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Edwin Davies: I think the key lies in finding an audience that has been underserved then during everything in your power to appeal to them. Tyler Perry has demonstrated the financial dividends of this approach time and again in the past decade, and Lionsgate is applying that same logic to the Latino market. They pick projects that are built around actors who already have a fanbase within the target market, then make sure as many people as possible know about the film but keep the screen counts low enough that it feels like an exclusive event, driving up demand. It also helps that they seem to be focusing on very broad, appealing comedies, so they promise a good time. That worked fantastically well with Instructions Not Included and has worked pretty well for Pulling Strings, and will probably work well for the next four or five films that Pantelion puts out before other studios set up their own offshoots. At the moment, they seem to be the only game in town.

Matthew Huntley: I don't want to say Pulling Strings is merely riding the coattails of Instructions Not Included, although I do think think the latter has something to with the former's success, but along with Edwin's points, I think the fair reviews help. Granted, neither Pulling nor Instructions's marks are at the overall positive level, but they're not awful, either, and I think they're prompting non-Latinos to check them out. Hopefully this is just the start of a trend whereby Latino-targeted films, and not just comedies, break out and become mainstream hits, thus making them "everyone"-targeted. And along with that, they'll hopefully be even better made and more well-received.

Felix Quinonez: I definitely agree. The Latino community is a growing demographic and so there is certainly a market for movies targeted at us. It always seems like a risk because studios like to play it safe, but I think these movies are proving that these risks have potential for success and will hopefully lead to more being made. And even though I haven't seen either one I got the feeling that they're not the best, so hopefully in the future studios will focus as much on making good movies as they are on courting a demographic.

Kim Hollis: Over the past few years, we've seen shows from Univision manage to crack the top 10 in the Nielsen ratings on a regular basis. I honestly have no idea why no one realized sooner that there was a specific audience just starving for content that they would enjoy. Lionsgate isn't a studio that produces a ton of traditional hits (The Hunger Games is a big exception). Instead, they find niche markets and package their product in such a way that they maximize their profits. We've seen them reach out to horror aficionados, African-Americans, and now the Latino market, and they make a lot of money as they do so. I'm just surprised more studios haven't adopted the model effectively.

David Mumpower: I want to add to something Edwin mentioned here. The Tyler Perry playbook works in another regard. Repeat business is predicated upon the principle of satisfying customers in the first place. While Mr. Huntley makes a fair point regarding Instructions Not Included, that also is the positive aspect of the situation. Because consumers liked that project enough to show up in droves, they were easier to direct market for repeat business with a (somewhat) similar film soon afterward. Pantelion Films is making inroads with the fastest growing demographic in America. As look as they continue to treat their customers right, the situation could develop similarly as is the case with Perry's library. Two or three releases a year filling an otherwise under-served niche is simply good business. Lionsgate may be the best run studio operating today.

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