You Won’t Believe What Just Crushed the Box Office in Mexico!

by

This year, Mexico has seen its initial blockbuster movie of the season, ‘Mesa de Regalos’ (which translates to ‘Wedding Gift Table’ or ‘Wedding Registry’), outperform all other Mexican films from this year by more than a million admissions, with over 1.7 million viewers.

The film, created by Spain’s Mediapro Studio and Argentina’s Pampa Films, has brought optimistic results to the Mexican cinema industry, which is still grappling with a decline in ticket sales following the pandemic, albeit showing some improvement.

Based on a recent report from Canacine, the Chamber of Commerce for Mexico’s Film Industry, cinematic attendance increased by 33% in 2023 compared to the preceding year. However, it’s worth noting that this figure is still 32.30% lower than the attendance level achieved in 2019 before the onset of Covid-19. This trend is observed globally due to the surge of streaming platforms, evolving consumer preferences, and other contributing factors.

In the week of February 10-16, “Mesa de Regalos” earned $5.8 million, placing it second behind “Captain America Brave New World”, which made a staggering $6.5 million. However, it’s important to note that even with this impressive performance, “Mesa de Regalos” is significantly behind the all-time box office hit in Mexico, Eugenio Derbez’s 2013 movie “Instructions Not Included”, also known as “No se aceptan devoluciones”. This film holds the record with an astounding 15.2 million admissions.

Or simpler:

In February, “Mesa de Regalos” was the second highest earner, trailing behind “Captain America Brave New World”, but it still lags far behind the all-time Mexican box office champion, “Instructions Not Included”, which had a record-breaking 15.2 million admissions in 2013.

Under the direction of Noé Santillán-López (known for “Infelices para siempre” and “Veinteañera, divorciada y fantástica”), this movie features Cassandra Sánchez-Navarro and José Eduardo Derbez in leading roles. Since its January 16 theatrical debut with Disney, it has been drawing more audiences. According to Cabe Bossi of Pampa Films, the audience numbers increased in the second week, suggesting that positive word of mouth has boosted its box office success. Additionally, Pol Bossi, a partner at Pampa Films, attributes this success to Disney’s aggressive marketing efforts aimed at promoting our film.

Catalina Porto, executive producer at The Mediapro Studio Colombia & Mexico, stated that people in Mexico had long believed wedding-themed films were outdated. However, ‘Mesa de Regalos’ proved this notion wrong by boasting an outstanding script, talented cast, and perfect timing since Mexican audiences tend to go to the movies during the beginning of the year.

Written by Juan Carlos Aparicio, Mateo Stivelberg, and Daniela Richer, this romantic comedy centers around Antonia (Sánchez-Navarro) and Nicolás (Derbez), who are close friends. They watch as their peers find emotional and professional stability, leaving them feeling stagnant in their own lives.

The romantic comedy authored by Juan Carlos Aparicio, Mateo Stivelberg, and Daniela Richer revolves around friends Antonia (Sánchez-Navarro) and Nicolás (Derbez). As they observe their peers achieving emotional and professional balance, they find themselves stuck in their own lives.

Following numerous weddings they’ve attended, they concoct a shrewd (yet somewhat audacious) scheme: getting married themselves. Yet, their marriage is more of a calculated move to feign affection, orchestrate an opulent wedding, and exploit the gift registry to make their dreams come true. As they tread through this deception, not everyone accepts their relationship as genuine, and doubts and appearances grow, stirring up unexpected emotions that could potentially disrupt their carefully planned scheme.

In our endeavor, we aimed to create a film that resonated globally. The initial drafting of the script was done in collaboration with Pampa Films from Argentina, and subsequently, it was filmed in Mexico utilizing local talent. Post-production was handled in Argentina as stated by Porto to EbMaster, who also mentioned that the response on social media has been incredibly favorable, especially regarding its soundtrack.

Disney plans to stream the movie across Latin America on Disney+.

Read More

2025-02-21 14:47