By MILLIE TAKAKI
Noted audio mixer and sound designer David Marcus, a.k.a. "Dr. Dave," has signed with Music Annex, San Francisco. The move ends his 10-year tenure at Margarita Mix, Hollywood, where he handled sound design and mixing for assorted, high-profile spots that employed sound to push the creative envelope, including Mercedes-Benz’s "I Love You, Sybil," Nike’s "Chili Peppers," DuPont’s "Baby" and Lexus’ "Vault."
Marcus’ background prior to Margarita Mix spans both coasts. He spent three years at Magno Sound & Video, New York, doing sound design and mixing. He was credited in some circles for helping to integrate digital audio technology into the New York post business. His pioneering work with the Synclavier digital audio postproduction system first gained recognition at Modern Sound, Hollywood, where he created and edited sound for the hit TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation and MacGyver. He also contributed his sound design talents to the feature films Ghostbusters and Blue Steel, as well as numerous other film and television projects.
Born in Chicago and raised in the Bay Area, Marcus was a child prodigy, playing guitar at age six. He graduated from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and pursued graduate studies at the Banff School of the Arts in Banff, Alberta, Canada. He is still active musically, performing regularly in San Francisco and L.A., and recently wrapping a forthcoming CD project.
Music Annex operates five studios in San Francisco for audio postproduction, and eight digital studios for music and new media in Menlo Park, Calif. David Porter is company president.
“Smile 2” Tops Weekend Box Office; “Anora” Glitters In Limited Release
Horror movies topped the domestic box office charts and an Oscar contender got off to a sparkling start this weekend. "Smile 2," in its first weekend, and "Terrifier 3" in its second proved to be the big draws for general movie audiences in North America, while the Palme d'Or winner"Anora" got the best per-theater average in over a year.
"Smile 2" was the big newcomer, taking first place with a better than expected $23 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Parker Finn returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror "Smile," his debut. Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. "Smile" became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.
The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first's $22 million.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "The Wild Robot" in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America. Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as "The Wild Robot," and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into "Terrifier 3," which is not rated, instead. Either way, Damien Leone's demon clown movie, which cost only $2 million to produce, is doing more than fine with legitimate ticket buyers. It added an estimated $9.3 million, bringing its total to $36.2 million.
"Rumors like that are PR gold," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. "There's... Read More