The new Latino-centered film “Father of the Bride,” starring Andy García and Gloria Estefan, attracted the largest audience of any HBO Max movie that has streamed exclusively on the platform.
The romantic comedy became HBO Max’s top title since premiering on Thursday, the streaming service confirmed to NBC News in an email.
Deadline first reported the news Monday night.
During Father’s Day weekend, Estefan thanked movie watchers in Latin America for saying “PRESENTE” and “making us #1!
“Father of the Bride” was among the top 5 movies in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, according to a tweet posted by Estefan Saturday.
Directed by Mexican filmmaker Gaz Alazraki, the new version of the classic film tells the story of Billy Herrera, a Cuban American architect and father played by García.
While on the verge of divorcing his longtime wife, Ingrid, played by Estefan, Billy finds out his oldest daughter Sofía (Adria Arjona) plans to marry her Mexican fiancé, Adán Castillo (Diego Boneta).
Family bonds on both sides are tested during the wedding planning process, particularly as the characters seek to resolve generational disagreements and merge cultural traditions from their respective countries of origin.
“It’s done with respect and in a way that avoids typical stereotypes for an easy laugh. It focuses on the love and the extended family, and the things that bring us together as different Latino cultures,” Estefan told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
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Screenwriter Matt López wrote the newest adaptation of “Father of the Bride” 72 years after the original version starring Spencer Tracy was released in 1950.
Decades later, Steve Martin reprised the iconic role of the bride’s father in a 1991 version.
The “Father of the Bride’s” latest streaming record comes at a time when Latino viewers have helped keep film studios afloat during the pandemic, despite barely seeing themselves represented on screen.
About 7 percent of leading acting roles in the top 252 English-language films of 2021, the second year in which the pandemic forced movie studios to adopt hybrid release strategies, went to Latinos, according to the newest Hollywood Diversity Report from the University of California, Los Angeles, released three months ago. Nearly 8 percent of overall film acting roles went to Latino actors.
Latinos represent nearly 19 percent of the U.S. population.
At the same time, a large percentage of the movie business’s box office revenue and home viewership was driven by consumers of color in 2021, according to the study.
Nearly 46 percent of the films analyzed in the report were released on streaming services only.
According to Darnell Hunt, a co-author of the report, streaming-only releases could potentially “have a lasting impact on diversity metrics in front of and behind the camera as studios think about how to finance content for different platforms,” he said in a statement in March.
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Arturo Conde contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
