Eugenio Derbez is giving Guillermo del Toro a run for his money.
The actor/director’s breakout comedy/drama “Instructions Not Included” has officially surpassed Del Toro’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” as the highest-grossing Spanish-language film in U.S. history, with its $3.4 million gross over the weekend bringing it to a total of $38.6 million at the domestic box-office (“Labyrinth” finished its run with $37.6 million in 2007). In addition, the film now stands as the fourth highest-grossing foreign-language film of all time in the U.S., ranking behind only “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” ($128 million), “Life is Beautiful” ($57 million) and “Hero” ($53 million).
“We”ve been building our brand and our audience for three years, and we”re very pleased that our efforts have resulted in a record-breaking hit,” said Paul Presburger, CEO of the film’s U.S. distributor Pantelion Films (a subsidiary of Lionsgate). “The film”s success reaffirms our belief that there is a large audience in the U.S. with an appetite for commercial films with Latino characters and themes. Its performance is a testament to the prodigious talents of Eugenio Derbez, Lionsgate and Televisa”s support, guidance and vision since our launch, an adroit and focused marketing campaign which we developed with Televisa and Univision and the superb distribution and expansion plan executed by the Lionsgate theatrical distribution team.”
“Instructions Not Included” follows the exploits of Valentin (Derbez), a Mexican playboy-turned-Hollywood stuntman who is forced to raise the daughter (Loreto Peralta) he conceived with a former fling after the baby is left on his doorstep. When the child’s birth mother reappears unexpectedly several years later, he must fight to keep his “unique and offbeat family” together.
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