How a handful of producers save the industry every year

‘Father there is only one 5‘He has razed at the box office. Santiago Segura does not abandon the extraordinary streak of his saga of family films and in his first weekend in Salas he has exceeded his main competitor, ‘F1, the film’, with Brad Pitt. Its accumulated box office touches 1.9 million but if we add its data since Thursday the global reaches 2.4 million euros. That is, with only a few days in his poster, he is already the fourth highest grossing of the year, advancing ‘the infiltrated’.

Although Spanish cinema, according to 2024 data Published by Comscorelive a certain phase of stagnation (the figures are good, but they do not grow significantly from one year to another), the truth is that there are more films than ever. It is no longer strange to see national blockbusters that occasionally rival Hollywood’s productions.

And taquillazos or not, the number of Spanish films in the cinemas is overwhelming: in 2024 558 films were released, of which 342 were premieres and the rest or films released in 2023 that still remained on the poster or re -restrenes. The result is 35 Spanish films more than in 2023. A simple calculation leads us to an average of seven Spanish films a week Just telling news. In Spain a lot of cinema occurs.

This report also detects a certain collection stagnation: 82.2 million, practically identical to the 82.7 million of 2022. In the short term there is hardly any ascending evolution: in 2019, for example, it was around 92 million. In the medium term, it has experienced a remarkable increase: in 2013, more than a decade ago, 70.1 million were collected. What has not been reached is the pre-pandemic figures between one point and another, where 100 million often exceeded, as happened in years such as 2014 (131.8 million), 2015 (111.7 million), 2016 (110 million), 2017 (103.7 million) and 2018 (100 million).

That is why Spanish cinema Espabile in terms of box office is expected to return to those figures. The sum of stagnant collection and fired production leads us to Another phenomenon: box office concentration in a few titles. The five highest bullfighting Spanish films in 2024 raised almost 44% of everything collected by Spanish cinema. If we expand the focus, the twenty highest grossing accumulate 80%.

So it is normal that we can talk about a series of proper names, producers and producers that, in some way, are those who “hold” Spanish cinema: many of them are known by notorious box office hits, but they also finance more calls to be niche, to collect much less or move by alternative circuits. It was not the case of ‘The infiltrated‘, one of the most notable surprise successes of 2024: its producer María Luisa Gutiérrez surprised to collect the Goya for Best Film dedicating part of His speech to his partner Santiago Segura.

We are going to review some of those outstanding producers of the Spanish industry, which produce commercial box office successes and also reinvute in smaller products. Many of them are also “patron” of a less profitable cinema which is the one that really fattens these premieres figures beyond the handful of annual blockbusters. Not everyone moves by these parameters exactly, so we analyze case by case.

Note: We have dispensed with this list of very relevant producers of the world of television and streaming, since they leave our object of analysis of the producers that “support” the film industry, although the transfer of directors, screenwriters and performers is increasingly common between cinema and television.

Similarly, some of the pictures with figures can call an error, since pure box office collections are reflected in front of budgets, not counting the subsidies that the films receive and that, without them, can throw negative balances. What undoubtedly gives much more merit to the positive numbers of producers such as safe, benito or rock.

Santiago Segura

Like your cinema or not, it is the main value of Spanish cinema. In 2024, ‘Father there is only one 4 ‘raised 13.4 million euroswith almost 2.2 million viewers. The previous deliveries were always the highest grossing of their respective years of premiere, and safe has been accompanying them with other similar formula productions, such as’ to every train. Asturias destination ‘, the highest grossing film of 2021.

But also, its producer Bowfingerwhich has together with the aforementioned María Luisa Gutiérrez, also produces very different films, such as ‘La Infiltrada’, which despite its modesty became the second highest grossing Spanish film of 2024, with 8’1 million euros. In addition to another family comedy, ‘The Beneston family’ and its four million euros, Bowfinger has raised 31% of the Spanish cinema box office in 2024. The work of Bowfinger also crystallizes in the production of films not only away from the family style of safe films, but from a more independent cut: evening’.

The Javis

Perhaps the most media producers of the moment, and in which it is complex to distinguish between more commercial and author pieces, since they all imprisoned their unequivocal personal seal. The most personal and ambitious normally direct them (‘Paquita Salas’, ‘Veneno’, ‘The Messiah’). In its producer Sum Contentalways under an unequivocal global author style, they accommodate other more modest and more limited rains (‘Terror and Fair’, ‘Cardo’, ‘A Christmas with Samantha Hudson’, ‘Dressed in blue’). Although most of their productions are for television and streamingwe have included them in this list for their media relevance and constant work with dynamics and authors from cinema.

Belén Atienza

One of the most relevant producers of the current Spanish scenario, popular especially for its association with Juan Antonio Bayona, in whose productions he has collaborating since the director’s debut, ‘The orphanage’. Theirs are indisputable successes, also internationally, such as ‘the impossible’, ‘Jurassic World: the fallen kingdom’, ‘A monster comes to see me’, and the recent ‘The Snow Society’, with a smaller collection but smaller but more reduced but Still notable for having released in a few rooms and passing to Netflix in just two weeks.

She is confusing Apaches Films along with another important name of production in Spain, Enrique López Lavigne, and that is where she has given a wheel to budget films somewhat more modest and more artistic intentions, such as ‘extraterrestrial’, ‘bull’, ‘people in sites’ or ‘who will sing to you’, although also from there they have produced hobby housing successes such as ‘the call’ (debut of the javis) The horror bombing ‘Veronica‘.

Pilar Benito

General Director of Morena Filmswhich since 2000 remains firm in this idea of ​​producing more high ambition and reach films, which also allows the green light to more modest films. His greatest successes, possibly, have been ‘champions’, ‘Cell 211’ or the recent ‘the good employer’, which Benito produced outside Morena Films. Thanks to successes like that, from Morena, more modest films have seen the light such as ‘also the rain’ or ‘The Game of Truth’, among many others.

María Zamora

Is one of the founders of Avalon first and Elastic films Then, in 2021. Unlike other proper names of this list, he does not have such relevant box office successes as a safe Santiago or a atienza Bethlehem, but his presence is important to have produced some of the most important critical successes of the most important international cinema of recent Spanish cinema. His is’Alcarràs‘, essential milestone from Spanish cinema when the gold bear took in Berlin, and be the first producer in Spain to get it. Other important films of his career have been ‘Summer 1993’, ‘or as a corn’, ‘Creature’ or ‘Matria’. His work in the industry was awarded the National Cinematography Award of the Ministry of Culture in 2024.

Álex Lafuente

Another manager of an important Spanish producer, BTEAM PICTURES. Although it has always remained on the margins of commercial cinema, it has alternated, as we have been reviewing in this article, more limited films such as ‘The Bride’ or ‘Las Niñas’. Among his recent successes is ‘second prize’, which with 11 nominations, took three Goya, including the best direction

IBON CORMENZANA

Also involved in the creative part as director, he has signed films such as ‘Los Totenwackers’, ‘La Cima’ or ‘guilt’, although his greatest successes has obtained them as a producer: he has participated in titles such as ‘Snow White’, ‘Mother’, ‘As Bestas’, ‘Robot Dreams’ or the Netflix series ‘The body in flames’. They are successes that have then allowed him to face more modest and oriented films oriented to the festivals circuit such as ‘The Alternate’, ‘Mediterranean’, ‘The Bus of Life’ or ‘Disassembling an elephant’.

Edmon Roch

One of the main names of Catalan production has been in films such as ‘The butterfly effect’ of Colomo since the mid -1990s. Already in the new century he embarked on more ambitious projects and of a certain international draft such as ‘the perfume’ or ‘Garbo, the spy’. And since 2012 he has produced some of the greatest successes in the history of Spanish animation, with the saga ‘Tadeo Jones’ or ‘Catch the flag’. In real image he has also produced successes such as ‘El Niño’, ‘Taxi A Gibraltar’ or ‘They know that’.

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