Lionsgate and Spanish media company Televisa have launched Pantelion Films, a joint venture targetting the potentially lucrative hispanic audience in the US.

Pantelion will release a slate of eight to ten films a year over the next five years, kicking off with the January 2011 release of the comedy From Prada To Nada.

Four to five films will be produced in-house each year and the rest will be acquisitions.

Pantelion will be headed by chairman Jim McNamara, the head of Panamax Films and former president and CEO of Telemundo, and CEO Paul Presburger, a longtime Lionsgate international executive and architect of the Pantelion deal.

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