“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. This combination of images shows promotional art for "Gladiator II," left, and "Wicked." 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” ). People are also reading... 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. Movie review: 'Wicked' is designed to wow and wow again “'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 muscles. Both films topped Fandango’s most anticipated holiday movie survey, where 65% of respondents said that they were interested in the “Glicked” double feature. Theaters big and small are also pulling out the stops with movie-themed tie-ins. B&B Theaters will have Roman guards tearing tickets at some locations and Maximus popcorn tubs. Marcus Theaters is doing Oz photo ops and friendship bracelet-making. Alamo Drafthouse is leaning into the singalong aspect (beware, though, not all theaters are embracing this) and the punny drinks like “Defying Gravi-Tea.” This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in a scene from the film "Wicked." “Rather than it being in competition, I think they’re in conversation,” “Gladiator II” star Paul Mescal said. “This industry needs a shot in the arm. Those films gave it last year. We hope to do it this year.” And the hope is that audiences will flock to theaters to be part of this moment as well. It's a sorely needed influx of could-be blockbusters into a marketplace that's still at an 11% deficit from last year and down 27.2% from 2019, according to data from Comscore. “Competition is good for the marketplace. It’s good for consumers,” said Michael O'Leary, the president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “Having two great movies coming out at the same time is simply a multiplier effect.” “Glicked” is currently tracking for a combined North American debut in the $165 million range, with “Wicked” forecast to earn around $100 million (up from the $80 million estimates a few weeks ago) and “Gladiator II” pegged for the $65 million range. “Barbenheimer” shattered its projections last July. Going into that weekend, “Barbie” had been pegged for $90 million and “Oppenheimer” around $40 million. Ultimately, they brought in a combined $244 million in that first outing, and nearly $2.4 billion by the end of their runs. It’s possible “Glicked” will exceed expectations, too. And it has the advantage of another behemoth coming close behind: “Moana 2,” which opens just five days later on the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday. “Glickedana” triple feature anyone? This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Pedro Pascal, left, and Paul Mescal in a scene from "Gladiator II." “These are 10 important days,” O'Leary said. “It’s going to show the moviegoing audience that there’s a lot of compelling stuff out there for them to see.” There are infinite caveats to the imperfect comparison to “Barbenheimer,” as well. “Wicked” is a “Part One.” Musicals carry their own baggage with moviegoers, even those based on wildly successful productions (ahem, “Cats”). “Gladiator II” got a head start and opened internationally last weekend. In fact, in the U.K. it played alongside “Paddington in Peru,” where that double was pegged “Gladdington.” “Gladiator” reviews, while positive, are a little more divided than the others. And neither directors Ridley Scott nor Jon M. Chu has the built-in box office cache that Christopher Nolan’s name alone carries at the moment. The new films also cost more than “Barbie” ($145 million) and “Oppenheimer” ($100 million). According to reports, “Gladiator II” had a $250 million price tag; “Wicked” reportedly cost $150 million to produce (and that does not include the cost of the second film, due next year). The narrative, though, has shifted away from “who will win the weekend.” Earlier this year, Chu told The Associated Press that he loves that this is a moment where “we can root for all movies all the time.” Close behind are a bevy of Christmas releases with double feature potential, but those feel a little more niche. There’s the remake of “Nosferatu,” the Nicole Kidman kink pic “Babygirl” and the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.” The internet can’t even seem to decide on its angle for that batch of contenders, and none exactly screams blockbuster. Sometimes the joy is just in the game, however. Some are sticking with the one-name mashup (“Babyratu”); others are suggesting that the fact that two of the movies feature real-life exes (Timothée Chalamet and Lily-Rose Depp) is enough reason for a double feature. And getting people talking is half the battle. When in doubt, or lacking a catchy name, there’s always the default: “This is my Barbenheimer.” Associated Press journalist John Carucci and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed reporting. Last summer, Malibu's iconic blonde faced off against Cillian Murphy and the hydrogen bomb in the unforgettable "Barbenheimer" double feature. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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TORONTO (AP) — The Utah Hockey Club said players were forced to walk to their game against the Maple Leafs after their bus got stuck in Toronto traffic Sunday night. The team posted a video on social media of team members walking to Scotiabank Arena, with player Maveric Lamoureux saying the bus was “not moving at all.” Several city streets had been closed during the day for the annual Santa Claus parade. The Maple Leafs earned their fourth consecutive win by defeating Utah 3-2. The viral incident prompted Ontario Premier Doug Ford to call the congestion “embarrassing” and “unacceptable,” highlighting his government’s plan to address the city’s gridlock through bike lane legislation. It wasn’t the first time a Toronto visitor had to ditch their vehicle to make it to an event on time. In June, former One Direction band member Niall Horan had to walk through traffic to get to his concert at Scotiabank Arena. AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhlB. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Vulcan Materials ( NYSE:VMC – Free Report ) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,090 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $774,000. Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Vulcan Materials by 19.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,320,570 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,332,431,000 after buying an additional 884,580 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Vulcan Materials by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,130,537 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $533,551,000 after acquiring an additional 330,433 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Vulcan Materials by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 1,369,530 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $342,971,000 after purchasing an additional 91,318 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Vulcan Materials by 3.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,332,649 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $331,404,000 after purchasing an additional 43,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XN LP grew its position in shares of Vulcan Materials by 21.6% in the second quarter. XN LP now owns 519,647 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $129,226,000 after purchasing an additional 92,388 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock. Vulcan Materials Price Performance VMC stock opened at $284.61 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $261.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $254.63. The firm has a market cap of $37.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a current ratio of 2.86. Vulcan Materials has a 1 year low of $209.60 and a 1 year high of $298.31. Vulcan Materials Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Vulcan Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.02%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of brokerages have issued reports on VMC. Stephens decreased their price target on Vulcan Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $349.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Vulcan Materials from $297.00 to $292.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Vulcan Materials from $267.00 to $257.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Vulcan Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.46. View Our Latest Analysis on VMC Vulcan Materials Company Profile ( Free Report ) Vulcan Materials Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and supplies construction aggregates primarily in the United States. It operates through four segments: Aggregates, Asphalt, Concrete, and Calcium. The company provides crushed stones, sand and gravel, sand, and other aggregates; and related products and services that are applied in construction and maintenance of highways, streets, and other public works, as well as in the construction of housing and commercial, industrial, and other nonresidential facilities. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VMC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Vulcan Materials ( NYSE:VMC – Free Report ). 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Custom-designed helmets that stave off major brain injuries. Mobile blood banks and preliminary surgery on the battlefield. Dog tags that broadcast medical data. Evacuation by helicopter to hospitals, measured in minutes. Fentanyl lollipops to ease the pain. As Israel plows into the second year of open-ended war on several fronts, its military doctors have been innovating trauma care on the fly and grimly boast a record survival rate. That, in turn, may help shore up public support in Israel for a conflict that has inflicted the country’s worst losses in decades. “We accrue battlefield knowledge and apply it and improve on it even as the fighting continues,” said Lt.-Col. Ofer Almog, head of technological development for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Medical Corps. The human cost on the other side has been devastating — 44,000 dead in Gaza and 3,000 in Lebanon, many of them civilians. Of Israeli soldiers who sustain wounds in the Gaza Strip or southern Lebanon that require urgent treatment, 6.9 percent die, the corps says — a “case fatality rate” (CFR) less than half that of Israel’s last major war, in 2006. It also compares favorably to the CFRs that U.S. forces suffered from similar kinds of attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan — 10 percent and 8.6 percent, according to a 2019 study published by the U.S. military’s Joint Trauma System. An inherent advantage the Israelis have is in the proximity of hospitals. The average time it takes to evacuate a Gaza casualty to a trauma center is 66 minutes, the corps says. The record was 17 minutes. But intervention begins beforehand, sometimes within seconds of the injury, administered by doctors, paramedics or medics deployed with every IDF combat company. Not far behind is an armored ambulance equipped with a specially cooled blood-bank, for type-O transfusions in large quantities to counteract catastrophic hemorrhaging. “Our staff in the field are even equipped to do intraosseous infusions — directly into the bone marrow — when a soldier’s veins aren’t accessible,” Almog said. Kyle Remick, a retired U.S. Army colonel and now trauma chief at Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown, Maryland, described such “scoop and run” evacuations and rapid hemorrhage control as critical factors in saving lives. “Unprecedented” He called a CFR of 6.9 percent unprecedented, and noted that Israel has long been known as a leader in such battlefield care. Israel has lost almost 800 soldiers, with another 5,350 wounded, in the war that began with a surprise Hamas cross-border rampage in October. On a per capita basis, that’s almost four times the number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. And unlike the professional U.S. military, Israel’s personnel are mostly conscripts and reservists. The Hamas attack killed 1200 and abducted 250. Public support for the war in Israel has been strong, with some slippage only in recent weeks amid a sense that objectives in Gaza and Lebanon have been exhausted, said Tamar Hermann, a pollster with the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank. “Had there been many hundreds of fatalities, the erosion would have begun earlier, I think,” she said. Among the IDF’s wartime improvements to care, Almog said, has been a chip-bearing dog tag given immediately to a casualty, into which medics enter information through tablet-like devices. That smooths the handover from battlefield to helicopter to hospital, as each new team downloads the data. Ease breathing During the conflict, the IDF also stopped routinely draining excess air or fluid from a casualty’s chest to ease breathing, a procedure known as a thoracotomy. “We determined, after investigating hundreds of cases, that there was zero proven utility that would suffice to counterbalance the potential damage,” Almog said. Two months into the war, the IDF limited the procedure and instead focused on methods like intubation and ventilation. An IDF innovation team partnered with the Medical Corps is working on body armor that would give more protection than the ceramic breast plates currently issued to soldiers. The new design would incorporate malleable material and mitigate various penetrating injuries. “We found that shrapnel wounds are six times more likely than bullet wounds,” Almog said. The IDF already had its own battle helmet deployed, which the Medical Corps developed by studying head wounds and realizing that the most lethal were generally to the upper parts of the skull. Accordingly, the helmet has more plating over those areas and less elsewhere, for improved protection with roughly the same overall weight. Mental acuity and alertness also play a role in survival. Instead of injecting morphine to dull the pain of an injury, a fentanyl lollipop is given which the casualty can remove when the pain is tolerable and thus remain responsive and cooperative with medics. Upon landing at the hospital, an assistance officer phones one of the casualty’s parents and has them speak directly and briefly about the injury — to provide a measure of calm as the patient enters surgery.