Hugo Lazcano/Reform Agency
Friday, February 03, 2023 | 11:47
Mexico City.- With the record that it will have on March 23 as the national film with the most commercial theaters in the country for its premiere, ¡Que Viva México! Among other things, a new distribution model for Mexican cinema is at stake in times after Covid-19, warns director Luis Estrada.
Of that dimension, he insists, will be this release, which will also take place, simultaneously, in different states of the American Union, under the distribution of Sony Pictures International.
So, reflects the also producer of this political tragicomedy about the so-called “Fourth Transformation”, a precedent will be set in the traditional exhibition industry, since all the achievements and advances of the past vanished with the forced closure of theaters. because of the pandemic.
“Of course there is a bet and a vision of Philip Alexander (VP & General Manager at Sony Pictures Distribution Mexico) that the film has everything to work with the public, I also believe it, it is my most ambitious film, but, above Everything is at stake, literally, a distribution model for Mexican cinema.
“That is where, I think, is the nuance. Because the cinema has already recovered, we are seeing the figures that the blockbusters are making. They are pre-pandemic without any problem, but the Mexican cinema stayed in the hole. There is awareness of taking the temperature of what is the current state of Mexican cinema, as we knew it, with the commitment to this film,” Estrada said yesterday in an interview.
Originally scheduled to premiere on November 3 in selected theaters, prior to its arrival on Netflix on the 16th of the same month, this film with a cast headed by Poncho Herrera, Damián Alcázar, Ana de la Reguera and Joaquín Cosío was paused because Estrada decided buy the commercial exhibition rights in cinemas from the platform (which financed the tape) in search of a massive window.
“I am sure that both Cinépolis, Cinemex and the independent chains are going to give the film the best space possible because for them it is also important to know if this has signs of survival or we have already lowered the curtain. That’s how I put it.
“I would like that, despite the many lawsuits that I have had with the country’s cultural and cinematographic authorities, they also understand that a large part of the future, the importance and the validity of Mexican cinema is going to be played with the premiere of ¡Que Viva Mexico! Because of the size of the bet. It’s not because mine is the best or the most important, but the great bet it is,” Estrada emphasizes.
The director of Herod’s Law, A Wonderful World, Hell and The Perfect Dictatorship clarified that, despite the change in negotiations with Netflix, there is a good relationship and its arrival on the platform is expected seven weeks after its commercial run.
Various attractive extras will be available to subscribers, such as behind the scenes and character capsules.
In ¡Que Viva México!, highlights its director, there is a deep look at all the institutions: Government, family, religion.
The presidential figure and the political decisions of Andrés Manuel López Obrador are approached through characters that represent the citizens, the business sector and the curia.
