Netflix leadership have touted the streamer’s upcoming slate of local-language film and television including the Japanese feature Bullet Train Explosion and Troll 2, Roar Uthaug’s sequel to his most-watched non-English-language film on the platform.
Chief content officer Bela Bajaria and her team of regional executives held a press presentation at the company’s first International Showcase at Tudum Theatre in Hollywood on Monday.
“People like the authenticity of local stories,” Bajaria said, adding that, as she has said before, the “goal is to make shows and films that resonate in their home country first”. She added, “When you try to make something that appeals to everyone, you just end up making something that appeals to no-one.”
Bajaria noted an increased appetite in the United States for international programming and said in 2023 approximately 13% of hours viewed in the territory were for non-English titles, led by South Korean, Spanish, and Japanese series and films.
Paco Ramos, vice president of content, LatAm, teased upcoming work like the series adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical realist classic One Hundred Years Of Solitude, which filmed in Colombia and drops on December 11. The pipeline includes the adaption of the renowned 1950s Argentinian graphic novel The Eternaut starring Ricardo Darin, about a mysterious snowstorm that kills millions of people. “Think The Last Of Us, with snow in Argentina,” said Ramos.
Also from the region, Juan José Campanella’s adaptation of the Argentinian comedy stage play Parque Lezama has received the greenlight, while production has begun on Chilean feature Limpia from Dominga Sotomayor, who directed a segment of the 2021 Cannes special screening The Year Of The Everlasting Storm.
Minyoung Kim, vice president of content, APAC, told the audience “over 80% of Netflix members around the world watch K-content” and reminded that South Korean series Squid Game 2, the sequel to the platform’s most popular series on more than 1.6billion hours watched, arrives on December 26. Mystery crime feature Revelations hails from Train To Busan director Yeon Sang-ho with Alfonso Cuaron on board as an executive producer and is expected next year.
Bullet Train Explosion from Japanese director Shinji Higuchi (Shin Godzilla) coming in 2025 is a reboot of Jun’ya Sato’s 1975 action thriller that inspired Speed, while Last Samurai Standing starring Junichi Okada (From Up On Poppy Hill) takes place in the late 19th century during the Meiji period, when a samurai competes in a cash competition to save his wife and child.
Monika Shergill, vice president of content, India, cued up footage from Rana Naidu 2, the Hindi-language crime series based on US hit Ray Donovan, and mentioned that several Bollywood projects were in the works.
European highlights include the series adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s classic novel The Leopard set in Italy in the late 19th century in the years prior to unification. Spanish series El Refugio Atómico from the creators of Money Heist follows a community of billionaires who take refuge in an underground bunker as the Third World War breaks out.
Coming from Brazil on November 29 is the limited scripted series Senna, about the late Brazilian F1 racing driver Ayrton Senna, who was profiled in Asif Kapadia’s documentary of the same name. Among that country’s slate is Vini Jr., a series about Brazil international and Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior.
Asked why the presentation did not contain much mention of titles from Africa or Middle East, Larry Tanz, vice president of content, EMEA, and one of his lead Africa executives work was ongoing to expand a pipeline and further details would be made available in due course.
Additional titles from the local-language slate include the second seasons of The Empress from Germany, The Exchange from Kuwait, period drama Heeramandi from India, and Japanese dystopian sci-fi Alice In Borderland.
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