MEXICO CITY -- Despite less-than-stellar reviews, Alfonso Arau's biopic Zapata grossed 14 million pesos ($1.2 million) over the weekend, making it one of the strongest openers in the history of Mexican cinema. Distributor Videocine bowed Zapata on Friday with 430 copies, a huge release by Mexican standards. El Crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro), which raked in 31 million pesos ($2.7 million) on its opening weekend, leads all releases. Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien opened to the tune of 11.9 million pesos ($1 million). Y Tu Mama and Padre Amaro were released with 350 and 380 prints, respectively. Zapata loosely tells the story of Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata.
MEXICO CITY -- Director Alfonso Arau said he believes that his latest film, Zapata: El Sueno del Heroe, just might revolutionize the Mexican film industry. He said Tuesday that Zapata, starring balladeer Alejandro Fernandez as the Mexican revolutionary, provides a "global opportunity" for an industry "that has suffered because of its local vision." However, several reporters, who attended a press screening Tuesday morning, openly criticized Zapata at a later news conference, calling it cliche-ridden, poor in acting and too Hollywood. Arau also has taken heat from historians for what some consider the biopic's superficial portrayal of the revolutionary hero. But the director of Like Water for Chocolate said he never intended to approach the project from a purely historical perspective. "This is a fable," he said. "The historians work in another part of the building." The $8 million production, the most expensive in the history of Mexican cinema, opens here Friday with 430 prints under Televisa-owned distributor Videocine.
- 4/28/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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