Cortez Bros. & Gizmo Studio's Work on Clash Royale’s 'Halftime Show' Wins 3 Lions
Who says you need to rock a sold-out football stadium for a stand-out Big Game Halftime Show? Supercell’s Clash Royale tapped the New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne for its virtual halftime show tied to the 2026 Super Bowl, and the effort ended up not only scoring major points for the game, it also won a few Lions in Cannes to book.
The artist appeared in an exclusive, in-game virtual performance on Friday, February 6, where players watched him deliver a high-energy rendition of his massive hit "A Milli." Rather than appear on a traditional stadium stage, Lil Wayne’s show took place within Clash Royale’s animated battlefield, assisted and supported by the gamer’s characters, including Giants, Goblins, and Musketeers, as millions of users log in around the world.
“The event marks a rare crossover between hip-hop and mobile gaming on a massive scale with Clash Royale surpassing 1.5 billion downloads globally,” wrote the music and culture pub Complex in reporting on the initiative. According to the game’s maker, Supercell, the performance attracted over 50 million in-game views in just 24 hours.
The video supporting the event, “Pocket Sized Halftime Show,” created by Uncommon Studio and co-produced by the L.A. based production company Cortez Brothers and the L.A. and Buenos Aires-based animation house Gizmo Studios, recently cleaned up in Cannes, where it won a Gold Lion in the Entertainment for Gaming category. In addition, the entry won Bronze Lions in the Entertainment subcategories of of Music Partnerships and Partnerships with Talent.
To view the winning entry, go here. To view a BTS that depicts the process of making the spot, go here.
Gizmo partnered with Cortez Brothers to bring the campaign to life, with Gizmo leading the VFX and animation and Cortez Brothers producing the live-action production in Los Angeles, according to Cortez Bros. Managing Director Ed Rivero. Cortez Brothers managed all aspects of physical production, including prep, crew, logistics, stage operations, and principal photography. The live-action shoot was designed to seamlessly integrate with Gizmo's VFX and animation work. The shoot took place at Thunder Studios in LA
“We got a call from a producer I know in Argentina in late December and jumped on a Zoom with the team at Gizmo,” Rivero explains. “We quickly put together a live action team for the shoot in L.A. with Lil Wayne, while the Gizmo team was working on the animation and VFX at their studios in Argentina. It was a fast and intense process, led by our EP Dan Vapnik. We think the results were amazing, and we’re hoping to partner with Gizmo on more jobs in the future.”
“It was a great opportunity to work with Uncommon and Gizmo on this,” says Cortez Bros.’ Dan Vapnik, who managed to run into Uncommon Executive Creative Director Markus Ahlm after the awards ceremony and found himself holding the agency’s Gold Lion. “I went over to him to congratulate him and he handed me the trophy,” Vapnik says. “It just felt like this win was meant to be. We knew we were on to something special when they described this project to us and the Gizmo team, and it turned out to be just as exciting as we thought it would be.”
“Playing a key role in this coming together of hip hop and gaming is just the kind of culturally relevant work that Cortez Brothers specializes in,” adds Rivero. “It was very gratifying to see that the Cannes Lions juries recognized its unique quality.”
“Pocket Size Halftime Show” Credits
Client: Supercell (Clash Royale)
Agency: Uncommon Creative Studio
Executive Creative Director: Markus Ahlm
Creative Director: Max Hultberg
Copywriter: Philip Frendberg
Production Company: Cortez Brothers
President/ EP: Bernadette Rivero
Managing Director: Ed Rivero
Executive Producer: Daniel Vapnik
Line Producer: Eric Donaldson
Production Supervisor: Jen Hanock
Production Coordinator: Kathryn “Kat” Goddard
Director of Photography: Ross Richardson
Production Designer: Carl Dove
On-Set VFX Supervisor: Frank Gallego
VFX & Animation: Gizmo Studios
Directors: Emmanuel Luis Verruno Narvaez, Paolo Carlo Terenzio Giordana
Executive Producer: Carolina Montaño
VFX Supervisor: Ignacio Arevalo
Producer: Alejandra Grimaldi
Production Manager: Bianca Scalercio
Featured Artist: Lil Wayne
