The COOList Hollywood Update
By Bel Hernandez
So many entertainment conferences! One of the biggest is CinemaCon currently taking place in Sin City — Las Vegas Baby!
On the top of the list, aside from all the awards, networking, and gambling is the news that Chris Dodd Motion Picture Association of America Chief re-iterated that U.S. Latinos make up more than one-quarter of the movie going audience and that to ignore us would be at Hollywood’s own peril.
Mr. Dodd, cited the facts that Latinos16 percent of the U.S. population, but they represent more than one-quarter of the movie going audience. He knows his stuff and he know about the U.S. Latino market.
Dodd worked in the Dominican Republic as a young man where he immersed himself in the culture and where he learned Spanish. As head of the MPAA he has been reading the stats and tracking the numbers on U.S. Latino audiences and knows, “You’ve got to be more sensitive about the subject matter than to just have Spanish subtitles,” he stated.
Thank you for making this issue a centerpiece of your keynote address at CinemaCon Mr. Dodd. Now maybe the Hollywood automatons will put it on their radar and respond by greenlighting some of the scripts about Latinos that have been languishing away for years, with clueless studio execs saying dumb things “there is no audience for films about Latinos”. Tell that to Tyler Perry about African-American audiences — oh wait, you did and he proved you wrong. “The numbers just jumped out at me,” Dodd told reporters at CinemaCon on Tuesday. “I think an effort ought to be made to work at that.”
We’ve agreed with you for decades Mr. Dodd and hope that Hollywood got your message.
P.S. Oh yes, the other important news as related by Mr. Dobbs in Las Vegas: As of April 19 – the box office was up 17 percent over the same period last year. He also spoke about the importance of protecting creative content.
Comentários