For the love of pix

TNT Latam picks up 88 titles from Canal+

By VARIETY STAFF

NEW YORK --- Canal Plus, which owns the Latin American rights to the movie libraries of Carolco Pictures and Dino De Laurentiis, has sold 88 titles to TNT Latin America, among them "Rambo III," "Total Recall," "Manhunter" and "This Is Spinal Tap."

Sources said TNT will lay out about $5 million for the 88 pictures, 29 of which are made-for-TV movies.

TNT Latin America "is an advertiser-supported movie-lovers' service," said Rick Perez, VP of programming for the network, which reaches about 6 million homes throughout Latin America.

The Canal Plus pictures start flowing to TNT Latin America in the third quarter of 1998, Perez said, with each title available for 30 months, six months of which are exclusive to the network.

Competing with pay channels

Perez said TNT's main competitors are HBO and other pay movie services and regional movie channels in countries such as Argentina and Mexico.

Other titles in the mix include "Reservoir Dogs," "The Kidnapping of the President," "Bedroom Window" and "Deepstar Six." French titles include "Cours Toujours," starring Catherine Deneuve, and "Desire," with Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Among the TV movies are "Call Me Anna," starring Patty Duke, "Decoration Day" with James Garner, "Killer Among Us," toplining Jasmine Guy, and "Shattered Dreams" starring Lindsay Wagner.

**contributor:Mary Sutter