Bringing one of Spain’s biggest potential box office hits onto the market at the AFM, Filmax has secured international sales to “A Moroccan Affair,” the third instalment in the most successful Spanish movie franchise in history.
“Moroccan Affair” is produced by Telecinco Cinema and Lazona, the duo behind the first two instalments of the saga, comedies “Spanish Affair” (2014) and “Spanish Affair 2” (2015), which still rank as the biggest, and third-biggest, respectively, Spanish-produced box office hits of all time at Spain’s box office, grossing a combined €90.9 million ($96.3 million).
Set to open in Spain Dec. 1, released by Universal Pictures Intl. Spain, “A Moroccan Affair” is directed by Alvaro Fernández Armero (“If I Were Rich,” “Spanish Shame”), who called the film “a comedy in which culture shocks are the driving comedic force.”
The film stars Julián López (“Undercover Wedding Crashers”), Michelle Jenner (“Our Lovers”), Elena Irureta (“Patria”) and María Ramos (“El Cid”).
Written by Daniel Castro (“Vote for Juan”), it turns on a holier-than-thou family from Cantabria in Spain’s lush north who travel to Morocco at the dying wish of father to recoup a family’s fishing boat, in tow the daughter’s cringeworthy ex, desperate to win her back. In Morocco, they suffer culture shock, and the scandal that the upstanding family patriarch has a secret daughter.
“A Moroccan Affair” is also produced by Pris & Batty, Toto Films AIE and Mogambo with the participation of Mediaset España, Movistar Plus+ and Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group and financing facilities from Spain’s ICAA film agency and CREA SRG, a private-sector mutual guarantee institution.
Filmax will introduce first images to buyers at the American Film Market.
“After years of work, one day we received a script that was perfectly aligned with all the elements that make up the DNA of the ‘Spanish Affair saga: the overcoming of cultural prejudice with humor; tenderness; and romantic comedy,” said producer Ghislain Barros, CEO of Telecinco Cinema, also behind “Pan’s Labyrinth” and J.A. Bayona’s The Impossible,” the second highest grossing Spanish film in Spain.
“Like all great franchises in movie history, this saga has managed to keep its essence intact, while developing and growing, thanks to new and original storylines and new talent, in front of and behind the camera,” he added.
Filmax has already handled international sales on recent iconic Telecinco Cinema titles such as “If I Were Rich” and “I Can Quit Whenever I Want,” based on French and Italian originals, and “Co-Husbands.” All tap into the zeitgeist, such as machista male perplexity at women’s break with traditional role models (“Co-Husbands”) or in the case of “A Moroccan Affair,” deep-seated prejudices about foreign “that leads us to judge people and places without bothering to get to know them first, something much easier to recognise in others than it is in ourselves,” Fernández Armero commented.
That prejudice is constantly exposed in, in some ways, an ever are globalised world. Comedies, especially romantic comedies, are also catnip for streaming platforms.
“We are thrilled to be a part of a project that has generated so much connection with the public and has been so commercially successful,” said Ivan Díaz, Filmax head of international.
“We’re very satisfied with the results of our latest comedies, which have all travelled well, reaching markets and territories that Spanish comedies didn’t use to reach,” he added. “We know that this comedy will do the same, thanks to two of its strongest points: its universal humour and its good vibes, both of which we need a lot of at this current time.”
