Maria Smith has been promoted from creative director to executive creative director at M&C Saatchi LA. As ECD, Smith will lead M&C Saatchi LA’s creative team and initiatives. She will also work closely with founders, CEO/partner Huw Griffith and chief strategy officer Kate Bristow, to direct the agency’s creative voice and output.
Smith has been a creative director, associate CD and copywriter for 12 years, nearly 10 of which have been with M&C Saatchi LA. She started her creative career as a copywriter at TBWATequila, with a focus on digital advertising. She then became part of an integrated team at TBWAChiatDay, where she worked on Nissan, Infiniti, Sony and Energizer. While at M&C Saatchi, she has contributed to award-winning campaigns for the San Diego Zoo and Epson.
In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures' "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" sped past the Walt Disney Co.'s "Mufasa: The Lion King" to take the top spot at the box office ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters.
"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" debuted with $62 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates. With strong reviews (86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a high score from audiences (an "A" on CinemaScore), "Sonic 3" is well positioned to be the top choice in cinemas during the busiest moviegoing period of the year.
It was telling of some wider trends that "Sonic 3" — made for $122 million — bested one of Disney's top properties. Videogame adaptations, once among the most derided movie genres, have emerged as one of the most dependable box office forces in recent years. The two previous "Sonic" movies together grossed more $700 million worldwide and the third installment appears likely to do better than both of them. A fourth "Sonic" movie is already in development.
"Mufasa," however, was humbled in its opening weekend, with its $35 million in domestic ticket sales coming in notably shy of expectations . The photorealistic "Lion King" prequel even opened wider than "Sonic 3," launching on 4,100 theaters and gobbling up most IMAX screens, compared with 3,761 locations for "Sonic 3."
Though "Mufasa's" reviews were poor (56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences gave it an "A-" CinemaScore.
"Sonic 3" nearly doubled the haul for "Mufasa," which cost more than $200 million to make. Disney could look to $87.2 million in international sales to help make up the difference. The third "Sonic" will rollout in most overseas markets in the coming weeks.
