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Latinos raise $85,000 for ‘St Jude’s Gala Por La Vida’

NEW YORK (May 10, 2012) – More than 300 guests celebrated the 50th anniversary of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® at the third annual Gala Por La Vida (Gala for Life) on May 3 at the Legendary Copacabana in New York by raising more than $85,000.

Funds raised at the Gala Por La Vida will benefit the St. Jude International Outreach Program (IOP), which aims to improve the survival rates of children with life threatening illnesses worldwide, through the sharing of research and technology. IOP has 19 affiliate clinics in 14 countries, including Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica and Mexico.

In 50 years, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has changed the way the world treats pediatric cancer and other life-threatening diseases, saving the lives of countless children and helping push overall survival rates of childhood cancer from 20 to 80 percent. Thanks to the generosity of donors, no family ever pays St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for anything – care, housing, transportation, meals and education.

At this year’s Gala Por La Vida, several celebrities walked the red carpet, including Kika Rocha, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, Carlos Fuente Jr., Pablo Montero, among others.  Performers included renowned jazz trumpet master and classical musician Arturo Sandoval, legendary Caribbean artist Jose Alberto “El Canario” and Latin superstars in the making, Valentino and Sammi* Benz.

“Earlier this year, I visited this wonderful hospital to meet patients and witness the pioneering research and innovative treatments at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,” said Carlos Fuente, Jr., gala chair. “It is a great honor to represent the St. Jude family and bring smiles to thousands of children battling cancer and other deadly diseases. I will continue supporting its lifesaving mission as long as I live.”

During one of the most inspirational moments of the night, a St. Jude patient named Miguel shared his incredible story of survival against osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that attacked his left leg. By combining the hospital’s world-class research with first-class patient care, doctors pioneered a surgical technique to save his limb by replacing the cancerous bone with an expandable prosthetic device. Miguel continues to receive chemotherapy treatment at St. Jude.

This year’s gala was sponsored by The Fuente Family Foundation, d’expósito & Partners, J.C. Newman Cigar Co., Viva República and AT&T. Univision Radio New York was the gala’s media partner. 

About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Since opening 50 years ago, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has changed the way the world treats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. No family ever pays St. Jude for the care their child receives and, for every child treated here, thousands more have been saved worldwide through St. Jude discoveries. The hospital has played a pivotal role in pushing U.S. pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent overall, and is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. It is also a leader in the research and treatment of blood disorders and infectious diseases in children. St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that no child should die in the dawn of life. Join that mission by visiting www.stjude.org or www.hospitalsanjudas.org, following us on www.facebook.com/stjude and www.twitter.com/stjude.

MPAA: Hispanics are #1 moviegoers again in US

And once again the MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America) has revealed through its annual Theatrical Marketing Statistics, that Hispanics are the #1 movie going demographic, per capita, for the year 2011 (source: MPAA).

And yet, apart from ShowBizCafe.com’s coverage on its site and partner outlets, coverage for films is still minimal in the Hispanic media landscape. It is picking up, but hopefully it will be bigger by end of decade.

The MPAA, which is an American trade association that represents the six big Hollywood studios, advances the business interests of its members and administers the MPAA film rating system.

Its current Chairman, former Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, just at the end of April declared that, “I am confident we can do a better job of serving this growing population [Latinos] with themes that resonate strongly with them. The numbers just jumped out at me,” Dodd told reporters at a briefing at CinemaCon. “I think an effort ought to be made to work at that. You’ve got to be more sensitive about the subject matter than to just have Spanish subtitles,” Dodd said.

Dodd who speaks Spanish fluently, having worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic in his youth, understands that if you want to make the most money at the box office, you have to include Hispanics in your practices.

Hollywood’s top lobbyist said he was not sure if the push should come in terms of the movies that the industry produces or in the way it markets its films.

It really is both. One idea that I myself have been thinking for years, and one day it’ll click for someone over at the top 2 Spanish language broadcasts – Univision or Telemundo – is to adapt their hit telenovelas to the big screen. Telemundo, for example, has the best chance of making this happen because their parent company, Comcast/NBCUniversal, already owns one of the preeminent movie studios in the business with Universal Pictures. Chairman Ron Meyer could have taken Telemundo’s biggest hit – ‘La Reina del Sur’ some time last year, when it was at its zenith shattering ratings in English and Spanish, and have adapted it immediately to the big screen with the same actors, etc. Or who knows, even done a bigger production with Salma Hayek instead of the original actress Kate del Castillo. Nevertheless, why this hasn’t been done yet, even as an experiment defies, my logic. Univision is a little trickier. Historically, they did not produce telenovelas, but its Mexican partner Televisa does. Televisa is very wise to the power of this moviegoing audience and partnered with Lionsgate to create Panteleon Films. So far, no telenovelas have been adapted. But, I applaud them for making a statement to develop and distribute Latino stories for Hollywood and Latino audiences.

, ‘Betty La Fea’ or ‘Pedro Escamoso’ – could have made it to the big screen and be box office specialty hits. Why? There is already a niche fanbase audience, similar to the ‘Twilight Saga’ series, that won’t care about quality or the director behid the cameras, just the extension of their favorite novela.

‘The Avengers’ sets record with $200M at box office!

The Walt Disney Studios announced today that Marvel’s The Avengers posted an estimated $200.3 million in its domestic debut May 4-6, shattering previous records and positioning the film as the highest-grossing domestic debut of all time. The film’s cumulative global box office gross is an estimated $641.8 million over 12 days in release.
 
In just three days, Marvel’s the Avengers is the fastest movie to reach $200 million domestically. The domestic debut kicked off Friday, May 4 and marks the second highest single day take of all time at $80.5 million. Saturday’s box office gross of $69.7 million is the highest Saturday take of all time. Moviegoers gave Marvel’s The Avengers a rare and perfect A+ CinemaScore.
 
Marvel’s The Avengers began opening internationally April 25 and crossed the $600 million mark globally May 6 after just 12 days in release.
 
International box office highlights include:
 
Opened May 3 in Russia with $17.9 million, the biggest Marvel opening weekend ever
Opened May 5 in China with $17.4 million
Biggest opening weekend of all time in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Central America, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Philippines
 
Marvel’s The Avengers has now opened in all major markets except Israel, Poland, and Japan.
 
The film’s success comes a month after Marvel and Disney announced that a sequel to 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger will be released April 4, 2014. A sequel to last summer’s Thor is scheduled for release November 15, 2013, and the third installment of the hit Iron Man series, which has earned over $1.2 billion worldwide, will arrive in theaters May 3, 2013.
 
Marvel’s The Avengers is the first Marvel Studios film to be marketed and distributed by The Walt Disney Studios.