What the World’s Watching

Large helpings of blood and guts do not guarantee full movie theaters in Mexico, where at least at the box office, Steven Seagal is no match for friendly animated insects.

According to directors of programming for the country’s top cinema operators, films for kids, romantic comedies and “family” action movies without excessive violence are the movies most likely to entice Mexicans into theaters.

Demographically, Mexico has a larger population of children and adolescents than the United States. Because of this, industry leaders agree, family-oriented films such as “A Bug’s Life” tend to top slasher-type gore-fests.

Rosa Garcia, assistant director of programming for Cinemex, a movie theater chain in Mexico City, said that when violent scenes do make it into Mexican cinemas, it’s usually because they are an inextricable feature of action movies, an ever-popular genre among the country’s populous working class.

“I think in Mexico it’s not that they like violence,” she said. “It’s that they like action movies.”

Mike Moraskie, director of programming for Organizacion Ramirez, a large Mexican film buyer, said only three films he would class as violent--”Lethal Weapon 4,” “Mercury Rising” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer”--made the list of 1998’s 20 most popular movies.

Moraskie said he thinks the market for such movies in Mexico is declining. “The box office for violent films has gone down,” he said.