Introduction

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

The Promotion and Distribution of U.S. Latino Films is an examination of how Hol- lywood has promoted and distributed U.S. Latino films over the past thirty years. Though still rare, independent, studio specialty, and studio distributors have been in- corporating more U.S. Latino films into their pipelines. In the past two decades, Hol- lywood studios, studio specialty, and independent film distributors have done a much better job of developing, producing, and acquiring U.S. Latino films. The escalating number of U.S. Latino motion pictures that debuted in theaters illustrates this trend. In fact, over thirty U.S. Latino films in the 21st century, a figure that exceeds the total number of Latino films that were circulated in the previous two decades combined. The book provides invaluable insight as to how film marketers and distributors failed to produce hits with movies like Zoot Suit (1981), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), and I Like It Like That (1994) and struck gold with motion pictures like La Bamba (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), Spy Kids (2001), and La Misma Luna (2008). Before discussing the marketing and distribution of U.S. Latino films, it is neces- sary to illustrate the current Hollywood market structure. In the new Hollywood, large media conglomerates own Hollywood studios, television networks, cable networks, broadcasting networks, various print mediums, and websites. These conglomerates bombard diverse audiences with advertising and publicity messages by utilizing their media outlets. This strategy creates “a marketing synergy” that facilitates the branding of a motion picture. For example, Disney owned Dimension, the distributor of Spy Kids (2001). The film premiered at the Hyperion Theater at Disney’s Califor- nia Adventure (Kelleher, 2001). The film’s sneak previews were seen on Disney Channel and its radio stations aired spots for the film (Finnigan, 2001). Lastly, Di- mension managed to develop a promotional tie-in agreement with McDonald’s Happy Meals, which already had pre-existing relationship with Disney. This synergy helps to create a film’s buzz with moviegoers. When Hollywood studios develop and market blockbuster or “high concept” films, from Jaws (1975) to Shrek Forever After (2010), synergy becomes evident. Pre- existing product like a book or a theme park ride are these film’s origins, which allows them to develop a large built in audience. The major roles consist of talent with highly recognizable names. These films also have enormous production and advertising budgets, and become merchandising vehicles for a variety of products like video games 2 THE PROMOTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF U.S. LATINO FILMS or action figures. Furthermore, these films benefit from promotional tie-in agreements with enormous corporations like McDonald’s that often implement their marketing campaigns that will support the film. These numerous marketing elements constantly remind audiences when these films are premiering at theaters nationwide. In tandem, the studio’s distribution team attempts to saturate the marketplace by securing screens in the every possible theater. These theaters represent the film’s domestic box office revenue or its initial revenue stream. However, these films’ true value becomes evident in lucrative ancillary markets like foreign distribution, DVD, pay-per-view, cable and network television licensing. These secondary revenue streams eventually determine whether or not these films become a lucrative franchise or a costly failure. The issues of synergy and marketing become more complicated when applied to niche market films without the built in advantages of high concept films. Hollywood studio distributors diversify their production slates by including niche market films, because they cannot spend one hundred million dollars on producing and advertising on every single film they produce. Beginning in the 1990s, the studios developed or acquired art film divisions in order to handle the vast majority of this niche market content. These film divisions often target specific market segments based on ethnic- ity/race, sexual preference, age, or gender with motion pictures that feature storylines and talent that cater to these moviegoers. Niche market examples include Black- themed “gangsta” films (New Jack City [1991]), hip-hop films (The House Party franchise [1990, 1991, and 1994]), Black comedies (Madea Goes to Jail [2009]), teen films (I Know What You Did Last Summer [1997]), kid/pre-teen/family films (Rata- touille [2007]), gay/lesbian films (Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert [1994]), female films (Mean Girls [2004]), older adult films (Bucket List [2007]), foreign films (Slumdog Millionaire [2008]), and Spanish-language films (El Laberinto del fauna) (Pan’s Labyrinth [2006]). These niche market films serve as important vehicles for Hollywood specialty distributors because they are often low-budget projects with the potential to become profitable if marketed and circulated correctly. While the New Hollywood produces films and targets certain niche markets like African Americans successfully, U.S. Latinos films have proven to be a tricky proposi- tion for distributors. Superficially, attracting U.S. Latinos moviegoers to U.S. Latino content does not appear to be challenging. U.S. Latino films have a growing target market with disposable income. The Selig Center for Economic Growth at the Uni- versity of Georgia indicated that Latino buying power has already surpassed African American buying power and will far exceed a trillion by 2014 (Humphreys, 2009, p. 10). The U.S. Latino population is also anticipated to grow to nearly 50 million by 2010 (O’Leary, 2009). More importantly, Latinos comprise the second largest group of moviegoers among all U.S. film audiences behind only Caucasian moviegoers and

Introduction 3 are worth a billion dollars to the U.S. movie industry (Wallace, 1998; Behr & Diaz, 2009). Additionally, Latinos are the nation’s most prolific movie-going demographic group and tend to watch a film within two weeks of its debut (www.mpaa.com; Behr & Diaz, 2009). Yet, recent motion pictures like The Perfect Game (2010) have not benefited from this abundant and active movie-going audience. Over the past three decades, U.S. Latino films have encountered several barriers to success. Initially, U.S. Latino films had a difficult time securing distribution deals because these films were unproven commodities. Over time, more studio and studio specialty divisions acquired and circulated more U.S. Latino films. In a highly com- petitive marketplace, U.S. Latino films have overcome huge obstacles in finding inter- ested distributors with significant prints and advertising (P&A) budgets. However, many film distributors do not understand the nuances of the U.S. Latino market and how to promote these films. For example, distributors may not have spent sufficient funds on general market campaigns for U.S. Latino movies because too much was spent on unnecessary Spanish-language media buys. This book traces the concurrent social and industrial factors within the U.S. Latino community and the larger Holly- wood marketplace. More importantly, it represents one of the first academic works to describe and analyze how distributors have promoted and released U.S. Latino films over the past three decades.

U.S. Latino Film vs. “Hybrid” U.S. Latino Film This book attempts to make a distinction between a Chicano film and a U.S. Latino film. Borrowing Chon Noriega’s (1992) definition of a Chicano film loosely, this type of motion picture is created by either a Mexican-American writer, director, or producer and often features Mexican-American talent playing Mexican-American characters in leading roles (Noriega, 1992, p. xix). This definition, however, appears to be quite limited, especially when we consider that many Latinos are not from Mex- ico. They migrated to the United States from other Latin American countries like Cuba and Venezuela or U.S. Spanish-speaking Commonwealths like Puerto Rico. In order to be more inclusive of all Latin American groups, this book builds on previous definitions of a Chicano film, and defines a U.S. Latino film as having many of the following elements. The primary storyline revolves around a U.S. Latino or Latin American actor who is also playing a Latino character.

1. The feature film is in English or bilingual (English and Spanish). 2. Most of the significant supporting roles are U.S. Latino or Latin American actors who play U.S. Latino or Latin American characters. 4 THE PROMOTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF U.S. LATINO FILMS

3. The featured talent—generally the star, director, writer, and/or producer— typically have name recognition within the Latino community. 4. The film is directed, produced, or written by a U.S. Latino or Latin American. 5. The film typically takes places in a predominantly U.S. Latino locale like Califor- nia, Texas, or in Latin America (Mexico, Central American, or South America). 6. The film is often described as a “Latino film” by either the mainstream or the La- tino-oriented media. 7. The film’s marketers make a concerted effort to target U.S. Latino moviegoers by promoting these motion pictures in both mainstream and Spanish-language media. 8. The distributor circulates subtitled Spanish-language prints or Spanish dubbed prints. 9. Latino advocacy groups like Nosotros or the National Council of La Raza ac- knowledged these films in their award ceremonies.

The definition above encompasses many elements that exemplify the diverse na- ture of these motion pictures and illustrates the difficulty in defining these films. A “hybrid” U.S. Latino film further complicates the description. These motion pictures include the same characteristics mentioned above, but cast an Anglo actor to co-star within the film. These Non-Latino actors often play a Latino character on screen. For example, William Hurt played Luis Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Lou Diamond Phillips was cast as Richie Valens in La Bamba (1987), and Armand Assan- te played Cesar Castillo in The Mambo Kings (1992). At other times, Anglo or Afri- can-American characters are involved with a Latino character romantically. For example, Paul Sutton (Keanu Reeves) falls in love with Victoria Aragon (Aitana San- chez-Gijon) in A Walk in the Clouds (1995), Nicole Oakley (Kristen Dunst) dates Carlos Nunez (Jay Hernandez) in crazy/beautiful (2001), and Marcus Boyd (Lance Gross) is engaged to Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera) in Our Family Wedding (2008). Anglo or African-American stars are hired to provide a “hybrid” U.S. Latino film with more crossover appeal.

The U.S. Latino Market The market is comprised of people from various countries who can be unified by a common language, religion, and a belief in family. The market, however, is constantly evolving due to acculturation and immigration patterns. For instance, depending on the country of origin, Latinos immigrate to the United States for a variety of reasons. Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are often motivated by economic conditions and the be-

Introduction 5 lief they will be able to provide a better life for their families (Tharp & Bromley, 2001, p. 127). In contrast, Cubans tend to be middle class political refugees and im- migrated to the U.S. either in the early 1960s or the 1980s (Tharp & Bromley, 2001, p. 127). The more recent Cuban immigrants tend to mirror immigrants from other Latin American countries. They are from a lower economic class and looking for better financial opportunities in the United States. Civil unrest in Honduras, Guate- mala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua led to the increased immigration of Central Americans in the 1980s (Tharp & Bromley, 2001, p. 127). These various reasons for immigrating to the United States make the U.S. Latino market extremely elusive and differentiate them from ethnic groups like Northern/Southern Europeans or African- Americans. The U.S. Latino market is also quite diverse in terms of how long individuals have resided in this country. On the one hand, the Hispanos of New Mexico have lived in this part of the country for centuries. They are the direct descendants of the early Spanish conquistadors and the oldest European culture within the United States (Robinson, 1998). In contrast, there is a growing number of fairly recent Latino arri- vals who are second or third generation Americans. Simultaneously, many of the nation’s new immigrants still come from Latin American countries, and often lack a formal education or English-language proficiency. These immigration patterns, which show no signs of change in the near future, mean that the U.S. Latino market will continue to be divided between English and Spanish speakers, educated and unedu- cated, fully assimilated and new to mainstream U.S. culture. While nearly half of Latinos are bilingual, 31% speak Spanish primarily and 21% speak English primarily (Saenz, 2011). Males tend to be more bilingual than females (Tharp & Bromley, 2001, p. 129). English fluency varies among different Latino sub- groups. Puerto Ricans and Spaniards tend to have higher levels of English-speaking capabilities (Tharp & Bromley, 2001, p. 129). Although retention of Spanish is important to many Latinos, Spanish fluency also varies a great deal within different re- gions of the U.S. Typically, as Latinos become more acculturated, they are less likely to retain their Spanish fluency as they become more comfortable with English. U.S. Latinos are a collective culture, preferring to live near relatives or extended family. As a result, Latinos tend to be clustered in a few specific states. About 73% of Latinos live in the following seven states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illi- nois, Arizona, and New Jersey (www.pewhispanic.org). Many Latinos reside in urban areas. The five most populous U.S. Latino Metropolitan statistical areas are Los An- geles, New York, Miami, Houston, and Riverside-San Bernardino (www.census.gov). In terms of descent, Mexicans are the vast majority of this ethnic group, making up close to 66% of the market (www.pewhispanic.org). Puerto Ricans consist of about 6 THE PROMOTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF U.S. LATINO FILMS

9% of this ethnic group (www.pewhispanic.org). Central Americans make up nearly 9% of this market (www.pewhispanic.org). South Americans represent about 6% of this market (www.pewhispanic.org). Cubans and Dominicans make up nearly 4% and 3% of this ethnic group respectively (www.pewhispanic.org).

Style This book is an analysis of how various distributors have attempted to promote and distribute U.S. Latino films in the past thirty years to both the U.S. Latino and general market as well to how the marketplace influenced these marketing strategies. To gather the book’s information, marketers, publicists, or producers directly involved with the promotional decisions surrounding U.S. Latino motion pictures were inter- viewed. These individuals shared accounts of their attempts to promote particular film projects to target audiences. A great deal of secondary research material from trade publications, newspaper articles, and websites are also incorporated in this book, centering on marketing strategies, release dates, and box-office figures. The majority of the materials were gathered primarily at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Acad- emy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Cinematic Arts Library at the University of Southern California (USC). Throughout this study, a film’s success or failure is determined by comparing production costs, when reported, with box-office grosses.

Marketing vs. Distribution Marketing is the process of getting the attention of target audiences. A film marketer typically implements three types of strategies. First, a marketer pays for media advertising on the radio, network and cable television, outdoor billboards, websites, maga- zines and newspapers. Next, a film publicist hired by a film marketer secures “free” advertisements through publicity, such as newspaper, magazine, radio/podcasting, or television interviews of the talent prior to the film’s premiere. Another example of publicity comes from an entertainment journalist or critic, who champions a particular film and writes additional stories on its director, producer, featured performer, or writer. Ideally, this journalist is a respected film critic like Roger Ebert with a large following of readers or viewers, who can generate publicity for a motion picture with an excellent review. Lastly, a marketer attempts to generate interest through grassroots marketing. Grassroots marketing means that a marketer will go to community leaders, local agencies, churches, and attend special local public events in order to build a word of mouth campaign within that specific community. This strategy often involves pass- ing out postcards, T-shirts, key chains, and conducting free screenings.

Introduction 7

The distribution department works closely with the marketing team and exhibitors. It makes sure that the prints are shipped to the appropriate theaters and books theaters for promotional, press, and theatrical screenings. The distributor attempts to maximize a film’s per-screen average by placing a film in the most appropriate and lucrative theaters. It determines the number of prints that a film will utilize in a given theatrical release. Perhaps, more importantly, the distributor collects a percentage of the revenue generated by a film from exhibitors.

Studio Distributor, Studio Specialty Distributor, and Independent Distributor • A studio distributor like Warner Bros. often distributes films on at least 3,000 screens. These distributors support their film releases with multi-million dollar advertising campaigns. • The studio specialty distributor emerged when Sony Pictures and Universal Pic- tures developed their own specialty divisions in 1992 that circulated niche market or art films. Other film studios like Disney and Turner Broadcasting purchased the art film distribution stalwarts Miramax and New Line Cinema in 1993. These divisions have the financial means to distribute a film to a broader audience if it crosses over like Juno (2007). • A major Hollywood studio does not own an independent film distributor. These distributors operate outside the studio system. Most independent film distributors have limited print and advertising (P & A) budgets. Over the past fifteen years, the definition of “an independent film distributor” has changed drastically. For example, from 1981 to 1993, New Line Cinema or Miramax are considered independent distributors in the early portions of this book throughout the 1980s, and in the early 1990s, but they evolve into studio specialty distributors later.

Types of Release Patterns • A saturation release indicates that the film will be in more than 3,000 screens and in many of the nation’s most lucrative theaters. • A platform release signifies that the number of screens increases as the demand for a given film grows among moviegoers. • A limited release means that a film is only going to be released in either one or a few theaters in certain large markets like New York City or Los Angeles. Gener- ally, a distributor does not anticipate that this film will be dispersed in many markets because of its subject matter or budgetary constraints. 8 THE PROMOTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF U.S. LATINO FILMS

• A regional release means that a film will only secure screens in a specific region of the country. • A market-by-market release signifies that a film will be on about 10-20 screens in a specific city. The distributor will continue to implement this strategy until the entire market (country) is canvassed. Normally, a distributor does not have the funds to disperse widely.

Box Office/Film Rental/Ancillary Revenue • A box office gross is the amount of money that a motion picture generates in a theater. These figures are reported in trade publications. • A box office rental is the amount of money that the distributor actually receives from exhibitors. A typical film rental could range from about 35% to about 50% of the exhibitor’s box office gross. The final film rental amount is difficult to determine because exhibitors and distributors renegotiate earlier terms. This rene- gotiation of earlier terms is referred to as settling. • Ancillary revenue is defined as the amount of money earned by a film after its initial U.S. theatrical release. This revenue includes a series of windows or exhibi- tion points like foreign theatrical release, video rental and sell-through, DVD, pay-per-view (PPV), video on demand (VOD), premium and basic cable television licensing, network television licensing, and digital downloading. Consider- ing the number of windows that are comprised in a film’s ancillary revenue streams, a film’s profitability will not be determined until several years after its initial theatrical run.

Organization Each book chapter basically encompasses about a five-year period that describes social, political, and economic events that took place within this marketplace, which im- pacted the marketing, and distribution of U.S. Latino films from 1980 to 2010. In chapter two, “The Emergence of Independent U.S. Latino Cinema,” examines the emergence of independent U.S. Latino films and how various small distributors attempted to promote and circulate their respective low-budget films within this marketplace. In chapter three, “The Myth of the Hispanic Hollywood,” surveys a brief period from 1986 to 1989 when studios marketed and distributed U.S. Latino motion pictures and targeted U.S. Latino moviegoers. In chapter four, “The Emergence of Specialty U.S. Latino Films,” focuses on the early manifestations of the art distributor from 1990 to 1995 and how studio, art, and independent distributors publicized and dispersed their U.S. Latino films. In chapter five, “The Era of Box Office Disap-

Introduction 9 pointments,” concentrates on how distributors attempted to create awareness and circulated U.S. Latino content from 1996 to 2000, a period where films failed to meet its distributors’ expectations in almost every instances. In chapter six, “The Real His- panic Hollywood,” gives attention to a brief period of time from 2001 to 2005 when distributors disseminated several profitable U.S. Latino films including the first U.S. Latino film franchise. Chapter seven, “The Era of the Box Office Recession,” examines how distributors advertised and distributed U.S. Latino motion pictures from 2006 to 2010, a period that failed to produce a significant box office hit. At the con- clusion of each of these eras, the book incorporates an easy to read table that high- lights some key marketing strategies, production costs, and box office grosses for each of the motion pictures that were included within this book. In chapter eight, “Con- clusions & Recommendations,” provides some marketing and distribution recommendations that could help attract more U.S. Latino moviegoers and improve the box office figures of U.S. Latino films.

Chapter 1 Questions 1. What are some of the characteristics of a high-concept film? 2. How do Latina/os compare to other moviegoers from different racial/ethnic backgrounds? 3. How does a hybrid U.S. Latino film differ from a U.S. Latino film? 4. What are the most populous U.S. Latino states and cities? 5. How do the three film marketing strategies differ? 6. What is an independent film distributor? 7. What is the difference between a box office gross and a box office rental?