Abstract: This presentation features two prominent production companies that straddle both sides of the border. One of them, Pantelion films, is a partnership between Mexico’s Televisa films (50% investment) and Lionsgate films, a US-Canadian film production company (the other 50%). This production company based in Santa Monica, California has been extremely successful at producing or distributing films with a commercial appeal to cross-border audiences. Their 2013 film directed and starring Mexican comedian Eugenio Derbez, Instructions Not Included, was the top grossing Spanish language film of all time domestically. Another production company based Mexico City, AG studios is founded and run by Alex Garcia, a former investment banker. AG studios not only produces their own content (live action films, animation, television series) but they also run a full-service studio based in Colombia where they have worked with Netflix, Amazon Studios, Paramount among others. Garcia moved from Mexico to the US because he wanted to make “bigger movies” with Latino themes but in English. My project will analyze how commercial Mexican cinema has an expanded definition (aka, deterritorialized) and increasingly transnational in terms of audience, language, shooting locations, and themes.
