11/10/2007

With Spain celebrating its national day on Friday, October 12, weekly film releases have been moved up a day, making today the day that the highly anticipated The Orphanage [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by newcomer Juan Antonio Bayona hits theatres all over the country, distributed by Warner Bros.

Produced by Guillermo del Toro's Rodar & Rodar and Telecinco Cinema, the film is expected to become a massive box office hit, helping to change the generally pale reception that Spanish releases received from local audiences so far this year (see news).

With a formula similar to other previously successful genre local films, such as The Others and Pan's Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – a haunted house, a child in contact with spirits, a mother in trouble and the inevitable special effects – The Orphanage became a Wild Bunch sales hit even before its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

After that the film started touring the festival circuit, which brought the director and cast to Toronto, New York and, last week, Sitges (see news). US distribution is scheduled for December 28 by Picturehouse, about three weeks before the announcement of the shortlist for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, for which The Orphanage is expected to be nominated.

On a different register, two other local productions premiere this week. Filmax is releasing the animated title Nocturna [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Victor Maldonado and Adrià García, while Buena Vista International is handling distribution of Ibon Cormenzana’s The Los Totenwackers (see news), starring Elisa Drabben, Geraldine Chaplin, Natalia Sánchez and Jasper Harris.