Spanish TV Fiction Eyes the Americas as It Promotes New Voices at Home

HanWay Films has closed several international deals on McCarthy, Václav Marhoul’s drama about the infamous U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, ahead of this month’s virtual European Film Market.

Her next big role is as a mom! Jackie Cruz exclusively invited Us Weekly to experience a day in her life while soaking up the sun in Mexico during her pregnancy.

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorThe Spanish Film Academy announced on Friday that its first-ever International Goya Award will be received by Cate Blanchett.Currently presided by Mariano Barroso, the Spanish Film Academy created the award to “honor artists that have contributed to cinema as a medium that brings together different cultures and people.” In Friday’s announcement, Blanchett was recognized for her impactful work both on and off the screen worldwide — as an award-winning actor, producer, artistic director and humanitarian. She will receive the award at a gala ceremony on Feb.

Naman Ramachandran New adaptations of popular adventure reality show “Survivor” are set to roll out across central and southeastern Europe, Banijay Rights, the global distribution arm of Banijay, has revealed. United Media-owned Nova TV in Croatia and Nova S in Serbia will broadcast a first season of the format in late 2022. In addition, TV Markíza in Slovakia and TV Nova in the Czech Republic will air a new adaptation of the format.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Televisa and Univision have closed their landmark transaction, a long-awaited merger deal that will now create a Spanish-language media and content powerhouse that will reach 100 million Spanish speakers across the U.S. and Mexico.

Refresh for latest…: Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home scaled fresh heights this session as it reached an amazing new milestone by crossing the $1B mark at the international box office. The offshore cume through Sunday is an estimated $1.003B for a global total of $1.74B.

Brits planning holidays to popular Spanish islands have been issued a warning by airline easyJet.

Travellers from the UK heading to Spain this winter will need to double check their proof of vaccination before takeoff.

ACEHUCHE, Spain -- It's hours before dawn in Acehuche, a small town in Spain's western Extremadura region, and a group of youngsters is ending a parade by setting off fireworks and beating drums.The noise awakes residents for some of the biggest dates in the local calendar: the three-day celebration of the fur-covered characters known as “Carantoñas" that resemble wild beasts.With roots in pagan traditions of fertility that were incorporated into religious symbolism, the ancient festival currently marks Acehuche's patron, St. Sebastian, whom the Catholic tradition considers a martyr of the early anti-Christian Romans.After the 2021 edition was canceled amid a strong surge in coronavirus cases, the festival went ahead in late January this year.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a bid to tap into the intense demand for premium Spanish-language content, veteran Spanish entertainment executive Pepe Huertas has launched TV production company, Tres Vacas. He’s joined by seasoned showrunners Pilar Nadal and Felipe Mellizo, creators of such top selling dramatic series as “Águila Roja” (“Red Eagle”) and “Un Paso Adelante” (“One Step Forward”).The company will focus on creating scripted content for the global audience, drawing on their combined talents, expertise and decades of experience.“Our aim is to conceive relatable stories capable of engaging with the audience from the first minute, based on in-depth character development that allows us to construct long and strong narrative arcs,” said Huertas, founding partner and managing director of Tres Vacas.

‘Run Rabbit Run’ Adds Cast

MADRID -- The sister of Spain's King Felipe VI, Cristina de Borbón, and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, are announcing the end of their marriage after nearly 25 years together, Spain's state news agency EFE reported Monday, citing a statement from the couple.The announcement came a week after a gossip magazine in Spain published photos of Urdangarin taking a stroll in a southern French coastal town while holding hands with a work colleague.In their statement to EFE, the couple asked for “respect” for a private decision “to end our marriage relationship by mutual agreement.” They added that their commitment to their four children remained “intact," the agency said.Urdangarin, a 54-year-old former Olympic handball medal winner, was convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2018. He served part of his five-year and 10-month sentence until early last year in a northern Spanish prison before judges allowed him to swap it for community work.Due to the corruption scandal, the couple was stripped of their aristocratic titles and dropped from the Royal House's payroll.The judicial process, which also saw Cristina questioned and fined as a beneficiary of her husband's crimes, contributed to the erosion of the royal family's image, leading eventually to the abdication of Juan Carlos I, who passed on the throne to his son, Felipe, in 2014.Cristina, 56, now lives in Geneva, Switzerland.The couple married in Oct.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Unknown people toppled a statue of Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León in the pre-dawn hours of Monday ahead of a visit of King Felipe VI to the U.S. Caribbean territory of Puerto Rico.Col.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterAdd another notch on “Spider-Man: No Way Home’s” long list of box office achievements.Over the weekend, Sony’s comic book adventure became the sixth-highest grossing movie in history with $1.69 billion at the global box office (not adjusted for inflation). It passed “Jurassic World” ($1.67 billion) and “The Lion King” ($1.66 billion) to secure that spot.Now in its sixth weekend of release, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” returned to the No.

Refresh for latest…: With an amazing $1.69B worldwide cume through Sunday, Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has become the No. 6 film ever globally, passing Jurassic World ($1.67B) and The Lion King ($1.662B) to get there. This includes a running $970.1M from the international box office, which should portend an eventual $1B overseas gross — and without a China bump. Domestic is at $721M+.

NEW YORK -- Christina Aguilera doesn't pick up exactly where she left 22 years ago with her Latin Grammy winning Spanish album “Mi Reflejo.” The superstar singer comes full force as a “grown woman and a mother” to showcase her Latino roots in the EP “LA FUERZA”, out Friday. And that is only the beginning.While 2000's “Mi Reflejo” included five Spanish-language versions of tracks from her self-titled 1999 debut album, four original compositions and two cover songs, “LA FUERZA” presents six original tracks, all co-written by Aguilera.

Emiliano De Pablos Traditionally, Spanish broadcasters retained all rights, paying producers a percentage of the budget of their series, which prevented them from building catalogs of their own rights. Although at first, the arrival of SVOD platforms didn’t change their business relationship, the increasing demand for TV fiction and financial needs have forced an increased use of the co-production model.“There is a lot of creativity and versatility in co-productions from Spain,” says Caroline Servy, managing director at The Wit.Dipping its toe into the co-production arena in 2016 with “The Young Pope,” The Mediapro Studio, one of Europe’s super-indies, is expanding across Asia, Latin America and the U.S.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAfter two years in Galicia’s Santiago de Compostela and three in Pamplona, Navarre, Conecta Fiction, Europe biggest Europe-Latin America TV co-pro forum, is moving to Toledo, 25 minutes by high-speed train South of Madrid.Unspooling at the Spanish city’s spectacular El Greco Toledo Convention Center over June 21-25, the 6th Conecta Fiction will expand to take in non-fiction entertainment, having focused on the frantic explosion in premium drama series production over Europe and Latin America in its first five editions.Reflecting this, the event is rebranding as Conecta Fiction & Entertainment.“The decision to open up the content spectrum is the result of many hours of observation and study of trends. Consumption of fiction content is still very high, but there are other formats, other high demand screens, and other audiences on which we must focus as an industry and as organizers,” said Géraldine Gonard, Conecta Fiction director.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentNew York-based Visit Films has swooped on world sales rights to “Robe of Gems” (“Manto de Gemas”) which will world premiere in main competition at next’s month’s Berlinale.Produced by some of the best known producers on the art film and crossover scene in Mexico and Argentina, “Robe of Gems” marks the directorial debut feature of  Natalia López Gallardo who has edited some of the most acclaimed and challenging films coming out of Latin America in the last decade, such as Lisandro Alonso’s “Jauja,” starring Viggo Mortensen,  and Carlos Reygadas’ “Post Tenebras Lux” and Amat Escalante’s “Heli,” the latter two both best director award winners at the Cannes Festival.