The statistics speak for themselves. Mexico boasts the biggest number of screens in Latin America; with close to 3,000, nearly double that of Brazil, a country twice its size. Mexico is a growing market too: theatrical revenues rose by 20.2% in 2000, and now 20th Century Fox ranks Mexico as its fourth largest theatrical market in the world while Buena Vista International (BVI) ranks it fifth.

Against this encouraging backdrop, studios have thrown more money into pushing their features in Mexico. BVI released an unprecedented 600-plus prints of Pearl Harbor in Mexico and allegedly backed it with a marketing campaign estimated to be at least worth $1.2m. Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox is said to have spent $800,000 on marketing Planet Of The Apes. It grossed $3.175m on 547 screens in Mexico to become the second highest opener in local history after BVI's Dinosaur last year. BVI and Fox in Mexico are considered to be among the savviest and most creative in terms of marketing their product.

There are several reasons why Mexico is a favorite among studios, according to BVI's Los Angeles-based Ignacio Darnaude, senior vice president, marketing

& creative advertising: "The country boasts a young emerging movie going audience that enjoys a strong affinity with U.S. movies. Secondly, strong multiplex growth has made it the stablest market in the region." In BVI's case, their Mexican office, happens to be among their best. Mexico and Spain shared the best BVI office of the year award in 2000.

For Pearl Harbor, BVI Mexico was given the largest marketing budget for a single Disney film ever, says Alejandra Garcia, BVI director of marketing. Displaying its innovative spirit, the Mexican office led by Philip Alexander designed a 3 D billboard for Pearl Harbor that was later imitated by more than a dozen BVI offices around the world. Among the 80 Pearl Harbor billboards erected across the country, three massive 3 D billboards were put up in Mexico City. They displayed a woman nearly four meters tall at a clothesline and a plane with 30 meter-long wing span that jutted six meters out of the building. At the World War II film's June 13 premiere at Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional, 10,000 guests were bowled over by a replica of a ship 40 meters long and 13 meters high along with two life size bombers overhead.

According to marketing professional Richard Ham, the big players tend to allot a P&A spend of 20% to 30% of the movie's estimated net earnings (after exhibitor's share and 15% in taxes are extracted). Ham handled the marketing at 20th Century Fox, Mexico and subsequently, NuVision until he founded his own company Shadow Entertainment Services in January this year.

Like most advertisers, film companies tend to make advance purchases of a package of TV spots at the beginning of the year. TV ads cost as much as $20,000 per spot at primetime. A full page ad in a newspaper can cost around $10,000. Radio spots can cost between $50 to $100 each while billboard ads are an estimated $4,000 a month.

Given their limited budgets, independent distribution companies resort to as many ingenious ways as possible to drum up free publicity for their films. They target select media and organizations to promote their films, sometimes via barter deals. Cine Video y TV, which has been theatrically distributing indie films for the past three years in Mexico, placed ads in the Jewish sports paper Centro Deportivo Israelita to promote the Jewish-themed film Train Of Life.

For Foreign Oscar-nominated Amores Perros, distributor NuVision played on the fact that the film bravely opened a week before Mission Impossible 2. They released teaser print ads with scrawny lead Gael Garcia Bernal standing opposite Tom Cruise and his trademark rippling muscles. To NuVision's delight, Mission Impossible 2 saw a 24% drop off in admissions on its second week while Amores saw only a 5% dip that same period. Graffiti gangs, seduced by the hip buzz on the film, spray painted the film title all over Mexico City.

Since the record success of Titan/Argos co production Sex, Shame And Tears (Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas) which grossed a yet unsurpassed $12.4m, producers and distributors of Mexican films have begun to invest more heavily in p&a. Distributed by Fox, the comedy's pioneering trailer campaign played a video clip of the main theme composed by Aleks Syntek. The film's soundtrack posted massive sales and effectively drove its box office performance.

NuVision has also shrewdly tapped the music talent ties of its parent company, entertainment group, CIE. Amores Perros features a unique soundtrack produced by the celebrated record producer Gustavo Santolaya where a dozen top Latin American bands played their own interpretations of the film. The film's double album was among the hottest sellers last year. Its ad campaign cost an estimated $2m, which was easily recouped from its sales to more than 40 countries, including the U.S. This year, NuVision signed on PR firm Consecuencias to develop and execute the promotional strategy of its films such as Sin Dejar Huella, Por La Libre, Atletico San Pancho, Amores Perros, and Todo El Poder. Consecuencias also handles BVI product, most recently the studio's local pickup Demasiado Amor by Ernesto Rimoch.

Despite Mexico's proximity to the U.S. few major stars go south of the border to promote their films. "It's hard to get talent available to travel anywhere," says Teri Meier, senior vp,international publicity, BVI. "If they do, it's usually to Europe. After all, it represents 65% of the majors' theatrical revenue," she adds. Most studios find it easier to invite foreign journalists to junkets in the U.S. Among the key media they tend to invite are the two broadcasters Televisa and TV Azteca, newspapers Reforma or Universal and one of the three film magazines Cinemania, Cine Premier and Cinexs. Among the film websites, EsMas.com leads the pack as it belongs to media conglomerate Grupo Televisa and copy can thus be extended to the company's other media.

"Many actors are reluctant to come to Mexico but they shouldn't be. Mexico is barely over three hours out of LAX [Los Angeles International Airport], we have a Four Seasons hotel and all the facilities," says Ham. He contends that few companies know how to properly organize talent visits and maximize press and PR. "Shadow has been putting together press, PR, travel and security packages that hopefully will convince the US offices, local distributors and talent agents that Mexico is indeed among the top five markets."

According to Mario Pacheco Szekely, film critic and associate film editor of EsMas.com, UIP brings in more talent than the others. They brought in Anthony Hopkins for Hannibal and other top names such as Jeff Goldblum, Matthew McConaughey, Edward J. Olmos and Jeffrey Katzenberg. BVI recently brought in Don Hahn, the producer of Atlantis .

"Every time a studio brings in a celebrity, they are assured of maximum publicity. It doesn't have to be a superstar. Even the secondary talent and relative unknowns grab the full attention of the media," he says.