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Popular Spanish city cracks down on tourists with strict new rules

IF YOU are heading to one popular Spanish spot you better be on your best behaviour as a load of new rules are being introduced.

Tourists behaving badly by littering or spitting in public could now get hefty fines in the city of Valencia.

People enjoying a sunny day on Cabanyal beach in Valencia, Spain.
Valencia in Spain has introduced a load of new rules for tourists Source: Alamy

The rules, which if broken could get you fines of up to €1,500 (£1,251.29), also include not dropping cigarette butts, chewing gum or paper.

More serious offences such as spitting or urinating in public, could get you a fine of up to €3,000 (£2,502.57).

It comes as the city also revealed plans to cap tourist cycling groups to a maximum of 10 people.

Cycling is popular in Valencia with both tourists and locals and has surged over the recent years.

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The previous limit was 15 people and now groups of more than 10 will have to split into smaller groups and be at least 50 metres apart.

The new rule applies to both bikes and e-scooters.

Carrer de les Barques street with palm trees on a sunny day in Valencia, Spain.
If caught breaking the rules you could be fined up to £2,500 Source: Getty

Other new rules crackdown on stag and hen parties as well, where if thy take place on public streets between 10pm and 8am from Sunday to Friday – and Saturday until 9:30am – groups could be faced with a fine between €750 (£625.64) and €1,500 (£1,251.29).

There are also new limits on wearing items representing human genitalia, and carrying inflatable dolls and other sexual props through public spaces.

These offences could be fined up to €750 (£625.64).

Authorities have said that the new rules are not meant to limit tourism, just to “better manage its activities and ensure that we can all share the streets in appropriate conditions”, reports Olive Press.

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Celebrity Traitors LIVE: James Acaster cracks under the pressure as he ‘breaks show rules’

James on his exit

“The idea of doing that got me through the whole experience because you feel as a Traitor sometimes, when you see people have real life reactions that are bigger than the game, you feel bad, and I would have to remind myself they don’t have a game without you, literally, if no one’s doing this stuff, they can’t play, and they all want to play,” he said.
“So you are doing an important job here, so they all have something to do, and when they catch you, they’ll be really happy and they’ll like it, and it will feel good to just tell them and see that reaction.”

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Laika’s ‘Wildwood’ cracks the box office with a mature animation

Audiences for animated movies are proving to be more diverse than the industry expected.

Over the weekend, Laika, the Oscar-nominated studio behind movies like “Coraline” and “ParaNorman,” released its newest feature film “Wildwood.” The original animated feature, which received a rare PG-13 rating, landed in third place at the domestic box office, earning an estimated $11.6 million, according to its distributor Fathom Entertainment.

DC Studio’s body horror “Clayface” topped the box office, with a haul of $24 million. “You Can See Everything,” the experimental Elizabeth Holmes documentary, came in second and added $19.5 million to its total $45 million haul, according to the data-analytics company Rentrak.

Distributed by Fathom Entertainment — the joint venture of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Regal Cinemas, and Cinemark Holdings — “Wildwood” opened in just over 2,900 North American theatres. The distributor said this box office haul is a rare achievement for independently produced and distributed PG-13 animation, as very few films of this nature have received such a wide theatrical release and opened above $10 million.

The opening comes as audiences have strongly favored familiar animated stories like “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which each earned over $1 billion. Original animated stories have received mixed reactions. Earlier this year, Disney Pixar’s “Hoppers” found success opening weekend, earning $45 million domestically while DreamWorks Animation’s “Forgotten Island” opened to a softer $13 million last month.

“While the major studios rely heavily on established animated franchises like ‘Super Mario,’ ‘Minions’ and ‘Toy Story,’ Laika has carved out a really unique place in the animation world,” Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends at Rentrak, said in a statement.

The film is Laika’s first in seven years and has been in the works since 2011. Based on the novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, it follows Prue, a young girl who ventures into an enchanted forest to save her little brother. The Oregon-based studio was founded in 2005 by Nike co-founder Phil Knight. His son, Travis Knight, is the owner, chief executive and director of “Wildwood.”

The handcrafted stop-motion film runs just over two hours and more than a thousand people worked on it. The studio did not disclose its production budget. Laika films can cost between $60 million and $100 million to make, according to Forbes.

“‘Wildwood’ embodies everything LAIKA believes animation can be: a handmade film that is emotionally resonant, visually ambitious, and created by artists, craftspeople and technical innovators working at the highest level,” David Burke, the film’s executive producer, said in a statement.

Opening weekend was just a starting point for Laika. The studio’s films have historically demonstrated strong theatrical staying power, with its five previous features averaging around 3.6 times their opening weekend domestically, according to Fathom. The film is also expected to hit dozens of international markets in the coming weeks, which is expected to boost its box office revenue.

Dergarabedian said the film’s opening is “encouraging, particularly for a film that doesn’t fit the traditional animated blockbuster mold. Its performance is another example of why originality and creative risk-taking are so important to the theatrical marketplace.”

“At Laika, we have always taken the long view,” Burke said in a statement. “Laika makes timeless films that resonate with audiences around the world and across generations. ‘Wildwood’ carries that tradition forward.”

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