FactoryMade Ventures Forms Joint Venture with Lucha Libre AAA, Plans Franchise Reinvention and U.S. Expansion

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FactoryMade Ventures has formed a joint venture with the leading Mexican wrestling experience, Lucha Libre AAA. The boutique entertainment and media incubator announced today its partnership with the owners of Lucha Libre AAA, the Roldán Peña family (Marisela Peña Herrada, Joaquín Roldán Retana and Dorian Roldán Peña) and Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro, a real estate, finance and sports entrepreneur in Mexico and a former owner of a Major League Soccer team. The partners will reimagine, operate and expand the league on multiple platforms and entertainment experiences in the U.S. and select international territories.

“This new experience will resonate with the aspirations of the powerful emerging Latino audience and the youth market beyond.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Roldán Peña family and Antonio to take the classic Lucha Libre AAA experience from household name in the Latino community to a dynamic, general audience entertainment brand in the U.S.,” said FactoryMade’s CEO John Fogelman and Co-CEO Cristina Patwa.

The professional wrestling sport Lucha Libre (meaning “free fighting”) began in Mexico in the 1930s, and its popularity has grown to become the second largest sport in the country behind soccer. Founded in 1992 by its creator, Antonio Peña Herrada, Lucha Libre AAA rose to become Mexico’s dominant wrestling league with an audience of 1 million people for more than 1,000 live events per year and a significant television presence on Televisa with a reach of 52 million viewers. The league has also branched to ancillary platforms across merchandise, licensing, gaming, movies and digital media, and it receives sponsorship from leading consumer product advertisers such as Corona, Ford, Telcel and Comex.

“Our partnership with FactoryMade enables us to transform our league for viewers beyond Mexico in a way that leverages the rich history and legacy of one of Latin America’s most popular entertainment experiences over the last 20 years,” said Dorian Roldán. “Taking a page from my grandfather’s heritage with Hispanic brands, I personally see this as a unique opportunity to bring an exciting, credible and authentic brand to second and third generation Latinos in the U.S.,” added Cué Sánchez-Navarro.

The joint venture will hold exclusive licenses in all territories excluding Mexico to the wrestling league’s intellectual property, which includes its renowned brand, over 250 characters (Luchadores) and its multi-platform entertainment formats. The partners will initially focus on expanding its presence in the U.S. through live events and sponsorship, pay-per-view television, scripted and non-scripted series, licensing and merchandise.

FactoryMade and Lucha Libre AAA have also brought onboard Starlight Runner Entertainment, a New York-based production company specializing in the global transmedia growth of leading entertainment properties. Lucha Libre AAA will be the first entertainment-sports league to be reimagined for the American and global market and launched with Starlight Runner’s proprietary franchise development methodology embedded in its DNA at inception.

“The team united behind bringing Lucha Libre AAA to the United States has provided us with an extraordinary opportunity to use our transmedia techniques to build an exciting multi-platform world of heroes, villains and spectacle,” said Starlight Runner CEO Jeff Gomez. “This new experience will resonate with the aspirations of the powerful emerging Latino audience and the youth market beyond.”

Starlight Runner Entertainment, which Fast Company listed as one of "The 10 Most Innovative Companies in Media" in 2011, has done similar transmedia work for large multi-platform entertainment properties including Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers and Microsoft’s Halo. While Starlight Runner works with premiere Hollywood studios such as Sony, The Walt Disney Company and 20^th Century Fox, the company has also been brought onboard by global brands such as Coca-Cola, Mattel and Pepperidge Farm to create storylines and multi-platform extensions for their products.

In addition to its partnership with Lucha Libre AAA, FactoryMade co-owns ventures Tres Pistoleros Studios and the El Rey Network with acclaimed filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. El Rey is a new general entertainment, English-language US cable channel backed and carried by Comcast Corp that will launch in January 1, 2014.

About FactoryMade Ventures

A boutique entertainment and media incubator, FactoryMade builds enriching IP, content experiences and distribution platforms by leveraging its strong ties to the Hollywood creative community and partnering with global consumer brands. FactoryMade was created by John Fogelman, former William Morris Endeavor board member and veteran agent and Cristina Patwa, previously WME’s head of Strategic Planning. In addition to working with corporate partners such as Telefonica and JCP, they previously spearheaded the creation of Hasbro’s film business (Transformers, G.I. Joe, Battleship) and television business (Hasbro TV Studios, the Hub Network with Discovery Communications), and developed retail’s first integrated digital gaming and commerce platform with HSN called HSN Arcade.

About Lucha Libre AAA

Lucha Libre AAA is a media and entertainment company founded in 1992 by Antonio Peña Herrada and manages the IP of the “AAA” brand and another 250 characters in its league. The company produces Lucha Libre events globally including venues such as Palacio de los Deportes, Arena Monterrey, HP Pavilion, Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles Sports Arena and Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to working with sponsors such as Corona, Hershey's, Comex and Telcel, the league has released an animated movie and videogame in the Mexican market. Lucha Libre AAA develops 5 hours of content per week that is aired on three television channels in Mexico: Galavisión, Televisa Deportes Network and TVC Deportes.

About Starlight Runner Entertainment

Starlight Runner Entertainment, Inc. (http://www.starlightrunner.com) is the world's leading creator and producer of highly successful transmedia franchises, maximizing the value of intellectual properties by preparing them for extension across multiple media platforms. Starlight Runner works with Hollywood studios, video game developers and major brand owners to incubate, develop and produce rich story worlds that quickly reach blockbuster status. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Gomez and Mark Pensavalle, the company's clients include Sony Entertainment (Men in Black 3), Coca-Cola (Happiness Factory), 20th Century Fox (James Cameron's Avatar), Microsoft (Halo), The Walt Disney Company (Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron Legacy), and Hasbro (Transformers). Starlight Runner is now developing and co-producing all-new intellectual properties designed to leverage all forms of digital and traditional media.