New Eugenio Derbez production company 3Pas Studios signs first option deal with Pantelion Films

Mexican actor, director and producer Eugenio Derbez signed an exclusive first option deal with Pantelion Films, the partnership between Lionsgate and Grupo Televisa.Derbez, star of the Pantelion Films hit Instructions Not Included, the highest grossing Spanish-language movie launched in the U.S., will focus on Spanish- and English-language film aimed at Latino and crossover audiences in the U.S. Derbez and Benjamin Odell, Pantelion’s former president of Production, recently launched their production company 3Pas.“We’re thrilled to take our long-standing relationship with Eugenio to the next level,” said Paul Presburger, CEO of Pantelion Films. “He is a true author in every sense of the word, and has a surprising ability to identify and leverage the passions shared by Latino and American audiences.”Derbez said, “Pantelion and Televisa can reach my core fans better than anyone, and with the distribution experience and the equity of the Lionsgate brand, I know we can build a mixed audience which we started reaching with Instructions. I’m very happy to continue my relationship with all of them.”Derbez and Odell first worked together on the 2006 film Sangre De Mi Sangre, which starred Derbez and won the Jury Award at Sundance, and earned Odell a nomination for an Independent Spirit award. Odell produced Pantelion’s Girl In Progress (2012), and is producing the studios’ next film Spare Parts.