El Cantante (2007) is an American film, released in the United States on August 3, 2007. The biopic stars real life couple singer Marc Anthony and his wife, actress-singer Jennifer Lopez (she also served as an executive producer for the film). The film is based on the life story of salsa singer Héctor Lavoe (played by Marc Anthony). The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2006. The film runs 116 minutes and has an R rating due to scenes depicting drug use, pervasive language and some sexuality. The film chronicles Hector Lavoe's life to fame, his battle with drugs, his attempted suicide, and his untimely death from AIDS.
Some film critics have expressed their surprise at the relatively high profile given to the Puchi character in the film (as compared to Nilda Perez's relatively subdued influence over Lavoe's career). The film was criticized for its formulaic writing and hollow character development. It received a 22% "rotten" certification from the entertainment website RottenTomatoes.
A spinnet of the soundtrack "Toma De Mi" performed by Jennifer Lopez and written by Nelly Furtado leaked on the Internet in July 2007. "Toma De Mi" was eventually released on the movie soundtrack. Marc Anthony released the song "Mi Gente" on YouTube and Yahoo. .
The Soundtrack debuted at #1 on Billboard Top Latin Albums and #31 on Billboard 200. In its second week it still peaked at #1 on Top Latin Albums but felt back 2 places to end at #33 on Billboard 200.It still peak the Top Latin Albulms in the third, forth and fifth week and went on #32, #44 and #55 on the Billboard 200. The release on the soundtrack album also pushed 2 Hector Lavoe albums back into charts on Top Latin Albums.
The film opened at #12 at the U.S. Box Office, grossing over US$3,254,000 on its three-day weekend, with a total gross of US$5,579,231 as of August 12th. The film was screened in only 542 theaters throughout the United States, a substantially small number of theaters compared to number of theaters that The Bourne Ultimatum, which opened #1 at the U.S. Box office during its opening weekend, was screened in nearly 4,000 theaters. El Cantante made about US$6,004 per theater in it's opening week. The movies distributor, Picturehouse, has rearranged how the movie is distributed in an attempt to target the movie to it's audience. Each movie print cost Picturehouse US$2,000. Picturehouse removed El Cantante from theaters which showed softer sales while opening in more theaters where demand was high.Wikipedia
