‘Veneno’ Creators Los Javis Drop International Trailer for Sequel, ‘Vestidas de Azul’ (EXCLUSIVE)

James Trafford predicted his European Under-21 Championship heroics, with the Manchester City star saving a last gasp penalty as England beat Spain 1-0 in the final.

Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford wrote himself into the history books with a last-minute penalty save to hand England the European under-21 Championships on Saturday evening.

J Balvin had an encounter with a fan on the streets of Los Angeles, and things did not go as expected. The Colombian singer shared the hilarious moment on TikTok when a man mistook him for Maluma.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Vivendi has entered into exclusive negotiations with Figaro Group, the company behind one of France’s leading national newspapers, to sell its stake in Gala magazine. The sale of Gala is one of two antitrust requirements imposed by the European Commission to allow Vivendi to complete its acquisition of French media banner Lagardère Group, the parent company of Hachette Livres. The other antitrust commitment has led Vivendi to sell 100% of its publishing banner Editis to a subsidiary of Czech Media Invest (CMI) founded by Daniel Kretinsky. Editis is home to Robert Laffont, Plon and Julliard, among others. Gala magazine, a popular French title similar to People Magazine, boasts a daily edition during the Cannes Film Festival and belongs to Prisma Media, which is itself owned by Vivendi.

Conecta Fiction & Entertainment caught the mood of a larger international market with panelists in its conference strand focusing often on market challenges, when a feeding fever for premium content dominated conversations in recent editions. That said, running June 26-29 in Toledo, in market attendance and insight and shows brought to market, CF&E fairly rocked.  10 takeaways from this year’s edition:    Despite Toledo’s sweltering in a hot snap, even by Spanish standards, Conecta Fiction’s attendance sky-rocketed to 1,031 accredited professionals, an all-time record and 42% up on figures announced at the end of 2022’s edition. Reasons abound. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas, to touch base with production partners, new ideas. It’s really interesting to see what’s happening here on Prime Video, Netflix or Disney+, what’s really working in Spain or Italy, and what lessons I can take back to my territory,” says Marie Leguizamo, MD Banijay Mexico & U.S. Hispanic. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Carmen Machi (“Piggy,” “30 Coins”), one of the foremost performers of her generation in Spain, is attached to play legendary Barcelona agent Carmen Balcells, prime architect of the Latin American Boom and a key figure in the break out of Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa to worldwide renown.  Chile’s Invercine, producer of “News of a Kidnapping” which swept April’s Platino Awards, is teaming with Spain’s Abacus, Pausoka and Grupo Lavinia to develop and produce “Boom Agency” (“La Agencia del Boom”) which turns on Balcells extraordinary life, achievement and personality. The deal was confirmed to Variety at Conecta Fiction.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is stumbling in its box office debut, generating $70 million internationally and $130 million globally to start. Those ticket sales wouldn’t be bad for a film aimed at older audiences, except for the fact that Disney and Lucasfilm spent $295 million before marketing to bring the fifth and final action-adventure, starring Harrison Ford, to the big screen. “Dial of Destiny” is posting similar numbers to Warner Bros. and DC’s misfire “The Flash,” which opened to $75 million internationally and $139 million globally but cost $100 million less to make. Both tentpoles are expected to lose money in their theatrical runs.

Who’s ready for an all new Formula One race this weekend?

Get ready for another explosive thriller from Liam Neeson.

Salma Hayek is providing her fans with some wellness tips. The "Eternals" star recently posted a series of photos of herself lounging nude in the sauna, with strategically placed towels covering her.  "Embracing the healing power of the sauna and sweating out the stress this #WorldWellbeingWeek," she captioned the photos.

Emiliano Granada “Dating in Barcelona” has left to big ratings in Spain, both on its first window debut on Catalan public network TV3 and on Amazon’s Prime Video, where it bowed to become the streaming services most watched show. Barcelona-based Filmax, the series production house, is now bringing the show to Conecta Fiction as one of its banner new offerings. Written by Pau Freixas Èric Navarro, Ivan Mercadé, Clara Esparrach and Eduard Sola, it follows in the course of an episode two dates happening simultaneously in the city of Barcelona. Drawing contrast and larger social point from one another, the series manages to make insightful commentary on the modern ways of dating while shuttling dynamically from each story, always maintaining a lighter mood.

Emiliano De Pablos Banijay’s Shine Iberia and Mexican studio Dopamine are joining forces with renowned Spanish composer Lucas Vidal (“Elite,” “Fast & Furious 6”) on musical interview travel series “Tu vida en 3 minutos” (“Your Life in 3 Minutes”). Created by Shine Iberia’s Begoña Marín in partnership with Dopamine’s writers-directors Xevi Aranda and Sebastián Reyes, “Your Life in 3 Minutes” is one of the four projects selected at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment 2023’s Pitch Feelgood Formats sidebar. The seventh edition of Conecta Fiction runs June 26-29 in Toledo, the capital of Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Global producer-distributor Fremantle has dropped an international trailer for “Negotiator,” a sleek, slick and chic eight-part  São Paulo crime thriller produced by two prominent players on the Latino and Latin-American TV scene – Miami-based Spiral International and Brazil’s Boutique Filmes.  Acquiring world rights outside Latin America and Portugal, Fremantle will use Conecta Fiction in Toledo, Spain to introduce “Negotiator,” which underscores building market trends coursing through the international TV scene. The busy trailer begins with a desperate kidnapper bursting through big church doors, revolver in hand pointing to a victim’s head. “I’m going to kill him,” he shouts hysterically. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Marking its first corporate step in international expansion outside Spain, Madrid-based Zeta Studios, producer of “Elite” and “García!” has named Marcelo Tamburri, one of Latin America’s preeminent TV execs, to the newly-created position of director of international content. Spun off from the sale of publishing house Grupo Zeta to Prensa Ibérica in 2019, and rebranded from Zeta Audiovisual, when it comes to individual titles., Zeta Studios boasts one of the biggest international reaches of any production house in Spain.   The appointment comes as Netflix preps the bow of “Elite” Season 7 on Oct. 20, making “Elite” one of the longest-running of streamer series and one of the most successful from outside the U.S., its Seasons 3 and 4 ranking in Netflix’s Top 10 of most-viewed non-English series ever on the OTT service with 334.8 million and 302.2 million hours viewed.   

Emiliano De Pablos French-Argentinian actress Anais Weill (“Emily in Paris,” “Black Box”) and Spain’s Dariam Coco (“Money Heist,” “Welcome to Eden”) are set to star in Spanish-U.K. sci-fi thriller series “Border Station.” Top Spanish indie producer-distributor Vertice 360 is teaming with Madrid’s Anacaona Productions and London-based Born Wild to co-produce the project, which is at development stage. The six-episode, one hour TV drama was created by Born Wild founder Anthony Alleyne (“Sunburn”). Anacaona’s Vianessa Castaños has been tapped to serve as showrunner and lead writer, alongside France-based author Geoff Dupuy-Holder (“Dark Sense”). 

Emiliano De Pablos Story House Pictures co-founder Andreas Gutzeit, head writer-showrunner on Beta/RTL smash hit series “Sisi,” is prepping “Disgrace,” a fast-paced thriller mini-series set during Argentina’s 1978 Soccer World Cup. Gutzeit will serve as “Disgrace’s” showrunner and head writer, re-teaming with Swantje Oppermann and Florian Puchert, part of the German writing team with Gutzeit behind “Dignity,” the critically lauded and pioneering Story House’s Chile-Germany co-production. At a development and scriptwriting stage, with a pilot script available, “Disgrace” features among the 10 projects playing at the Pitch Copro Series sidebar in Conecta Fiction 2023, which takes place June 26-29 in Toledo, the capital of Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha.

Emiliano De Pablos The Larraín brothers’ indie company Fábula, producer of Oscar winning “A Fantastic Woman,” is preparing tragi-comic docudrama “Los guardaespaldas de Superman” (“Superman’s Bodyguards”). The four-episode, half-hour crime-adventure series, directed by Sebastián Radic (“Instrucciones para Mi Funeral”) and scripted by Rodrigo Bastidas and Rodrigo Muñoz, focuses on a trip Christopher Reeve’s made to Chile in 1987, under Pinochet’s dictatorship, to save the lives of 78 people under death threat. “Superman’s Bodyguards” is one of the five projects selected to form part of Pitch Docudrama, a showcase at Conecta Fiction 2023 edition, which takes place June 26-29 in Toledo, the capital of Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha, just south of Madrid.

Ben Croll An evangelist for the premium format, France’s CGR Cinemas has forged a growing number of international partnerships since the exhibition chain began exporting its proprietary Immersive Cinema Experience (ICE) model in 2017. At the start of this year, CGR – through its export arm ICE Theaters – had already opened premium rooms in Barcelona, Los Angeles, New Dehli and Jeddah, among others; by December, the premium format will win over new converts in Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand and Estonia, with even more to come. As part of its strategy, ICE Theaters teams with local distributors and top exhibition chains, lending “legitimacy” to a still-young brand, designed in-house, that outfits a row of LED panels on both sides of an auditorium and fills them with bespoke visuals extending the action onscreen (“It’s like surround sound but for light,” is how an ICE exec describes it).

Callum McLennan Underscoring its growing ambitions in features, MoreThan Films has secured the international sales rights for “Muyeres,” a Spanish film directed by Marta Lallana, which won over the  weekend at the Shanghai International Film Festival its jury Grand Prix and best cinematography plaudit for Toni Vidal.  MoreThan Films has shared “Muyeres”’ international trailer in exclusivity with Variety.  “Muyeres” is a hybrid documentary telling a story of Carmina and Irene, the last guardians of an oral folk tradition on the brink of extinction, set in the northern Spanish region of Asturias. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Tom Cruise made an impassioned speech about cinemagoing from Rome’s Spanish Steps at the world premiere of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” “There is a community that we are all part of — different cultures and ways of life, we all join together to enjoy cinema,” said Cruise, dressed in a crisp blue suit and wearing aviator shades. “It’s something that I grew up with, that made me and inspired me to dream and want to travel the world. “My goal since I was little was to make movies and travel. And not just be a tourist, but work in that world and understand their culture. Through my movies, I’ve been able to have that because everyone here has allowed me to entertain them. It’s a privilege that I have never taken for granted. It’s my passion to entertain you, and I will always fight for big theaters and that kind of experience for everyone.”