Latest news with #Avengers-esque
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The rise of the influencer screening
Leading up to its release in theaters, there's been a lot of hype surrounding the new Marvel movie Thunderbolts*. That's by design. The film stars Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan as side characters from other franchises (Black Widow and Captain America, respectively) who must band together to form a new, Avengers-esque crew to save the world — and the box office. It opens in theaters Friday and is projected to earn about $70 million in its opening weekend. Superhero movies have long been a staple of moviegoing, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars every year as fans turn out to see familiar characters suit up and kick ass. But every year we move past the best-performing superhero film of all time, Avengers: Endgame, social media users say they've noticed an influx of positive reviews coming out of screenings leading up to big releases — particularly at events held for influencers who post glowing reviews afterward. "As distrust in traditional media builds, we find that a recommendation from an influencer or trusted fan source is often worth more than a traditional review," said Tom Putnam, senior vice president of distribution at Monkey Wrench Films. Leena Sowambur, a digital marketing expert, told Yahoo Entertainment that this publicity technique has been around for years. 'In film, music and entertainment, we've always known that superfans and tastemakers will do the promotional work for you — because for them, it's not just content, it's a mission. They love and live for this,' she said. 'We're not selling to everyone at once. We're seeding influence at the top … and letting it cascade outward. That's always been the psychology behind buzz-building — and social just makes it louder and faster.' The goal is to hit the 'early majority' before release so a film can easily go mainstream, but that's not always easy — or cheap. 'Doing so takes huge amounts of marketing budget, so tapping into fan fervor will always buy more media space when it carries,' Sowambur said. 'The mainstream is of course where the money is, but your innovators and early adopters ensure you maintain some credibility.' Buzz used to spread through fanzines, mailing lists and word of mouth. Now, social media is king. 'If you get 100 passionate micro-influencers in a room, each with 5,000 to 10,000 followers, and give them not just access, but tools — press materials, content kits and a thoughtful experience — they'll light up the internet,' Sowambur said. Gigi Robinson, a creator economy strategist, told Yahoo Entertainment that 'early influencer screenings are one of the smartest moves in entertainment marketing right now.' 'What makes them so impactful is that they create a full content arc. It's not just about showing up and watching a movie,' she said. 'Every creator makes it their own. … These screenings make people feel like they're part of something exclusive. And that anticipation? That's what gets people into theaters.' It's not just studios who want people to see their movies. Theater owners want to build excitement to fill their seats. At CinemaCon in April, a yearly conference for the trade organization Cinema United, major studios presented footage of upcoming movies to theater owners and members of the press. The films that stirred by far the most excitement among audiences were, by far, new installments in superhero franchises. Studio executives and directors addressed how fans are at the core of everything they do. 'We always put our fans first,' Warner Bros. executive Richard Brenner said onstage. Shortly after, David Corenswet, who stars in the highly anticipated Superman movie coming to theaters in July, said he was excited to bring the character 'to a new generation and give them that first experience that turned those of us who are fans into fans in the first place.' Footage from Superman inspired thunderous applause. A teaser for The Fantastic Four: First Steps made audience members gasp. But what do fans actually get from the influencers who post about these movies? Steven Asarch, a culture writer and longtime Marvel comic fan, told Yahoo Entertainment about the joy he felt while attending a midnight screening of the first Avengers movie with a friend group 'created solely to theorize about Marvel movies … giddy with potential for our favorite characters to become mainstream icons.' 'As the decades passed and the movies kept coming out, that magic started to wane,' he said. 'Still after so many duds, I still find myself getting caught up in the hype scandal. I'll see a trailer and be gobsmacked at the premise and potential, helping my TikTok feed get engulfed with theories from [influencer] Straw Hat Goofy and his ilk.' It's part of a cycle. As the movie nears release, stories of on-set drama, reshoots and leaks put a damper on Asarch's excitement. 'But I'm still there opening weekend to watch and hopefully be elated, though most likely disappointed,' he added. 'Marvel movies haven't been a cultural phenomenon since Avengers: Endgame and aren't nearly making as much money for Disney.' Christian Becker, who has been watching Marvel movies since Iron Man came out in 2008, told Yahoo Entertainment that he's 'ride or die for these movies with or without influencers.' 'Early reactions and reviews I'm usually pretty skeptical of, because the studios always seem to handpick those they let in and give them a great 'experience' at these screenings so it may sway their opinions in a more positive direction,' he said. 'Time and time again, we see these movies start with really high scores and buzz, only to drop points on the Rotten Tomatoes meter the more critics who see it.' He'd rather judge the movie for himself. Besides, it's a special occasion whenever he can get his childhood friends together to see the latest Marvel movie. The experience of going to the movies and seeing old pals — onscreen and off — does more than the studio's marketing budget. '[It] seems that the real influencers are the legacy characters like Wolverine or [Tobey Maguire's] Spider-Man since it's those multiverse characters that actually gets butts in seats,' Becker said. 'Hence why Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine saw Marvel's biggest successes since [Avengers: Endgame]. My friends hear 'Hugh Jackman is back!' and they're in!'
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chicago Med's Luke Mitchell Hyped Ripley's 'Perfect Way To Go Out' In Claustrophobic New Episode, So I'm Glad Chicago Fire's Mouch Will Be There
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The main action of Chicago Med usually goes down within the walls of Gaffney, ranging from in the epic three-part Avengers-esque crossover event to Dr. Archer ending up on acid. That won't be the case in the next episode of the 2025 TV schedule, airing on March 5 and streaming next day with a Peacock subscription. Called "Down in a Hole," Ripley well end up... well, down in a hole to try and save lives, risking his own in the process. Luke Mitchell spoke with CinemaBlend about the experience and working with Chicago Fire's Christian Stolte to make it happen. In "Down in a Hole," Ripley has to try and save a woman and her daughter when they're trapped down in an abandoned well, and the preview proves that this definitely isn't just a repeat of what Burgess went through on Chicago P.D. in a well. It also looks like Luke Mitchell didn't have a whole lot of elbow room while filming, and he shared how Med went above and beyond to make it look as good as it does: It was very claustrophobic. They had to make these sets as tight as possible. One of the first things Anna Dokoza, our producing director who directed this episode, said to me was like, You're not drinking any water that episode.' [laughs] Basically insinuating that once I'm in the hole, I'm in the hole. I'm not allowed out to pee. I had the crew coming up and measuring me at the end of last year to like find out exactly how wide my shoulders were, exactly how tall I was. At that moment, I was like, 'Oh, dear. I think I'm really going to be in for it here.' But you know what? It really did add to the experience. It really did help that feeling of being down in a hole, which is difficult to fake, let's be honest. Our crew did an amazing job. Fortunately, the claustrophobic set helped Luke Mitchell rather than unnerved him too much while filming, and he was clearly enthusiastic about the episode when we spoke ahead of its NBC debut. Ripley presumably will be considerably less enthusiastic than the actor, although he'll have some solid support from elsewhere in One Chicago: Chicago Fire's Mouch. Christian Stolte spent a fair amount of the "In the Trenches" crossover at Gaffney, with Mouch interacting with Ripley at the hospital. It should be interesting to see the positions switched, with Ripley pulling a move that we usually see from the heroes at Firehouse 51. The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. alum previewed what to expect from the two joining forces: You get a decent amount of Mouch and Ripley working together and a decent amount of their bonding. That bonding is, I will say, fast-tracked somewhat through the course of the episode and the events that transpire… Saving lives and near death experiences. Of course, Ripley isn't in the best state of mind heading into this big episode after the loss of Sully, fallout, and then breakup with Hannah. So, how prepared is he for this extremely perilous journey down in a hole? Luke Mitchell previewed: I think ordinarily, Ripley's that sort of guy. I don't think he had to be in the mental space that he is in to do what he does. But maybe there's just an extra little bit of going all-in to him at this moment in time. There's so many different levels and layers to it, but him feeling like he's a failure, him feeling like he needs to prove himself to himself at the very least. I don't think he's doing it for any applause or anything like that. It is who he is, but I think right now, he's ready to go all-in and if this is how Ripley ends, trying to save the lives of two innocent people, then in his eyes, I think that that would be the perfect way to go out. Ripley isn't going down into a hole because he has a sudden death wish, and I doubt any fans would have been surprised if he was up to risk his life to save others when everything was still going smoothly for him. We can just hope that Ripley won't actually be going out by the end of the episode, even if saving lives would be his "perfect way." For now, check out what's to come in "Down in a Hole" on March 5: As usual, Chicago Med kicks off NBC's hit One Chicago Wednesday primetime block at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. ET with somebody seemingly on death's door and then Chicago P.D. at 10 p.m. ET with Reid causing trouble for Voight. All three shows are also streaming on Peacock, with past episodes available now and new episodes streaming next day.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Super Bowl commercials 2025: Grading the best, worst, wildest and weirdest Big Game Ads
Super Bowl Sunday! It's here at last, the national holiday when we're forced to sit through football in order to watch our beloved ads. For the 13th straight year, Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee and Ian Casselberry are here to escort you through the dizzying array of celebrity cameos, awkward jokes and heartstring-tugs of this year's waves of ads, updating live as they air. As always, we grade ads on a completely subjective, utterly biased, totally nonscientific basis, and all grades are final. Feel free to contribute your own takes in the comments or on our social media channels. Now ... on with the ads! YAHOO x BILL MURRAY Let's start with the greatest Super Bowl ad in history. (It's possible we are biased.) Don't ask, just email Bill Murray. billhimself@ — Yahoo (@Yahoo) February 10, 2025 GRADE: A Dunkin, 'DunKings 2' Ben Affleck, Dunkin' Obsessive and Oblivious Bostonian is one of the best commercial characters to come along in awhile, and this time around he gets an assist from brother Casey and Succession's method-acting Jeremy Strong, as well as Jay and Silent Bob and Bill Belichick. The blaze-orange glow of Dunkin' will sear your eyeballs in the best possible way. 'What's Legal?' figures out a way to get around messy technical legalities like saying ' is the best. Any Morgan Freeman appearance is a good appearance. Instacart, 'We're Here' If one key tenet of Super Bowl commercials is eliciting a 'Hey, I know that reference!' reaction from your audience, well, this Instacart ad is pretty much the peak of that genre. An Avengers-esque lineup of commercial characters, from Mr. Clean to the Energizer Bunny to a kaiju Green Giant, this will have everyone rewinding to see what they missed. Not a great ad, per se, but perhaps the ideal Super Bowl ad. Plus: The return of Puppymonkeybaby! Hellman's, 'When Sally Met Hellman's' An ideal Super Bowl ad! Recalling an iconic scene from 'When Harry Met Sally' with Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal hits that nostalgia spot, and it's still funny enough for anyone unfamiliar with it. And Sydney Sweeney's cameo at the end is the bridge to younger audiences. But that is a gross amount of mayo Ryan put on her sandwich. Pringles, 'Call of the Mustaches' Definitely memorable. Many of us will have the 'Batman' theme with 'Mustache' in our brains for weeks. Ripping the facial hair off a national treasure like Nick Offerman was bold. But seeing James Harden's face without a mustache is unforgettable, maybe disturbing. Potato chips might provide comfort with that. Nike, 'So Win' Caitlin Clark, Sha'Carri Richardson and a host of star female athletes disregard condescending attitudes toward women's sports. 'You can't win … so win.' Good message, good delivery, effective ad. Bud Light, 'Cul-De-Sac Party'Shane Gillis, Peyton Manning and Post Malone firing beer cans all over a suburban cul-de-sac? What's not to love? This captures the essential dudeness of suburban dad life, with the typical we-know-it's-a-commercial meta winks of a Super Bowl ad. Bonus points if you can count how many people are holding their Bud Light cans logo-visible, a way no human being has ever held a can outside a commercial. Totino's Pizza Rolls, 'Chazmo's Farewell'OK, look, anything by Tim Robinson, the creator of 'I Think You Should Leave,' is straight comedy gold. This fits right in that vein, so this Totino's ad is awesome. Your opinion may vary. But in this article, we praise Chazmo, and Tim Robinson. GRADE: B Pfizer, 'Don't Call It a Comeback' Heartwarming ad as a young cancer survivor wins his battle to the strains of LL Cool J's 'Mama Said Knock You Out.' Wouldn't have expected that song to be in an emotional ad, but here we are. "How To Train Your Dragon" trailer Yes, this is a live-action version of an animated movie. Your kids are gonna love it. Little Caesars, 'Eyebrows Raised' Sort of similar motif to another Super Bowl ad, this involves Eugene Levy's eyebrows taking flight and terrorizing/charming/enticing the natural world around him. Weird, but in a good way. MSC Cruises, 'Holiday' Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore in a cutesy difference-between-America-and-Europe clash of cultures. Makes you want to go on a cruise, if only to show those folks from the other side of the pond who's better. Thunderbolts*, Movie Trailer Our first 'check the web for the full trailer' teaser of the Super Bowl. If you're a Marvel movie fan, Thunderbolts* (yes, there is an asterisk) appears to be a return to form. Doritos, 'Abduction' This is the work of an indie filmmaker, and it shows — and we mean that as high praise. Aliens want to steal a dude's Doritos, for some reason, and dude fights back … right up until enemies share a few chips. Easy concept, effective execution, no freaking celebrities … this is a strong showing right here. Michelob Ultra, 'Ultra Hustlers' Revenge of the Olds! Oh, this one's going to go over well with the upper age bracket of the Super Bowl demographic. Willem Dafoe and Catherine O'Hara hustle smug youngsters for Michelob Ultra out on the mean pickleball courts, which sounds unlikely only if you've never played pickleball. I wouldn't want to face the Green Goblin and Moira Rose on a pickleball court, and neither should you. Squarespace, 'A Tale As Old As Websites' Starring Barry Keoghan, the scenery alone sets it apart from other Super Bowl ads. But the premise of farmers and merchants in remote Ireland needing Squarespace to build websites in a remote village is silly enough to be entertaining. And throwing anything through a window should get some attention. Ritz, 'Salty Club' Any time you've got Michael Shannon and Aubrey Plaza in a salty-off, you're on the right track. We'd actually call Plaza 'condescending' or 'imperious' before we'd go with 'salty.' But Shannon? Yeah, that dude is salty as hell. Coors Light, 'Case of the Mondays' (Sloth version) Say this for Coors Light: It knows its audience. This is exactly how we're all gonna look on Monday. Not sure beer is quite the right pick-me-up, but clever usage of sloths nonetheless. TurboTax, 'Now Taxes is So Sweet' TurboTax has previously tried to make doing taxes seem fun (a record of your accomplishments!). But tax season is miserable, almost dystopian. Issa Rae is just like us, dumping the drudgery on somebody else so we can be happy. This ad gets us! Uber Eats, "Conspiracy" It's the final chapter of the ongoing Matthew McConaughey-NFL conspiracy theory series that's been running for all football season! It's all been leading up to this! And given that the NFL is more popular than ever, it might go on for awhile longer. Google Pixel, 'Good Luck Dad' Google using straight-up emotional terrorism to sell phones now, showing a young girl embracing her father as both a child and as a college student. Wicked, but effective. Rocket Mortgage, 'Country Roads' What do mortgages have to do with one of the great singalong songs of all time? Don't worry about it. Just sing along: 'Country roooooooads…' Budweiser, 'First Delivery' Continuing Budweiser's proud tradition of horses n' beer, this is the tale of a determined lil' Clydesdale making sure to deliver a loose keg to its rightful bar. Sure, it's a little silly, but at least it doesn't have any unnecessary celebrity appearances or winking 2020s-era nods at the audience. Major unanswered question: How is that beer not just explosive foam when they finally tap that keg? Novartis, 'Your Attention Please' Perhaps the strongest swerve from enticement to serious messaging in Super Bowl history. Dodge Ram, 'Drive Your Own Story'Glen Powell reappropriates 'Goldilocks' for himself, changing it into a dragon-punching, Van Halen-pumping, volcano-jumping, bear-tauntin action movie. We'd watch it. Häagen-Dazs, 'Not So Fast, Not So Furious'Hey, I know those people! Dom and Letty from the Fast & Furious franchise take a break from saving the world to savor an ice cream bar. I think they've earned it, don't you? Until Fast XI shows up in 2026, this'll have to do. You know Fastheads are trying to figure out exactly where this fits in the canon. At least we now know Tej survived that [Fast X spoiler]. Stella Artois, 'Other David' David Beckham has a brother! And if you don't know who David Beckham is, well … that's part of the gag here. Not sure what this has to do with beer, but hey, whatever. Clever bit, solid execution, perfect kicker — in this case, pun very much intended. The meta-celebrity reference at the end knocks it down a grade, though. 'Something for Everyone'Your opinion of this commercial will hinge on your opinion of the Muppets. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and all the rest show up to pitch the idea that not every resort is a fit for every vacationer — and if you've ever been a family at an adult-oriented resort, or vice-versa, this'll hit home. Solid effort. GoDaddy, 'Walton's Working'Goggins' Goggles? Come on, that ad writes itself. Walton Goggins, star of — well, everything, gets his just due as the star of a Super Bowl ad for GoDaddy, which has decided at last to make ads that are actually suitable for broadcast. It's a new era all the way around. STõK, 'Hollywood Magic'It's a stretch, but a fun one — get Channing Tatum of 'Magic Mike' to teach soccer team Wrexham FC (you know, the Ryan Reynolds/Rob McIlhenny team) some new celebratory dance moves. Sure, we're again going to the decades-old-song well — 'Gonna Make You Sweat' is nearly 35 years old — but the idea of a hypercaffeinated soccer team grinding is so ridiculous it's good goofiness. Maybe not family-friendly goofiness, mind you, but some segments of the Super Bowl viewing audience will enjoy this one much more than others. Oikos, 'Surprising Strength'Ted Lasso fans will thrill to see Keeley back in action. NFL fans will want to know where the flight Myles Garrett was boarding is headed. A successful Super Bowl ad, good and goofy. Jeep, "Freedom"Harrison Ford is just a grade-A badass, whether he's battling aliens or Nazis or the advance of time. So when he talks about freedom, you'd better listen ... even if it's in the midst of a car commercial. (Not going to lie, was hoping Chewbacca would be in the passenger seat of that Jeep.) GRADE: C Meta, 'Broken Statue' This could not be a more down-the-middle ad — attractive celebrities, wacky conundrum, safe little kicker — which way undersells what a creepy product this is. An always-on cybernetic assistant that does your thinking for you? Did Thor learn nothing from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'? T-Mobile / Starlink T-Mobile and Starlink make a bold satellite offer to people on a range of cell phone carriers. Hope they're ready for the onslaught of new customers! Cirkul Adam Devine is going to bring water right to your front door! He could be outside your house right now! Mountain Dew, 'Kiss from a Lime' It's Seal! And he's a seal! Get it? Get it? If you're old enough to remember the 31-year-old 'Kiss from a Rose' and the name of the guy who sang it, then you're probably too old to be drinking Mountain Dew on a regular basis. Still, the image of Seal the seal is one that's going to be sticking around from this year's ads. Liquid Death, 'Drinkin' On The Job' Look, if 'Drinkin' on the Job' isn't a country hit, it ought to be. But only drinking water! Coors Light, 'Case of the Mondays' (Actor version)Takes a long time to get to the payoff, and the payoff ain't all that great. Plus, anyone who's never watched Veep is going to be asking, 'Who is this guy? And who's that other guy? What's going on here? Are there any more nachos?' Probably in that order. Also: more weird can-holding. Spruce, 'Who Let the Dogs Out' So, nice work by Spruce to both get their name and product offering out into the world, and attach it to their key value proposition: dogs! Who doesn't love dogs, we ask you? Simple. Straightforward. We'll even forgive the use of yet another decades-old song in this case, because dogs rule. AngelSoft "PottyTunity" Expensive way to tell people to go to the bathroom, but also effective. Reese's, 'Don't Eat Lava' As a public service announcement, this works. Don't eat lava, people. Don't even get near it. As a candy bar ad, maybe it appeals to the chocolate lover. But the 'Chocolate Lava Big Cup' also looks like it could make a messy shirt in one bite. No thanks. Nerds, 'What a Wonderful World'You've got to have … let's say 'guts,' to use the music of New Orleans legend Louis Armstrong in an ad set in New Orleans, for a Super Bowl in New Orleans, to promote chewy candy. Getting Shaboozey's dulcet tones on this was a good choice, but the overall ad is exactly what it seems, nothing less, nothing more. Google AI: 'American Small Business'So full of swelling music and heartland scenes of Americana that it could be a beer commercial. But no, it's an ad for Google AI. Whole lot of sky-high promises here, from Google and from AI in general. Let's check back in a year or two and see where we are. This grade could go way up, or way down. GRADE: D WeatherTech, 'Born To Be Wild' Look, this is a solid enough Super Bowl ad, with sassy grannies and some (hidden) elderly nudity. But we're still using 'Born to be Wild' in the year 2025? Seriously? That song is nearly 60 years old! There have been a lot of good songs written since then! Advertisers of the world who want to portray low-stakes rebellion onscreen, try at least one of them! CoffeeMate, 'Let's Go Tongues' You know, so many of these ideas must sound so great in the brainstorming stage — 'What if we had a dancing tongue leap out of a dude's mouth and cavort onstage?' — and then in practice, they're the epitome of, 'Wow, I never need to see that again.' Not every ad that's memorable is memorable in a good way. Zeam, 'Jingle'Add this to the pile of Super Bowl ads that doesn't explain what it's promoting. John Stamos is cool, and he briefly explains that Zeam is… a streaming service? Maybe? We don't know because Stamos spends 22 seconds trying to write a jingle. Utterly forgettable. GRADE: F Hexclad, 'Unidentified Frying Object' Seemed like it was setting up a scenario where Gordon Ramsay was going to cook up some alien food, and then devolved into … yet another celebrity Super Bowl ad, this one making wacky commentary on celebrities themselves! Fumbled a big opportunity. Should've had Gordon pan-frying some alien steaks in butter. After Kanye's tweets earlier this week, ain't no way we're clicking that link. UNGRADED Here, we'll put the commercials that don't really warrant a grade. Can't quite grade an ad trying to stop hate on the same scale as Puppymonkeybaby, after all. Decide for yourself whether you liked these ads. Snoop and Tom Brady, 'Stop Hate' Aggressive and in your face, and that's the point. It's easy to hate, and it's lazy to hate, and it's dumb to hate. But will that message get through to the haters, or will they just hate this ad? We're against all hate here, but we still haven't forgiven you for what you did to our team in that Super Bowl, Tom. He Gets Us, 'Personal Jesus' Johnny Cash makes everything better. Hims & Hers, 'Sick of the System'Well. Whoooole lot going on in this one, pinballing from America's obesity challenges to a condemnation of the healthcare system to an appropriation of Childish Gambino's incendiary 'This Is America' anthem. It's a strong message, and it's being delivered to the widest possible audience — pun not intended — but as usual, the question persists: do people really want to hear about challenging the system when they are in the midst of one of The System's holiest days?
