Yahoo News Entertainment One Spain Chief Jorge Vazquez Boards Italy’s Notorious Pictures to Grow Theatrical Ambitions in Spain (EXCLUSIVE)
Jorge Vazquez, a former managing director of Entertainment One in Spain, has joined Italy’s Notorious Pictures to head the company’s fledgling Madrid-based division as it gears up to become a prominent Spanish theatrical distributor.
A veteran Spanish film executive, Vazquez rose through the ranks at Spanish indie Aurum Producciones, where he led the company’s theatrical division to box-office success, overseeing the launch of titles such as “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy – as part of the company’s agreement with New Line Cinema – and subsequently bringing “The Twilight Saga” to Spain and securing a prosperous output deal with Summit/Lionsgate in the country.
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Aurum, which is a top Spanish indie film distributor, is owned by Entertainment One.
Notorious Pictures – whose name pays homage to both the Hitchcock film and the rock band Duran Duran – has been gaining traction in Italy since its 2012 launch, steadily rising to become one of the country’s top indie distributors thanks to its close relationships with most U.S. indies and top European players.
The company, which is founded and headed by Guglielmo Marchetti, is also active in production. They branched out into exhibition in 2019, prior to the pandemic, and are now also making progress on that front.
In Oct. 2021, Notorious opened a Spanish outpost and started adding Spanish rights to their film acquisitions for Italy at major markets such as Berlin, Cannes and AFM.
“Our strategic plan envisions our international expansion, with Spain being the first territory,” Marchetti told Variety, adding that, “We are also planning to expand to other key territories in Europe, with a step-by-step approach.”
Marchetti also said that, although Notorious in Spain is currently only active in distribution, “We don’t rule out the possibility of also venturing into production and exhibition there, as we have done in Italy.”
“I am very enthusiastic about this new adventure in Notorious Pictures and can’t wait to contribute to successfully expand the company’s presence in Spain,” Vazquez commented in a statement.
At present, Vazquez and his team have a lineup of a dozen titles with commercial appeal to launch in Spain under the Notorious label, starting with “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” on Feb. 2, 2023.
The Notorious Spain lineup also includes French family animation feature “Argonauts”; Italy-U.K. rom-com “The Honeymoon” toplining Oscar-nominated Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”); Robert Connoly’s Eric Bana-starrer “Force of Nature”; and Doug Liman’s “Everest,” which will be out in 2024.
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