MGM and Salma Hayek join to make Latin-themed films

Seeking to tap into the growing Latino market in the United States, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has partnered with actress Salma Hayek to make two to four Latin-themed movies a year.

Hayek’s production company, Ventanazul, will be housed at MGM and will be charged with making broad appeal films that star Latino talent or have Latin sensibilities. The studio will finance the movies, which will have budgets ranging from $5 million to $25 million.

Century City-based MGM is among the first Hollywood studios to strike an English-language movie deal to tap into the Latino market.

Vancouver, Canada-based Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., the industry’s largest independent movie studio, signed a Spanish-language movie deal with Florida-based Panamax Films last year. Its first release, the drama “La Mujer de Mi Hermano” (The Wife of My Brother), grossed a modest $2.9 million domestically and nearly $6 million abroad last year. The studio’s next film, a comedy heist movie called “Ladron que Roba a Ladron” (A Thief That Robs a Thief), will be released July 20.

Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures have been discussing the possibility of forming their own Latino movie labels. Walt Disney Co. plans to make some films with Latino themes -- including a movie produced by Hayek about clashing cultures in a marriage between a Latina and a Connecticut blue blood.

Hayek was unavailable for an interview.

Although the Latino audience is large and untapped, some studios question whether there is a need to form a special label targeting the market. Latinos already are avid movie buffs, going to the theater to see an average of 8 movies last year compared with 7.1 for whites and 9 for African Americans, according to the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

But Rick Sands, chief operating officer of MGM, said that with Latinos comprising more than 12% of the U.S. population, there is an opportunity to increase their moviegoing by making films that appeal to their culture.

“Nobody has cracked that market yet,” he said. “But if you are going to crack it, in my opinion Salma is the one. This is a gigantic audience ... We are giving it a shot.”

Hayek has seen mainstream success with the ABC comedy “Ugly Betty,” which is based on the Colombian soap opera, “Yo Soy Betty, la Fea.” Hayek will serve as president and chief executive of Ventanazul, and Jose Tamez will be president of production.

Sands, who pitched the idea to Hayek, said the studio also would acquire Spanish-language movies as a way to create relationships with Latin American talent.

There could be broader opportunities for the new Latino label because two of MGM’s owners, private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Providence Equity Partners, are also part owners of the nation’s leading Spanish-language network, Univision Communications Inc.

lorenza.munoz@latimes.com