Two thrillers, two comedies and an animated film, new projects from Telecinco Cinema

These projects will be directed by Sergio G. Sánchez, Álex de la Iglesia, Carlos Therón, Norberto López Amado and Enrique Gato. Telecinco Cinema currently has 50% of the Spanish cinema market share.

A thriller, two comedies, an action film and an animated film constitute, together with the upcoming premiere of A monster comes to see me, are some of Telecinco Cinema's new bets for the next two years. Proposals of different genres, some directed by already established filmmakers such as Álex de la Iglesia and Enrique Gato, others led by emerging promises with outstanding international projection such as Sergio G. Sánchez, Carlos Therón and Noberto López Amado, with professionals of the stature of J. A. Bayona or Jorge Guerricaechevarría behind some of them, with which Mediaset España intends to continue contributing to an industry that has led consecutively since 2014 both in market share and number of spectators.

Marrowbone (Sergio G. Sánchez), It's for your good (Carlos Therón), Perfect strangers (Alex de la Iglesia), Sara's notebook (Norberto López Amado) and The Adventures of Tadeo Jones (Enrique Gato) are the films in which Telecinco Cinema will be used in the coming months and that will be added to the recent premieres of One hundred years of forgiveness (Daniel Carpalsoro), with more than a million viewers, and Kiki, love is made (Paco León), which practically borders on this figure with more than 980,000 spectators. With both films, he accumulated a 50% market share in 2016, according to ComScore.

This percentage keeps the Mediaset España film production company in line with 2015 data, a year unquestionably starred by Telecinco Cinema after accumulating almost 50% of the Spanish cinema box office (8.5 million viewers) with its films Eight Catalan surnames (32 million euros and 5.1 million viewers), catch the flag (11 million and 1.9 million viewers) and Regression (9 million and 1.4 million viewers).

Paolo Vasile, CEO of Mediaset España, recognizes that "when you take stock of a year, the risk in the case of Telecinco Cinema is staying with what we have done in the past. But fortunately here the soul of a television is mixed with that of a film producer. Television constantly pushes you to maintain the level. This, together with another typical trait of Mediaset España, passion, leads us to always continue working as if it were our first year. When we start making films we do it with all the enthusiasm, the daring and with a generalist vocation, which prevents us from specializing in one genre.”

The projects

Sergio G. Sánchez debuts as a director with his first feature film after the resounding success as a screenwriter of El orfanato and The impossible, both directed by J. A. Bayona and produced by Telecinco Cinema. On this occasion, Bayona sponsors as executive producer Marrowbone, a horror thriller scripted by Sánchez himself, which will begin filming in June for 10 weeks in different locations in Asturias and Terrasa (Barcelona).

Produced by Telecinco Cinema, Marrowbone and Noises in the Attic and distributed by Universal, the film, which will be shot in English, tells the story of four brothers who, fearing that they will be separated after the death of their mother, hide from the world in their abandoned farm... A farm whose old walls hide a terrible secret.

Ghislain Barrois, CEO of Telecinco Cinema, assures that "this second project is very ambitious and special for us, written by him for years and extremely delicate. Shot in English, it has been presented in Cannes through Lionsgate and has been pre-sold in more than 50 territories throughout Latin America, Eastern Europe and we are in negotiations in France and England, something almost unheard of in the case of a new director."

For his part, Álvaro Augustin, general director of Telecinco Cinema, highlights that “in the case of Marrowbone, in one of the multiple script readings we felt the same sensation as with 'El Orfanato', one of Sergio G. Sánchez's screenwriting projects. Suddenly we find ourselves with one of those genre projects that goes beyond the genre, that has feelings and that takes you to a subgenre in itself.

Telecinco Cinema will delve into this new wave of projects in one of the genres that has brought it the most satisfaction in recent times and with which it has demonstrated the greatest drawing power on the big screen: comedy.

Directed by Carlos Therón, established television series director and winner of a Goya for Best Short Film for In the cradle of air, the script of It's for your good, produced by Telecinco Cinema and Quexito Films, is signed by Manuel Burque and Josep Gatell. This summer filming will begin in different locations in the community of Madrid.

A film that begins with the worst nightmare that a father can have with a daughter: that she grows up and the day comes when he introduces her to her boyfriend, an inevitably despicable guy who is looking for just one thing from his precious and beloved little girl. And that day is precisely the one that comes to Arturo, Poli and Chus: their sweet daughters have decided to throw their future in the trash by taking on three abominable boyfriends. So the only solution is to join forces to get rid of them by any means necessary. It's war!

Con Perfect strangers Álex de la Iglesia returns to comedy, with a script by Jorge Guerricaechevarría
Strange phenomena are taking over the city: traffic jams, hospitals overflowing, dogs that howl all night... It's the lunar eclipse. Its influence also affects a group of friends who have dinner together like so many other nights. Someone proposes doing something different, a game: what would happen if we left our cell phones on the table? Calls, WhatsApps, Facebook... Our entire life available to anyone. An innocent game or a dangerous proposal? The truth is scary when we have something to hide.

This is the plot of the new film by Álex de la Iglesia, a film produced by Telecinco Cinema, Nadie Es Perfecto and Pokeepsie Films that, with a script by the renowned Jorge Guerricaechevarría, will begin filming in October in Madrid.

“Perfect strangers It is the remake of an Italian film that was released in January and has been a brutal success in Italy. We detected the potential of the script before its release and we already pre-purchased the rights to the remake of the film. It has an absolutely universal concept: a dinner between four couples between 45 and 50 years old who have known each other all their lives. In it, they propose a game that will put their worst secrets on the table: reading aloud the messages and calls they will receive on their cell phones during the date,” Barrois stated.

Paolo Vasile has stated that "it is based on a rather banal concept, nobody knows anyone, but the subtitle already clarifies the plot: everyone has a public life, a private life and a secret life and we have the latter today on our mobile phones. I thought it was a great idea. We immediately thought of Álex de la Iglesia, a director with a fundamental ability to direct actors."

As for Sara's Notebook, it is an action thriller directed by Norberto López Amado
For years, Laura has been searching for her sister Sara, who disappeared in the middle of the Congo jungle. Neither the NGO she worked for nor the Embassy had any news of her whereabouts until a photo stolen from a mining town in Eastern Congo appears with a blurry image of Sara. Without a moment's hesitation, Laura travels to Kinshasa ready to enter the territory of the Warlords, leaving behind the differences that separated her from her sister, and without suspecting that this adventure will take her to the dirtiest, most violent and hidden backroom of the great Western powers.

Jorge Guerricaechevarría also signs the script for the third fiction feature film by Norberto López Amado, produced by Telecinco Cinema and Ikiru Films, whose filming will take place next winter.

Augustin has indicated regarding the filming of this film that "we are looking for a location in Africa that gives us the minimum security guarantees to begin filming surely at the end of the year if weather conditions allow it."

Finally, highlight the return of Tadeo Jones, in a new installment directed by Enrique Gato and David Alonso.

After the unanimous recognition from the public and critics achieved in 2012 by The Adventures of Tadeo Jones (highest-grossing national animated film in the history of the Spanish Box Office with a worldwide collection of more than 45 million euros) in 2017 the second part of the tender and fun adventures of this charismatic bricklayer will premiere.

The film, scripted by Jordi Gasull, Javier Barreira and Neil Landau, will present new characters and new plots with which Telecinco Cinema intends to once again boost the animation industry in our country.

Ghislain Barrois says that “the second part of The Adventures of Tadeo Jones, which has been in production for almost a year and is expected to be released in August 2017. The meeting of the first part of the film with the public was so special that we have the responsibility of not disappointing and that is why we are taking special care of it.”

Álvaro Augustin anticipates that in this installment of Tadeo, the protagonist this time will go through Spain, through the Alhambra, looking for clues that will lead him to find the treasure of King Midas.