ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the structure, development, and performance of the Mexican film industry (MFI) during the first 17 years of the 21st century. It addresses the markets and the most salient companies that control them (Televisa, Cinepolis, and Hollywood majors). In addition, the study looks at the participation of the government, which is involved in the development and growth of the industry through cultural policies set in place to support the film industry. The primary goal of this research is to analyze the Mexican film industry in the context of the dominance of the free market logic and dynamics, particularly under free trade agreements (NAFTA and USMCAN) as well as new scenarios of digital platforms. The discussion of the research addresses the issues of the performance of the MFI as an assimilated market of U.S. film industry or as the resurgence of a National Industry that almost vanished during the 1990s. In order to tackle this issue, the chapter analyzed production, distribution, and exhibition empirical data as well as economic figures from 2000 to 2017 under the guidelines of the political economy of cinema.
