Tag Archives: Mucho Mucho Amor

HBO Max to Release “Menudo: Forever Young” Documentary This Summer

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Here’s your chance to relive Ricky Martin’s breakthrough moments…

HBO Max will release Menudo: Forever Young, a new documentary about the Latin American boy band that helped make the 50-year-old Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor a star.

Ricky Martin, MenudoHailing from filmmakers Angel Manuel Soto and Kristofer Ríos, the documentary will be released on June 23.

The premiere will follow the project’s debut at the 2022 Tribeca Festival on June 11.

Menudo was formed by producer Edgardo Diaz in 1977 with five original members: Ricky Melendez, brothers Carlos and Oscar Meléndez, and the Sallaberry brothers, Fernando and Nefty. The group changed members often mostly after the pre-teen and early teenage boys aged out around age 15 or 16. Two of its most famous members include Ricky Martin and Draco Rosa (as Robbi Rosa).

Diaz, who served as the band’s manager, was accused of sexual abuse by multiple members beginning in 1991. He denied the allegations that same year on El Show De Cristina, a popular talk show at the time hosted by Cristina Saralegui.

Menudo disbanded in 2009 though reunion tours and performances have taken place with various former members.

The four-part documentary will deep dive into the rise and fall of the boy band, including the allegations against Diaz.

“The Puerto Rican diaspora in New York played a critical role in the success of Menudo and its crossover in the US, shutting down traffic for blocks surrounding the band’s hotel and selling out Madison Square Garden on multiple occasions,” said Soto in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to premiere this series in their backyard at TriBeCa and honor their contribution to the band’s legacy.”

Menudo: Forever Young is executive produced by Cristina Costantini and Jeff Plunkett of Muck Media, Alex Fumero of Trojan Horse, Bryn Mooser and Justin Lacob of XTR, and Soto.

Costantini and Fumero most recently collaborated on the popular Netflix documentary Mucho, Mucho Amor following the life of Walter Mercado.

 

Netflix to Premiere the Walter Mercado Documentary “Mucho Mucho Amor” in July

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There’s mucho mucho amor for Walter Mercado, it’s that love’s coming your way…

Netflix has released the official trailer for Mucho Mucho Amor, the documentary on the late Puerto Rican astrologer, television personality and gay icon.

Walter Mercado

For decades, Mercado captivated the Latin American world with his with his glamorous style, gender-nonconforming persona and warmhearted cosmic readings, before disappearing

from public eye. He began having cardiac problems in 2012, and said he “had gone and seen death and came back to life again,” and experience that seemed to change him. Hepassed away last November reportedly from kidney failure.

But Mercado is poised to reach a new level of fandom with a lovingly crafted documentary about his life and career, directed by Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch. 

Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in January, and will begin streaming on Netflix next week.

The official synopsis reads: “Every day for decades, extravagant Puerto Rican astrologer, psychic, and gender nonconforming legend Walter Mercado charmed the world with his televised horoscopes. Equal parts Oprah, Liberace, and Mr. Rogers, Walter reached over 120 million viewers at his peak, enthralling the Latin world with sequined capes, opulent jewelry and horoscopes that shared a message of love and hope to his devoted viewers. Then, he mysteriously disappeared. Over a decade later award-winning directors Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch and producer Alex Fumero capture Walter’s final two years, when the pioneering icon grappled with aging and his legacy, and prepared for one last star-studded spectacle.”

“From the moment that I was born, I knew that I was not like everybody,” Mercado says in the trailer for the film about his life. “Everything about me was different.” With a dizzying array of glittering blazers and luminescent capes, at one point Mercado is seen being escorted on a gilded throne through a crowd of clamoring fans. 

The film will also explore his mysterious disappearance from public life, which one subject speculates was motivated by a fear of aging in view.

Mucho Mucho Amor arrives on Netflix on Wednesday, July 8.