Mocktails Soar, Rambo Curls and More Timely Trends for Your Amusement

Plus: Finneas rocks a James Bond bash—and don't get mogged!

Super Bowl 60 may be a distant memory—most of the ads certainly are—but ESPN’s promo machine is already on lock for … Super Bowl 61. Gird yourself for a full year of hype, the network promises, for its first Big Game airing.

There are some familiar faces and newly minted stars from the Winter Olympics—fave by far, Curling Rambo—along with record-breaking ratings for the NBC empire. And BFFs turned out in force for the top box office draw, Wuthering Heights, where a 75 percent female audience could mean more big-budget films targeted at women. Or not.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scrubs and The Mummy are the latest throwback properties getting revivals on large and small screens, and there are at least two pickleball flicks in the works. In time for Lunar New Year, more Americans than ever are co-opting traditional Chinese medicine, and longevity is the hottest topic around. So is looksmaxxing, if you have the stomach for it. Just don’t get mogged. Read on for more trends in media, marketing and the pop cultureverse.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by The Free Spirits Company (@drinkfreespirits)

BOTTOMS UP

Teetotalers, unite! Or more like: Zebra stripers who alternate cocktails with mocktails, represent! While traditional liquor sales slump, the modern temperance movement soars, accounting for $1.01 billion in 2025 retail sales. That’s an 18.5 percent increase from the previous year, per NIQ research. Non-alcoholic spirits sales jumped 70.5 percent, wine 23.4 percent and beer (the most significant segment by far) 19.4 percent last year, according to NIQ. Dry January, also a double-digit boon for weed-spiked drinks, continues to set new high-water marks for booze-free consumption. Brands in the space have been bolder than ever in their recent marketing, with Free AF launching a global out-of-home campaign with the saucy tagline, “Get drunk on life.” Free Spirits, meantime, went with “F*ck Dry January” as a theme, urging consumers to change their lifestyle year-round and ditch “11 months of bad decisions and poor mental and physical health,” via the ongoing tagline, “Drink like you mean it.” Expect the sober curious crowd, many of them Gen Z, to keep the party going for the foreseeable future.

A DIFFERENT LIQUID DIET

First came Soylent, and no, despite being named after a dystopian sci-fi movie, it is not people. It’s a meal replacement brand targeted squarely at Silicon Valley tech bros. You know, the 9-9-6 crowd so dedicated to grind culture that there’s no stopping for something as frivolous as lunch. While that forerunner company has struggled lately, the overall category has blossomed. Globally, it’s expected to be worth $37 billion by 2030, having largely shed its novelty rep. These days, the audience isn’t just Bay Area denizens—it’s everyone from older folks to GLP-1 users and wellness-obsessed millennials looking for nutrient-dense food that doesn’t require cooking (or chewing). Close cousin: boy kibble. Wired recently ran an extensive review of meal replacement products from Happy Viking, True Nutrition, SaladPower, SlimFast (an OG in the field) and others. Huel, rated “best overall,” reported $289 million in revenue in 2024, making crucial inroads from DTC-only to Target and Costco. Gone are the days when goo and dehydrated food packets were only for astronauts and preppers. Liquid salad: it’s what’s for dinner.

BOND ON THE BRAIN

The director is in place—Dune’s Denis Villeneuve—as is the writer, Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight. And shooting for the unnamed Bond 26 movie could begin as early as this spring, according to the active rumor mill around the famed franchise. The star? Still unnamed, but come on, anyone can see it should be Dev Patel. Meantime, Netflix fans may have noticed a first-time James Bond infusion, with the entire library of 25 classic flicks popping up on the streamer in recent weeks. The licensing deal with new IP owner Amazon ends in a few months, so binge accordingly. On the brand front, The Macallan recently launched a Diamonds Are Forever 55th Anniversary Release at a swanky Hollywood Hills party. The celeb-heavy soiree, with a Finneas performance, pulled several trend levers simultaneously: immersive experience, cool collaboration, shared storytelling, nostalgic vibes and premium collectible (read scarcity sells). Like that $750 limited-edition bottle of 18-year-old single-malt scotch, Bond is aging well.

Photo: Randy Shropshire, The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images