Despicable Me

BREAKING: Stephanie Sperber oversees all of Universal’s global consumer products, digital licensing, theatrical and home entertainment promotions across all divisions of Universal Pictures as well as strategic marketing alliances for both Universal Pictures and Universal Studios Parks and Resorts Group. Her contract as president of Universal Partnerships & Licensing president had another year and a half on it, but she is now re-signed until June 2016. Sperber has led UP&L since its creation in 2009. The unit’s recent successes have included studio’s largest-ever global licensing and promotional campaign for Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 2, which involves more than 100 promotional partners worldwide and includes the first mobile game for the Despicable Me franchise in conjunction with Gameloft (and let’s not forget the Despicablimp). It’s part of the studio’s largest licensing effort since 2005′s King Kong. In addition, the group was behind the successful release of Fast & Furious 6: The Game, the mobile game that has taken off worldwide in service of the film which has just surpassed Fast 5 as the highest-grossing film in the franchise worldwide (it’s now the No. 2 grossing film of 2013 with a worldwide total of $636.9M with three territories to come). Before her current role, Sperber was EVP of the studio’s Consumer Products Group within the division known as Universal Studios Partnerships. Prior ... Read More »

We've got a pair of updates leading the charge on today's apps worth downloading list. First is an update to Foursquare, the social location app, which makes its search function even more functional. Also on the list is Yahoo! Sports, which was formerly known as Sportacular and has received a big update to bring users even more sports information and news. Finally, Despicable Me: Minion Rush brings some new ideas to the runner genre to tie in with the new Despicable Me film.