in recognition of the vital role that entertainment plays in the marketing and communications landscape, the award celebrates the creativity that inspires others to produce truly compelling, meaningful, and entertaining content.
Kreiz has led a multi-year transformation strategy that established Mattel as an IP-driven, high-performing toy company. Under his leadership, Mattel Films has announced 16 motion pictures in active development with major studio partners. Its first movie, “Barbie,” became a cultural phenomenon, achieving the largest global box-office in 2023 and the industry’s 14th-highest grossing movie of all time. The culture shifting Barbie movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture and received the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Mattel has a growing entertainment offering in television, consumer products, digital games, live events and experiences, publishing, and music. Per Circana, in 2023 Mattel was the #1 toy company in the U.S. for the 30th consecutive year, achieving its largest annual share gain in the U.S. on record.
Simon Cook, CEO, Lions, said, “We are delighted to be honoring Ynon and recognizing Mattel for their continued commitment to creativity in entertainment. The strong leadership of Mattel has led to it becoming an innovative global toy and family entertainment company. By unlocking the potential of its core assets and IP, Mattel has strengthened the company’s relevance and appeal of its iconic global portfolio. Through Barbie particularly, Ynon has opened the aperture of the brand, broadening its cultural resonance and commercial success.”
Kreiz said, “At its core, Mattel is a creative company fueled by innovation and guided by our purpose. We are driven by the knowledge that the people who buy our products are more than consumers, they are fans with an emotional connection to our brands. It is an incredible honor to be recognized by the prestigious Cannes Lions, and to share this with the global team at Mattel whose passion fosters our creativity, every day.”
Kreiz will deliver a keynote seminar on Friday, June 21, and collect the award during that evening’s Cannes Lions Awards Show.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults โ two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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