“Latinos don't really have that big of representation in movies, but now Latino representation is being brought to life here in the eastern valley.” “This movie theater catering to our Latino population is great in general,” Villarreal said. She said it’s important to her to support local businesses, particularly one that aims to serve Latinos who seldomly see themselves reflected in Hollywood films. “They don't go as often as they’d like to, but having that would be a really good option for them.” “My grandparents would really enjoy that,” she said. Older members of her and her boyfriend’s families, she said, will enjoy the Spanish-language offerings. A regular filmgoer, Villarreal said she usually attends movies with her boyfriend when she’s not busy with school. Nyssa Villarreal, a 19-year-old Indio resident and student at College of the Desert, said she and her family are excited about the new theater. An updated report is expected this spring. population, Latinos bought 24 percent of all movie tickets sold in 2017 in North America, according to the most recent report by the Motion Picture Association of America. Though they represent just 18 percent of the U.S. Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro have won best director at the Oscars five times in the last six years.ĭespite expanding amid widespread consolidation in the theater business due to increased competition from low-cost streaming options like Netflix, Esparza said his business is thriving because Latinos have consistently shown themselves to be the most loyal movie customer. Mexican directors like Cuarón, Alejandro G. Netflix's "Roma" is just the latest film by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón to sweep the Academy Awards, winning three Oscars, including best foreign language picture and best directing. The growth of Maya Cinemas, which opened its first location in Salinas in 2003, comes as Mexico has entered yet another golden age of cinema. The concession stands also stock popular Mexican candy, in addition to the usual popcorn and chewy treats. And locations with bars, like the theater in North Las Vegas, can whip up margaritas and micheladas made with one's favorite Mexican lager for adult patrons. Like the old cinema houses Esparza used to visit in his childhood, Maya Cinemas, shows both first-run Hollywood films and Spanish-language films. Maya Cinemas offer the same high-end amenities moviegoers have come to expect, such as luxury recliners and assigned seating, as well as something a little extra to better serve Latino audiences, the most fervent movie-going segment, according to film industry figures. While Indio has Regal Cinemas Metro 8 Theater, many local residents say they prefer to travel to the new Century Theaters in La Quinta, which features recliner seating, a bar and expanded food options at their concession stands. More: College-bound Latinos seek to move from home, beyond family-first stereotype known as 'Familismo' More: Indio man identified in officer-involved shooting at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage More: New 14-screen movie theater coming to Indio, a community Maya Cinemas sees as under-served “We’ve been looking at this area for a long time because it’s significantly underserved,” he said. Soon, Maya Cinemas will break ground on a brand, new 14-screen theater in north Indio on Avenue 42 near Monroe Ave, culminating a nearly 15-year effort by Esparza to bring a new theater to the eastern Coachella Valley. Since 2003, when he opened his first Maya Cinema in Salinas, Esparza has opened a half-dozen other locations mostly in California in cities with growing Latino middle- and working-class families like Bakersfiled, Fresno and most recently, North Las Vegas. Patrons flocked to watch films during Mexico's Golden Age of Cinema, which thrived from the 1930s to the early 1960s. The eventual collapse of the Mexican film industry in the 1980s, and shift by movie exhibitors who built multiplex in suburban malls locations, would starve Latino neighborhoods of local movie theater options.īut Esparza hopes to change that. “On Sunday afternoon, my whole family would go after church.”īefore its demolition in 1989, the Brooklyn Theater was among the last relics of the small cinema houses that showed both Hollywood and Mexican films in L.A. “My friends and I would go off on a Saturday morning and go to Brooklyn Theater and watch movies all day long,” said Esparza, a film producer whose 1997 biopic “Selena” launched Jennifer Lopez to stardom. Moctesuma Esparza, 70, fondly recalls spending weekends growing up in east Los Angeles watching first-run Hollywood and Mexican films at the local one-screen neighborhood movie house, long since razed. Watch Video: Diversity championed at Palm Springs
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