J Balvin Reclaims Crown as Artist with Most Videos in YouTube’s Billion Views Club

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

J Balvin is YouTube’s ’s Billion baller…

The 37-year-old Colombian singer’s “Ritmo (Bad Boys for Life)” music video in collaboration with Black Eyed Peas has surpassed 1 billion views, officially making him the artist with the most videos in YouTube’s Billion Views Club once again, according to the video platform.

“Ritmo,” which was released on October 11, 2019, on YouTube, marks Balvin’s 12th entry as a lead, featured artist or collaborator. Prior to reclaiming the crown this week, Balvin was tied with Justin Bieber with 11 music videos each with a billion views.

In 2016, he became the first Latin urban artist to reach 10 digits with a video on the platform with “Ay Vamos.” He was only the third Latin artist to reach a billion views, following Enrique Iglesias’ “Bailando,” featuring Gente de Zona and Descemer Bueno, and Romeo Santos’ “Propuesta Indecente,” both in 2014.

Balvin also has one of the top five fastest videos to reach the billion-view mark with “Mi Gente,” surpassing the number in 103 days.

“Ritmo (Bad Boys for Life)” samples Corona’s ’90s hit “Rhythm of the Night,” fusing hip-hop and pop with Balvin’s incendiary and infectious take on reggaeton.

The track topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and Hot Latin Songs

charts in 2020, becoming the Peas’ first leader on each ranking and Balvin’s first on the dance chart.

The video, which shows scenes from the Bad Boys for Life movie, now joins the Willy William-assisted “Mi Gente”; “X (Equis)” with Nicky Jam; “Con Altura” with Rosalia; “China” alongside Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, and Ozuna; “No Me Conoce (Remix)” with Jhayco and Bad Bunny; “Ay Vamos”; “I Like It” with Cardi B and Bad Bunny; “Ahora Dice” with Chris Jedi, Ozuna, and Arcangel; the Farruko-assisted “6AM”; and “Safari” featuring Pharrell Williams, BIA, and Sky in the billion-views club.

Kate del Castillo Signs with Buchwald

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Kate del Castillo has new representation…

The 49-year-old Mexican actress and telenovela star has signed with Buchwald.

del Castillo stars in Telemundo’s hit drama La Reina del Sur.

One of the highest rated Spanish-language series in the world, La Reina del Sur adapts the bestseller by Spanish novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte. In the crime drama, which recently wrapped filming for Season 3, del Castillo plays Teresa Mendonza, a woman from Mexico who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain.

Castillo recently completed a two-series deal with Telemundo. Her production company, Cholawood, has a first-look development deal with Boomdog, the Mexico City-based division of Endemol Shine North America.

The actress starred opposite Will Smith as the villain in Sony’s Bad Boys for Life, also recently featuring on NBC’s sitcom Mr. Mayor, from creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, and the Netflix animated series Maya and the Three, created by Jorge R. Gutiérrez.

She rose to acclaim in America with her performance in Fox Searchlight’s Under the Same Moon, which is one of the highest-grossing Spanish-language theatrical releases in U.S. history, and has also featured in such films as Bordertown, No Good Deed and All About Nina.

del Castillo has also appeared in series including PBS’ Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated drama American Family, The CW’s Jane the Virgin and Showtime’s Weeds, among others. Her one-woman Off-Broadway show, The Way She Spoke, made her the first Latina actress to earn Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Award nominations.

A philanthropist and outspoken global activist, del Castillo was appointed Ambassador for the Mexican Commission on Human Rights to combat human trafficking in 2009.

Kate del Castillo Starring in Womanhunt Thriller “Cold, Dead Hands”

Posted on January 10, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

The chase is on for Kate del Castillo…

The 48-year-old Mexican actress and telenovela star has teamed up with former Netflix VP Erik Barmack to produce and star in the womanhunt thriller Cold, Dead Hands (working title).

The film is set up at del Castillo’s Cholawood Productions, Barmack’s Wild Sheep Content and Top Dead Center Films, headed by Gary and Julie Auerbach, creators of the film.

Gary Auerbach directs the film, which went into production on January 4, shooting in Utah.

The film opens with del Castillo’s character waking up in a log cabin in deep forest, having been drugged and abducted. A message on a stereo tells her to press play.

“I’m a hunter,” a voice says, explaining she’s been placed there because she’s a “worthy prey.” There’s a snow mobile five miles from the cabin. If she makes it to that, she wins. There’s no civilization around and nothing in the cabin of value to her, the voice warns. But he’ll give her a couple of minutes heads start.

Co-starring Marc Blucas, the film naturally packs multiple twists and a backstory about why del Castillo’s character is such worthy prey and the moral choices she had to make to escape the first time round.

The movie is written by Julie Auerbach, as well as Kevin Tavolaro and co-written by Blucas.

This is “the story of a woman who lives through unspeakable hardships in her life yet she identifies as a survivor, not a victim,” del Castillo tells Variety, adding that her character shows “a tremendous amount of strength, courage, intelligence and compassion, all admirable traits innate to our culture” and that she “personally relates to this character particularly in how she overcomes her fears and refuses to let her past define her.”

The movie catches del Castillo coming off Bad Boys for Life, where she stars opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and del Castillo’s starring role on Season 2 of La Reina del Sur.

During its transmission, ending July 2019, the sophomore season kept Telemundo broadcast network among the top three networks in the U.S. regardless of language in the adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 demos in the 10 p.m. Monday-Friday berth.

Jennifer Lopez Appears on Remix of the Black Eyed Peas & J Balvin’s Hit Single “Ritmo”

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

There’s no doubt Jennifer Lopezhas ritmo… And now she’s singing it!

One week after her rockin’ Super Bowl Halftime Show, the 50-year-old Puerto Rican superstar has joined in on the Black Eyed Peas and J Balvin‘s hit single “Ritmo,” and she shows off her sculpted dancer’s body in a barely-there bodysuit in the updated music video.

The original track appears on theBad Boys For Life soundtrack, but a new version will now feature J-Lo as she takes on the repetitive hook, a sample from the original song by Corona, “Rhythm of the Night.”

Lopez teased the new remix via a snippet of the electric new video attached to the project.

“We’re taking RITMO to the next level,” echoes the message across the track’s collaborators.

It pads onto the hot streak that the Hustlers star has been enjoying as of late. At the Super Bowl, she and Shakira fully tuned into their Latin heritage to craft a triumphant appearance at the halftime show. J Balvin also made a cameo during the performance as well, delivering a rendition of his single “Mi Gente.”

Nicky Jam to Release New Album, “Intimo,” in November

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Nicky Jam is getting intimo…

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American urban singer has revealed the cover of his forthcoming album Intimo, set to be released on November 1.

This week, Nicky Jam unveiled the album title, cover and release date on Instagramwith the caption “My album and I.”

This year, Nicky Jam has been touring the U.S. with his Intimo Tourwhile filming the movie Bad Boys for Lifestarring Will SmithandMartin Lawrence, which is set to premiere on January 17.

Intimowill be Jam’s second album after his “comeback” with Fénix,which contains the hit “El Perdón.”

Kate del Castillo to Star in the Off Broadway Production of Isaac Gomez’s “the way she spoke”

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Kate del Castillois ready to take the stage…

The 46-year-old Mexican actress, who starred in Telemundo’s wildly popular La Reina del Sur series, will return to the New York stage this summer in the Off Broadway production of Isaac Gomez’s the way she spoke, directed by Jo Bonney as the next Audible Theater production at the Minetta Lane Theatre.

Previews begin on Monday, July 8, with opening night set for Thursday, July 18. The Minetta Lane, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, is home base for Audible’s live performances, with productions recorded and released by Audible as audio plays.

the way she spoke follows an actress who enters a theater, picks up a script, and begins to read a story that reveals “disturbing and haunting accounts of the murder of thousands of women in Juarez, Mexico and one playwright’s journey of discovery and responsibility.”

According to Audible’s description, “As lines blur between theatricality and reality, intense and provocative questions are raised and demand deeper examination. Based on a series of intimate interviews, this one-woman play demonstrates the power of speaking truth, even as it considers the implications of doing so.”

Kate Navin, Audible Artistic Producer, called Gomez’s play “deeply moving,” and that del Castillo’s “raw and inspiring performance is sure to captivate our live audiences in New York City and resonate with Audible members everywhere.”

The creative team includes Riccardo Hernandez (scenic design), Emilio Sosa (costume design), Lap Chi Chu(lighting design), Elisheba Ittoop(sound design), and Aaron Rhyne(projection design).

del Castillo, set to co-star with Will Smithand Martin Lawrencein 2020’s Bad Boys For Life, has been a popular star of Mexican television since her teens, but her performance on La Reina del Sur in 2011 became a cultural phenomenon. A second season launched last month. The series, produced by Telemundo and Spain’s Antena 3, is a primetime serial that chronicles del Castillo’s Teresa character, a Mexican woman who rises to great power through international drug trafficking (Alice Bragaplays the character in USA Networks’ American version Queen of the South).

del Castillo’s other credits include Jane The Virgin, Under the Same Moon, The 33, All About Nina, and the upcoming Bad Boys For Life.

Off-screen, del Castillo made international news when, after controversially tweeting about El Chapoin 2012, the actress was contacted by a lawyer for the Mexican drug lord to discuss a biopic about him (El Chapo, it turned out, was a del Castillo superfan, with a stockpile of La Reina del Sur DVDs found at the safe house raided by Mexican intelligence agencyCISEN.) Later, del Castillo helped arrange the meeting between El Chapo and actor Sean Penn.

Paola Nuñez to Star in Sony Pictures’ “Bad Boys for Life”

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a really Badtime for Paola Nuñez…

The 40-year-old Mexican actress will star in Sony Pictures’ Bad Boys for Life, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

The new installment centers on the Miami PDand its elite AMMO team’s attempt to take down Armando Armas (Jacob Scipio), head of a drug cartel. Armando is a cold-blooded killer with a vicious, taunting nature.

Nuñez will take on the role of Rite, the tough and funny criminal psychologist who is the newly appointed head of AMMO and Mike’s former girlfriend- and the one who got away.

Adil El Arbiand Bilall Fallahare directing the film, which will bow in theaters on January 17, 2020.

It was previously announced that Alexander Ludwig, Vanessa Hudgens, and Charles Melton have also joined the film in supporting roles as members of a modern, highly specialized police unit.

Peter Craig, Joe Carnahan, and Chris Bremmercrafted the script. Jerry Bruckheimerwill produce the film.

Production is to commence next month.

Nuñez, who is widely known for her performances across Latin American television, features and theatrical platforms, recently starred opposite Pierce Brosnanon the first season AMC western series, The Son, which will return for a second season in 2019.

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