by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
America Ferrera, Adrian Alonso and Jesse Garcia in an scene of the film, Under the same moon. Is the tale of a boy’s journey alone to reunite with his mother in L.A.
WADING ‘LUNA’: A debut film by a Mexican director that tells a heartwarming story about an immigrant family has set an opening weekend record for a Spanish-language fi lm in the United States, helped by a clever marketing campaign and positive word-of mouth.
La misma luna opened in 266 theaters on Wednesday, March 19 and earned nearly $4 million its first week, including the recordsetting 2.77 million for the Friday to Sunday box office.
The previous record had been held by another Mexican film, Ladrón que roba a ladrón, which opened to $1.6 million last Labor Day.
Directed by Patricia Riggen and shot partly in Los Angeles, the film stars Mexican telenovela star Kate del Castillo as a mother who cleans houses as an undocumented immigrant in Los Angeles and child actor Adrián Alonso as the son left behind in Mexico who makes the trek north by himself. The tale of family reunifi cation includes several star appearances, including Mexican comedian Eugenio Derbez, corrido artists Los Tigres del Norte, U.S. actress América Ferrera (Ugly Betty) and radio personality Renán Almendárez Coello (El Cucuy de la mañana).
Distributors Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Company marketed the film mostly to U.S. Hispanics, including a grass roots campaign that held some 55 screenings in 11 cities. The companies also screened the film at some 20 film festivals nationwide and for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Gimmicks included handing out 30,000 phone cards at screenings (telling audiences to call someone and tell them about the movie).
Marketing to non-Latinos included a spoof TV trailer that poked fun at immigrant-bashing CNN personality Lou Dobbs.
The film, which has played well in art houses (subtitled as Under the Same Moon), opened in some 28 metropolitan areas and last weekend expanded to 400 theaters in the same markets. The studios plan a nationwide rollout that includes opening in 10 new cities April 4 (Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto, among them) and 15 more on April 11.
TEJANO STAR RECOVERS: Emilio Navaira, who suffered severe brain injuries when his tour bus 4crashed March 23, showed some signs of recovery late last week. According to doctors, the 45-year-old singer was regaining consciousness and had been able to open his eyes and move his extremities. Hispanic Link.
