Lucha Libre Mexican Wrestling League Headed To U.S. In Tag Team With FactoryMade
FactoryMade Ventures, which with Robert Rodriguez co-owns Tres Pistoleros Studios and the soon-to-launch El Rey Network, has formed a joint venture with Lucha Libre AAA, the popular Mexican wrestling league. The plan is to re-imagine, operate and expand the league in the U.S. and other international territories on multiple platforms that at first will focus on live events and sponsorship, pay-per-view, scripted and non-scripted series, licensing and merchandise. It’s unclear but possible such an expansion would include a spot on El Ray, the new English-language U.S. cable channel backed and carried by Comcast that will launch January 1, 2014.
Related: Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network Inks Six-Series Deal With Georgeville Television
Founded in 1992 by its creator, Antonio Peña Herrada, Lucha Libre AAA is Mexico’s dominant wrestling league with an audience of 1 million for more than 1,000 live events per year and a reach of 52 million viewers on Spanish network Televisa. (It also was the basis for the 2006 comedy feature Nacho Libre starring Jack Black). The joint venture will hold exclusive licenses in all territories excluding Mexico to Lucha Libre intellectual property, which includes its brand, more than 250 characters, and its entertainment formats.
FactoryMade, a boutique entertainment and media incubator run by WME alums John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa, announced the partnership with the owners of Lucha Libre AAA, the Roldán Peña family and Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro, a real estate, finance and sports entrepreneur in Mexico. The venture has also brought aboard Starlight Runner Entertainment, a New York-based production company specializing in the global transmedia growth of leading entertainment properties. It has done similar work for Avatar, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Transformers and Microsoft’s Halo.
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