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Pantaya, the fast-growing premiere U.S. Hispanic/Latino SVOD service, has signed a multiyear production partnership with Mexico’s Corazón Films, producer and co-creator of smash hit “El Juego de las Llaves” and the anticipated “Mi Tío,” starring José Eduardo Dérbez and Ariadne Díaz.

Both these series were produced with Amazon and Pantaya. The new production partnership now builds on the Pantaya-Corazón Films relationship, seeing Corazón committing to produce premium original series exclusively for the streamer.

First up by way of shows is “Erotica,” described by Pantaya as a “sexy anthology exploring the realm of fantasy in a similar way as ‘Red Shoe Diaries,’ but following the Pov of female desires that is characteristic of Corazón Film’s previous work.”

Airing from August 2019, “El Juego de las Llaves” turned on four young but longterm couples who experiment with swinging.

“Erotica” will mark the debut of eight new female directors in...

Univision says it’s driving full bore into the subscription-streaming sector: The Spanish-language media and broadcast giant plans to launch a paid over-the-top service in 2022 in the U.S. and Latin America alongside an expanded free, ad-supported package.

The company’s subscription VOD service, announced Monday, will be anchored by the content library and intellectual property of Televisa, the Mexican broadcast and TV production stalwart that is merging with Univision in a $4.8 billion deal, along with a slate of 30 originals set to debut in the first year. Univision said it will provide details of the SVOD service, including the name, pricing and launch date, after the Television deal closes (expected to happen later this year).

Univision has global ambitions with SVOD — looking to tap into the nearly 600 million Spanish speakers around the world, according to Pierluigi Gazzolo, president and chief transformation officer. The company is “uniquely positioned to satisfy the...

The Spaniard’s second film, starring Antonio Pagudo, Antonio Dechent and the young Luna Fulgencio in the lead roles, is currently being shot. Filming for the new feature by Ángeles Reiné, Héroes de barrio (lit. “Neighbourhood Heroes”), began in mid-March and will continue until the end of April on location in Seville and Alcalá de Guadaira. The second feature by the Cádiz-born director, following the Portuguese-Spanish co-production Salir del ropero, will be a family comedy revolving around a father with money problems – played by Antonio Pagudo (Los futbolísimos) – who, after a break-up, attempts to win back the respect of his daughter, played by Luna Fulgencio (who appeared in the Santiago Segura-helmed Father There Is Only One saga), an enthusiastic player on a children’s female football team. The cast is rounded off by Antonio Dechent (seen recently in Cages and Hasta que la boda nos separe), Alex O’Dogherty (who previously.

Box office in Spain crashed 72% in 2020 to a total €169.7 million ($207 million), with Covid-19 wiping over half a billion dollars from box office sales this year, Comscore announced Tuesday.

By way of comparison, 2019 total box office in Spain stood at €605 million ($738 million). Spanish cinema admissions similarly plunged from 105 million tickets sold last year, a recent-year record, to 28.2 million in 2020.

In line with analysts’ expectations for not only Spain but much of Europe, admissions were the lowest since records began in 1965, and plunged despite cinema theaters remaining open in most of Spain since late June, save for Catalonia and Andalusia, in contrast to Europe’s other biggest markets.

Yet even in such dire circumstances, there were blue sky moments. The highest-grossing movie of the year opened in Spain, for example, after Covid-19 had hit Madrid harder than any other city in Europe.

Released July 29 by Sony in a high-stakes gamble as second-wave...

With Christmas just around the corner, this weekend is stacked full of great new releases on the various major streaming services. Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu and Prime Video are offering up a bunch of fresh content over the next few days – Friday, December 18th to Sunday the 20th – which should entertain subscribers no matter what they’re in the mood for.

For starters, Netflix has nine new movies and TV shows being added today. This includes a bunch of Jeopardy!, which is the perfect way to honor much-missed host Alex Trebek, while there’s also season 2 of Norwegian series Home for Christmas, South Korean horror show Sweet Home and Pauly Shore comedy movie Guest House. The highlight of the day’s haul, though, is undoubtedly Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the Viola Davis vehicle that features Chadwick Boseman’s final performance and is expected to make a sweep...