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According to the Bible, corpses will come out of their graves on Judgment Day. In Mexico, however, they will come out to tell an adventure story in the framework of the Day of the Dead.
16 years have passed since the project was first discussed, though back then, many people assumed that there would never be a long feature film about Mexico’s Day of the Dead tradition . However, this new and exciting film about the Day of the Dead is expected to hit theaters this year.
“People told us that we couldn’t make a children’s movie with death as its core element. Then there were concerns about production costs and we didn’t know if we’d ever gather enough resources and get distributors on our side. The hardest part was not the making of the film itself,” the movie director Carlos Gutiérrez commented.
“Día de Muertos” (Day of the Dead), made by the leading software product development services company Metacube , was presented last week at the Guadalajara International Film Festival and will have its commercial theatrical release on November.
The movie tells the story of Salma , an orphan girl undergoing an identity crisis who sets up an altar every year hoping that her loved ones may visit her one day. However, she doesn’t have any of their personal items to put in her altars.
With the help of her friends Jorge and Pedro , she travels to the underworld, where she will discover the true meaning of death.
Gutiérrez claimed that he has not seen Pixar’s Coco , though he has heard of it.
“I can tell you that the story is completely different. Of course, there will be similar elements like candles and such, but the main characters are charros (horsemen from the central-western regions of Mexico). We also though of an animal sidekick that would represent the Mesoamerican vision of death , and so we chose the Axolotl, which is the final transformation of Xólotl, the dog-god .
“The movie features some of Mexico’s most iconic buildings from Querétaro, Cholula, and Mexico City ,” he added.
The screenplay’s first draft was registered in 2007. The project development started in 2012, and production began in 2016.
A team of more than 400 people participated in the movie production, including virtual animators that were later recruited in foreign productions such as Hotel Transylvania and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse .
The film required a USD$3 million investment , while Pixar’s Coco cost USD$150 million .
“We have sold the movie to around 25 countries, including Germany, Spain, and some countries in the Middle East ,” commented the movie producer Estefani Gaona .
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