'Instructions Not Included' Stuns Box Office With $10 Million Debut

Check out this blog by Adriana Gómez Licón of the Huffington Post on how a low-budget movie (distributed by Pantelion Films) with very little advanced mainstream publicity, used the power of star, director and co-writer Eugenio Derbez, to become the biggest Spanish-language film released in the United States (the film, only shown in 347 theaters across the country, was the number 5 best opening this past Labor Day weekend) by clicking here.

The film is Instructions Not Included (or No se aceptan devoluciones in Spanish).

"It took in $10 million and ranked fifth at the box office, competing with blockbusters such as The Butler and Disney animation Planes that were shown in 10 times more theaters. 'Latinos are becoming more and more the population. In a way, you can count on them to be an anchor audience'", said Charles Ramírez Berg, media studies professor at the University of Texas and author of Latino Images in Film.

"Even when the movie did not get the Hollywood P.R. treatment and relied mostly on Derbez's social media influence for promotion, it packed theaters in California and Texas over the weekend. It brought the 347 theaters where it opened $28,800 each in average ticket sales, according to Hollywood.com."

If this film is not playing in your local city or theater, ask the theater manager why it isn't playing there and ask that it be screened there.

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