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The company, Ventanazul, will be housed at MGM and be a
partnership between the Hollywood film and television studio
and Hayek, Oscar nominated for her movie "Frida" and producer
of hit TV show "Ugly Betty." Financial details were
undisclosed. Ventanazul plans to make or acquire independent movies, and
hopes to distribute two to four films a year that draw on Latin
themes, feature Latino or Latina actors and cross over to
mainstream audiences for broad, box office appeal. "We want these movies to appeal to everyone, but we also
hope to make Latino audiences proud," Hayek said. As examples, Hayek pointed to "Frida," a film about Mexican
artist Frida Kahlo which performed modestly well at art-house
box offices, and to "Ugly Betty," which tells of young Betty
Suarez, a fish-out-of-water working at a fashion magazine. Hayek will serve as president and chief executive officer
of Ventanazul and her producing partner, Jose Tamez, will be
president of production. The deal follows last year's widely touted film partnership
between MGM, actor
Tom Cruise and his producing partner, Paula
Wagner, to re-establish the United Artists production company. MGM is controlled by private equity firms Providence Equity
Partners and Texas Pacific Group. Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). of America and
cable company Comcast Corp hold large stakes, as do DLJ
Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group. |
Mexican actress and producer Salma
Hayek and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. said on Monday they agreed
to form a film company specializing in Latino movies appealing
to wider, mainstream audiences. 
