A Shakespeare festival, an orange blimp, and the wildest FYC stunts heating up Oscar season
Marcus James Dixon
With the For Your Consideration season in full swing, major Oscar contenders are wooing voters through a series of original events and experiential stunts. Many categories remain highly competitive in the lead-up to the Jan. 22 nomination announcement, and studios are sparing no expense to ensure their top films gain the necessary attention.
Here are the most unique FYC highlights we spotted in and around Hollywood:
Hamnet immersive market
Hamnet staged a one-night only Shakespeare festival on Dec. 3 at Carondelet House in Los Angeles. Guests enjoyed traditional live music, period-inspired food and drinks, and an Elizabethan-era market with make-your-own wreaths, candles, herbal aromatherapy blends, and satchels. Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film stars Best Actress Oscar frontrunner Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare as they deal with a family tragedy in the late 1500s.
Kathryn Bigelow career retrospective
On Dec. 15, The Paris Theater in New York will celebrate filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow by hosting the retrospective series "Right Here, Right Now" with the Oscar winner. Her intense new film, A House of Dynamite, is now streaming on Netflix, and Bigelow has described it as being a part of her "unofficial trilogy," following The Hurt Locker (which won Best Picture and Best Director) and Zero Dark Thirty. Get tickets here.
Sinners juke joint
Ryan Coogler's horror-musical film celebrated FYC season by recreating the film's Club Juke at an L.A. event space on Nov. 21. The star-studded event celebrated the creative team and actors from Sinners, including Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo, and Wunmi Mosaku, alongside celebrity guests like Don Cheadle and Sterling K. Brown. The immersive dance club, which included performances from the film's breakout star Miles Caton (both solo and with Alice Smith), and blues legends Buddy Guy and Raphael Saadiq.
Wicked: One Wonderful campaign
NBC brought Wicked to the small screen for a special evening of singing, dancing, and fan appreciation. Dubbed Wicked: One Wonderful Night, the two-hour program aired Nov. 6 on NBC and featured Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, and more stars belting out songs from Wicked and Wicked: For Good, both of which are adapted from the long-running Broadway stage musical. Coincidentally, the project was filmed at the Dolby Theater, which is where many of the participants are expected to be on March 15 when the 2026 Oscars take place.
Additionally, on Thanksgiving day, Erivo opened the 99th annual Macy's Parade with a powerful rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good." It was a savvy campaign move to keep her — and by association, the film — fresh in voters' minds as Oscar season started ramping up.
Marty Supreme orange blimp, faux marketing meeting
Look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane — no, it's just Marty Supreme's high-flying Oscar stunt. An enormous orange blimp was spotted over Hollywood, plus various cities in New Mexico and Texas, in mid-November at the height of awards season. Fans immediately likened it to the orange Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards blimp, only this one had black letters instead of white. The film also sent orange ping pong balls to members of the press, while the actor, who plays table tennis champion Marty Mauser, collaborated with clothing brand Nahmias to design original athletic gear.
The blimp concept originated from a Zoom video for a fake Marty Supreme marketing campaign. Praised by GQ as being a "pitch-perfect, dryly hilarious satire of both corporate meeting culture and movie star narcissism," the 18-minute tongue-in-cheek sketch featured Chalamet pitching ideas to his team for how to promote the film, including painting the Statue of Liberty orange, or dropping orange ping pong balls from the sky. A moment that was widely shared online involved the actor shouting "Schwap!" every time he wanted to accentuate a point.
Bugonia head-shaving
In October, moviegoers lined up in Los Angeles to go bald for a free screening of Yorgos Lanthimos' latest film, Bugonia. "I like a theme party, a theme dinner, a theme evening," hair and makeup designer Torsten Witte told Gold Derby. "I love that there is a movie now where people shave their heads. I think it's a fantastic idea." Eager fans transformed themselves on-site to match Emma Stone's instantly iconic hairless look in the film. According to Witte, the two-time Oscar-winning actress' decision to go fully bald saved hours each shooting day.
Frankenstein drone show
On Halloween, Guillermo del Toro joined fans in Hollywood for a drone show and screening of his latest passion project, Frankenstein. The evening started with a cocktail reception on the Aster rooftop, where dozens of drones painted the sky. Across the street, the Capitol Records building was lit up just like the giant batteries in the Netflix film. Guests were then shuttled to the historic Chinese Theatre to watch a special Imax screening of Frankenstein. During a Q&A with filmmaker Jason Reitman, del Toro led the audience in a rousing cry of "f--k AI!" after railing against the burgeoning technology that replaces human workers with robots.
Sounds like Oscar season is in full swing! Love hearing about all the creative FYC stunts—Shakespeare festival and orange blimp included!
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