Antena 3 Films, a key Spanishfilm industry driver, isco-producing Javier Ruiz
Caldera’s laffer Tres bodas de mas (Three Many Weddings).
Ruiz Caldera’s follow-up to teen comedy Ghost Graduation, which Fox picked up for North America and Latin America, Weddings teams Ghost co-producers Ciudadano Ciskul and ThinkStudio with Apaches Ent., producers of The Impossible.
The film production arm of Spanish TV conglom Antena 3 Group, A3F has taken a minority equity stake in Eugenio Mira’s thriller Grand Piano, a Nostromo Pictures production toplining Elijah Wood and John Cusack. It rolls from August.
A3F is investing in eight 2012 shoots, following two production lines: Local Spanish movies, and higher-budget, international, English-language titles with Spanish talent, CEO Mercedes Gamero told Variety.
Distributed by Warners in Spain, Weddings portrays a Bridget Jones-ish thirty-something woman, played by Inma Cuesta (The Sleeping Voice), who can’t find her soulmate. Suddenly, she begins to receive wedding invitations from former boyfriends.
Ensemble cast includes Paco León, Martín Rivas, Quim Gutiérrez, María Botto, Laura Sánchez and Rossi de Palma. Ruiz Caldera, who debuted with 2009 smash hit Spanish Movie, directs from a screenplay by Pablo Alén and Breixo Corral.
Weddings rolls for seven weeks in Barcelona from Oct. 15. “We nurture quality talent that lures film and TV audiences,” Gamero said.
The top Spanish film producer at 2011’s B.O., A3F co-productions collectively punched Euros35.3 million ($46 million) in Spain, led by Torrente 4 and Brain Drain 2.
Prior hits - To Hell with the Ugly, Brain Drain, Three Meter Above the Sky - have recently goosed profits by snagging standout TV primetime ratings.
“Spanish films work on TV if they have at the B.O. and are well-programmed,” Gamero added.
2012’s slate includes drama Kamikaze, Alex Pina’s helming debut, starring Alex García,
Verónica Echegui and Carmen Machi, and co-produced by Cangrejo and Estudios Hackenbush. Shooting in Lisbon, Daniel Carparsoro-helmed actioner Combustión is co-produced with Zeta Cinema. It toplines Alex González, Adriana Ugarte and
Alberto Ammann. Rolling from September, Alejandro Ezcurdia’s surfing worldset thriller Tres60, written by Luis Berdejo and co-produced with Bowfinger, Zinea Sortzen and Basquepubcaster ETB, is released next year by Warner.
Filming has wrapped on Oskar Santos’ family comedy Zip & Zap and the Marble
Gang, teaming A3F, Zeta and Mod Prods, and released by BVI in Spain.
Along with Mod and Atipica Films, A3F is producing Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s La gran familia Española. Nacho Vigalondo’s Windows - a co-production with Apaches sold internationally by Wild Bunch - rolls this month.

E.P.