Creative agency Young & Laramore has promoted creative directors, principals Trevor Williams and Bryan Judkins to group creative directors. As co-GCDs Williams and Judkins will help foster and develop the next generation of creative leadership at the agency and help propel current and future clients to the next level. They will report to Carolyn Hadlock, ECD, principal.
Williams has helped grow brands like Farm Bureau Insurance and Brizo as well as create High & Mighty, a new hanging hardware brand for the Hillman Group. He helps set the standard for craft of the work at the agency and his attention to detail has led Y&L’s clients and the agency to garner national recognition for its work.
Judkins helped add national brands to Y&L’s roster like Trane, American Standard, and Louisville Slugger. He also stewarded brands such as Trane and Upland Brewing.
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.
