More than 30 years after burying it, Disney is unearthing “Blood In Blood Out.”
The 1993 crime drama will be available to stream on Hulu starting May 1, a company spokesperson confirmed to The Times.
The film stumbled at the box office 30 years ago but was saved from obscurity by Latino audiences, who reclaimed it as a cornerstone of their representation in cinema.
Directed by Oscar-winner Taylor Hackford, “Blood In Blood Out” follows the lives of three Mexican American cousins as they navigate life in East Los Angeles. The film’s depiction of gang and prison violence worried Disney execs — it was released by Hollywood Pictures, a now defunct label owned by the media giant — who opted to limit its theatrical release and give it a new name, “Bound by Honor.”
The movie was largely panned by critics and bombed.
Despite its failure at the box office, “Blood In Blood Out” found a second life thanks to home video and word of mouth. The movie would go on to become a cult classic, embraced in particular by Latino audiences — currently, one unauthorized upload of the movie has garnered more than 6 million views on YouTube.
30 years after its release, ‘Blood In Blood Out’ still holds cultural significance to the Latino community. Here is a list of some of the locations depicted in the film, in East L.A. and beyond.
“The powers that be didn’t support the film, but it was the people who gave it longevity. It was the people who gave it popularity. It was the people who consistently said, ‘We love this film, it speaks to us,’” screenwriter Jimmy Santiago Baca told The Times in 2023.
“There’s no greater satisfaction when you’re a writer than when you touch somebody’s heart in a way where it validates their life experience.”
Interest in the film has not waned. In January, hundreds of fans packed the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State L.A. for a screening of the movie — the first time it had been shown in a theater since its release. The screening was part of a release party celebrating the publication of “Blood In Blood Out,” a companion book that goes behind the making of the film.
“This 30th anniversary of ‘Blood In Blood Out’ — both the screening at Cal State L.A. and the publication of our book by Hat & Beard Press — has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the entire cast and crew,” said Hackford.
“Now, Hulu’s decision to stream the original unedited version is the cherry on top of the cake, both for us and for the Latino community across the U.S. who have made this film the classic that it is.”
De Los contributing writer Carlos Aguilar contributed to this report.
