Editorial and postproduction company Final Cut has appointed Denise Blate Roederer of RHODA to represent its international roster of editors for commercials and branded content on the East Coast. Blate Roederer founded RHODA in 2016 after more than 15 years representing leading directors, editors and artists, both in-house and independently. Blate Roederer joins Final Cut’s sales team of Ready Set’s Lisa Sabatino Lange on the West Coast and Doug Stephen in the Midwest….
Chicago-based, design-driven production company Sarofsky has been added to the commercial roster of Juliusson + Ratcliffe for representation throughout the Midwest. Principals Marguerite Juliusson and Dawn Ratcliffe also represent Adolescent, Alt.vfx, Froomer Pictures Ltd, Independent Media, Pictures in a Row, Raucous Content, Room Two, Splendid & Co. and Thinking Machine….
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.
