Beyond Borders: How The Mediapro Studio CEO Laura Fernández Espeso has Helped Transform Spain’s TV and Film Industry

Thania Garcia The Latin Grammys will happen in Miami this year, marking the Spanish-language awards show’s return to the United States just one year after it made a controversial move to Spain. The 25th annual show will air live from the Kaseya Center on Nov. 14.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Rights to “I, The Executioner,” which will premiere as a Midnight Screening at the Cannes Film Festival this year, have been picked up by South Korea’s CJ ENM. The crime-action film directed by Ryu Seung-wan (also written Ryoo Seung-wan) is a sequel to Ryu’s 2015 hit “Veteran” and in Korea goes by the title “Veteran 2.” Few details of the story have yet been disclosed, but CJ describes the film as “combining Ryu’s trademark action with observations and messages about social change.” Ryu last year enjoyed major box office success with crime comedy “Smugglers.” Hwang Jung-min, who recently enjoyed box office success in “12.12: The Day,” reprises his role from “Veteran.” He is joined in the sequel by Jung Hae-in (“Tune in for Love”) as a new member of the film’s Violent Crime Investigation Squad. “I, The Executioner” was produced by Filmmaker R & K, the production shingle owned by Ryu and his wife Kang Hae-jung, with CJ ENM as financier and local and international distributor. CJ ENM expects to give the film a theatrical release in South Korea at an unspecified date in the second half of the year. The original “Veteran” had its international premiere in a sidebar of the 2015 Toronto festival, was named best film at the Sitges genre festival in Spain.

Annika Pham Copenhagen-based REinvent International Sales has closed Spain and Portugal with AMC Networks International Southern Europe, on the Finnish suspense disaster drama “Seconds”, Variety has learned exclusively. One of REinvent’s MipTV highlights, “Seconds,” made a strong debut on Finnish pubcaster Yle this week, according to head of drama, Jarmo Lampela. “It will easily go over the average viewing target,” he said.

AMC Networks International has installed Antonio Ruiz, Warner Bros. Discovery’s former UK and Ireland General Manager, as its boss in Spain and Portugal.

Emiliano De Pablos In a move that could suggest the start of a promising future for Portuguese telenovelas in Spain, sales house Onza Distribution has sold primetime hit soap “Cacau” (“Cacao”) to Mediaset España, one of the country’s two big commercial free-to-air broadcasters. Premiering Jan. 15 in Portugal via broadcaster TVI, the telenovela scored a standout 19.5% ( 861,944 viewers) audience share on its debut.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Germany’s Beta Film is bringing the love story between a Dutch prince and a beautiful Argentinian financier to the Croisette. The world premiere of “Máxima” screens out-of-competition at Canneseries on April 9 after being teased at the London TV Screenings in late February.

Holly Jones It’s a star-studded Marbella of the 1980s, and the glam Andalusian backdrop frames an opulent narrative that fuses suspense, betrayal and slow-simmering vengeance in the Atresmedia original series “Eva & Nicole,” teased by its producers – Spain’s Atresmedia TV (“Veneno”) alongside Good Mood (“Cristo y Rey”) – at the MipDrama showcase on April 7, a precursor to the broader MipTV international series market in Cannes, running April 8-10. Handling global distribution, Atresmedia TV International Sales will attend MipTV.

Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Spanish football crowns a new champion today as Athletic Club faces off against Mallorca in the 2024 Copa del Rey Final. The Copa del Rey Final takes place today, April 6 at 4 p.m.

Emiliano De Pablos After 12 seasons on linear TV, flagship Spanish talent show “Operación Triunfo,” produced by Banijay Iberia’s Gestmusic, has jumped successfully to the online environment via Prime Video. “Operación Triunfo’s” first gala was the most viewed premiere in the history of Prime Video in Spain. Its app for voting accumulated 53 million votes and, on social networks, generated 718.9 million views in TikTok and YouTube, according to VOD analytics Sigmados30.

Emiliano De Pablos Spain’s film and TV industries are in their second wave as standout content providers for global streamers. Some of the country’s most intriguing titles will take the international stage this weekend at MipTV in Cannes. Built on a foundation of hits such as “The Red Band Society,” “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet” and “Locked Up,” a new era of internationally renowned content creation in Spain kicked off in 2018 with Alex Pina’s blockbuster series “Money Heist,” picked up by Netflix.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In an acquisition which underscores the often shared sensibility between Canal+, France’s biggest pay TV operator, and Movistar Plus+, the largest Spanish pay TV player, Canal+ has acquired Canneseries winner “The Left-Handed Son” (“El hijo zurdo”), a Movistar Plus+ original series. The series will bow on Canal+ on April 5 in a deal brokered by Movistar Plus+ International. A psychological thriller with a lyrical undertow which surfaces to moving effect in key scenes, “The Left-Handed Son” marks the auspicious directorial debut of Rafael Cobos, the career-long co-scribe of Alberto Rodríguez, from 2005’s “7 Virgins” through international hit “Marshland” to 2017’s “The Plague,” still one of the biggest series which Movistar Plus+ has ever made.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer When the Writers Guild of America went on strike last May, union leaders argued that artificial intelligence posed an existential threat to writers, painting a picture of a dystopian future in which TV shows might be crafted by one writer and a machine. Ten months later, the tone in Hollywood labor circles has shifted significantly. At a March 3 rally in Los Angeles, Matthew Loeb, international president of IATSE, argued that AI has the potential to make union members’ jobs easier.

The Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival is coming off a successful — and at times turbulent — 26th edition, wrapping “amidst an explosive ambiance with episodes of violence and intolerance.”

EXCLUSIVE: Alejandra Reyes, most recently a TV lit agent at UTA, is switching to management and joining 3 Arts Entertainment. She is bringing an expertise in the international space — focusing on Latin America and Spain — which she developed as an agent, introducing international writers and directors to the US market, attaching them to major series and closing first-look/overall deals for them. That includes a first-look deal with Onyx for The House of Flowers creator Manolo Caro and his production company Woo Films and an overall deal with Netflix for Chilean writer José Ignacio “Chascas” Valenzuela, creator, executive producer and showrunner of Who Killed Sara?

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is set to celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with a retrospective featuring classic titles spawned by the Hollywood studio between the dawn of sound and the late 1950s. The Locarno retro, titled “The Lady With the Torch –– The Centenary of Columbia Pictures,” is being curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past and organized in partnership with Switzerland’s Cinémathèque Suisse.

The Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film is launching a new initiative, bannered Cannes Remakes, aimed at fostering remake opportunities for European feature films that have proven successful in their home territories.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Macu Machín’s “La Hojarasca” (“The Undergrowth”) took home the top MiradaCanaria prize at the 17thMiradasDoc, which ran March 15-22 in Tenerife, Spain. Produced by El Viaje Films, Machin’s debut feature has been picking up accolades since its world premiere at Berlinale’s Forum, snagging Best Spanish Picture and director at the Malaga Film Festival’s Zonazine, a sidebar for edgier and sometimes smaller pics.

El Viaje Films, has moved into production on “La Lucha,” a feature film set against the background of lucha canaria wrestling, a contact sport dating back to ancient times. “La Lucha” marks the latest title from Tenerife-based El Viaje Films, behind 2015 international breakout “Dead Slow Ahead,” “Undergrowth” which took two prizes at this month’s Malaga Festival, the standout 2021 “They Carry Death,” selected for Venice’s Critics Week, as well as serving as the Spanish producer on Chile’s Oscar entry “White on White,” a 2019 Venice Horizons best film and director entry. Just a decade back, “La Lucha’s” shoot would have been notable for its very existence.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 had a rock ‘em sock ‘em weekend at the international box office, adding $55.3M from 69 markets for a $135M overseas running cume, and $268.2M global (there are several key markets still to release, including France, Australia, the UK and Korea). 

Andrew Garfield is getting to work!