According to rumours, Spain's major Prisa will create a multiplexing alliance in Spain with Warner Bros and Portuguese distribution house Lusomundo.
Although Prisa sources declined to comment, it is known that the Spanish film and TV giant has been casting around for a year for key international partners with experience in multiplexing to enter cinema construction in Spain.
Ele Juarez, Prisa's director of film and TV, held meetings with undisclosed companies in the US earlier this year to discuss film co-production projects and, said AFM buzz, exhibition.
Prisa's US partner, say rumours, could well be Warner Bros. The US studio already operates a joint cinema construction venture in Portugal and Spain with Lusomundo, Portugal's biggest film distributor.
Warner Bros has recently made moves to increase its multiplexing presence in Europe with the announcement that it will construct 12 multiplexes over the next 18 months in the UK.
Its early multiplexing initiatives in Portugal with Lusomundo have seen positive results, the Warner Lusomundo multiplex site at Cascais achieving a 40% attendance rate.
Warner/Lusomundo opened its first multiplex in Spain last year to increasingly high admissions.
With its long-mooted entry into multiplexing Prisa closes the circle in Spain, having interests in TV (pay-web Canal + Espana), film production (Sogetel), film distribution (Sogepaq), cable (Cablevision), satellite (the four-channel satellite feed Canalsatélite).
John Hopewell
