What's Up with the Hispanic Film Industry? NYT Has an Answer!

The New York Times reports on the disconnect between thriving Spanish-language Hispanic television networks in America and the struggling Hispanic films working to "breakthrough" into popular Hispanic American culture.

This story, excerpted below, wraps the economics of a growing Hispanic community, and the swelling profits at Univision and other networks, into a big story that helps explain why Hispanic films struggle when compared with with even modest mainstream films:

The premise:

"Hispanic television, by contrast, has long thrived in the United States. Last year, advertisers spent over $3 billion on the country's top three Spanish-language television networks — Univision, Telemundo and Telefutura — according to TNS-Media Intelligence, which tracks advertising and marketing across print and electronic media. Moreover, popular telenovelas, like Telemundo's "Cuerpo del Deseo" ("Body of Desire"), can attract nearly two million viewers a night, according to data supplied by Telemundo, which is owned by NBC."

"Now, a handful of companies are trying again to lure that audience toward feature films. Cinema Latino, a Denver-based chain that operates Spanish-language multiplexes near Denver, Houston, Dallas and Phoenix, for instance, is aggressively expanding its business, said Jared Polis, founder of Sonora Entertainment, its parent company. Mr. Polis said his theaters play roughly 80 percent first-run Hollywood fare with the movies dubbed or subtitled in Spanish. The remaining 20 percent come from Spanish-speaking countries and are screened in Spanish with no English subtitles."

One explanation for the challenges the industry faces is offered in the article:

"A prosperous Spanish-language market hardly exists in the U.S.," said Jack Foley, president of distribution at Focus Features. "The Latino market in the U.S. is not changing. Latinos most enjoy English-language Hollywood entertainment. They want escapism and entertainment, exactly as the majority of American moviegoers demand."

Click [here] for the full article.