Netflix mega-hit “The Platform” and “Rosa’s Wedding,” from top Spanish auteur Iciar Bollaín will be pitched June 21 at the Shanghai Film & TV Market during an event focused on one of the key growth axes in cutting-edge movie dealing: Remake rights.
Latido Films will present “The Platform” and Cinema Republic “Rosa’s Wedding.” They will be joined by Spain’s Begin Again Films, introducing “When You No Longer Love Me,” a genre blending murder mystery and love story and Mod Producciones (“Agora,” “The Captive”), a producer of “Two Many Chefs,” a troubled father-son set in the world of Basque haut cuisine.
The Shanghai Remakes event, organized by Spain’s Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA), will see each company talk up the Asian market remake potential of their titles for 10 minutes. Moderated by ICAA Senior Advisor Miriam de Miguel Ezagüi, the presentation will be followed up by a networking event with potential partners or buyers.
The remakes focus has a large logic. “In times when creating original material is proving harder and harder, to have a proven concept to elaborate makes a lot of sense,” said Antonio Saura, Latido Films managing director. Remakes represent more and more an important side of our business and good value for producers and creatives who can see income incremented exponentially,” he added, noting that Latido has remake rights almost sold on “The Platform.”
“For Begin Again Films, remakes are a very new business area, but they have quickly become very promising,” said Gloria Bretones, co-CEO & head of international sales-acquisitions at Begin Again Films. “The reason is simple. Creating an original project from scratch is expensive and risky. When producers buy a story that has already worked with audiences, the risk is lower and development costs are usually lower too,” she added, commenting that China was one of three countries showing interest in “When You No Longer Love Me” after a pitch at Cannes Remakes 2026.
“Remakes are a growing business,” added David Castellanos, Cinema Republic founder. “The principal reason is simple: With a good screenplay you have the possibility of of making a god film, with a bad one never. And comedy is the most popular genre and the most difficult to write.”
If the screenplay is key, so will be its writers. “When You No Longer Love Me,” for example, is written by Javier Echániz, Asier Guerricachebarría and Ion Iriarte, contracted by David Victorí for “Firebreak,” a Netflix No. 1. movie in any language over Feb. 23-March 1 this year. Echániz and Guerricchebarría also co-wrote “Silent Cargo,” a big hit for Prime Video.
“Two Many Chefs” is co-written by Joaquín Oristrell behind early comedy hits starring Javier Bardem (“Mouth to Mouth”) and Penelope Cruz (“Alegre ma non troppo”) and still one of Spain’s finest screenwriters, recognized in 2026 by a best adapted screenplay Spanish Academy Goya Award this year for “The Dinner.” “Rosa’s Wedding” is written by Iciar Bollaín and Alicia Luna, who teamed on original screenplay Goya winner “Take My Eyes.”
High concept films that are easily translated into other countries realities, Saura argues. Certainly, all four films to be presented at Shanghai are high concept to varying degrees. In “Rosa’s Wedding,” hugely put upon by her boss and family, Rosa, a talented seamstress, vows one day to celebrate a wedding where she marries herself and to live her dreams and desires. “The Platform” is set in a vertical prison of several hundred floors where a stone dumbwaiter descends with food left over from tenants above. Higher-level inmates gorge themselves; those below face starvation, suicide or cannibalism – a brutal metaphor for the world’s food chain.
There is a growing remakes business for interesting IPs,” agreed Simón de Santiago, a partner and producer at MOD Producciones.
When push comes to shove, however, there can be multiple elements which can prime a film’s remake potential. A closer look at the lures of the four titles at Spain’s Shanghai Remakes showcase:
“The Platform” (“El Hoyo”)
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia.
Screenwriters: David Desola, Pedro Rivero,
Producers: Basque Films, Mr. Miyagi.
One of the most successful Spanish smash hit exports last decade, a 2019 Toronto Festival sensation scooping its Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award before acquired worldwide by Netflix, where it remains No. 7 most popular non-English movie on Netflix ever, with 82.7 million views. A “terrorific mix of futurist dystopian sci-f and redolent social allegory wrapped in a brutal survival thriller,” Variety has written.
“‘Platform’ represents a unique opportunity to make remakes since you can incorporate local actors into a proven high concept film. on top of that, it can have huge production value with a relative low cost. as far as the storytelling, stories of resistance, self growth and struggle are always welcome. The film fall in the category of genres that are appreciated,” says Saura.
“Rosa’s Wedding” (“La boda de Rosa”)
Director: Iciar Bollaín
Screenwriters: Bollaín, Alicia Luna
Producers: Tandem Films, Turanga Films, Septembro Cine, La Boda de Rosa la Película AIE, Halley Production
Clothes to be sewn and actors dressed for a film shoot? to clients? Rosa does everything. Who can care for her ageing father? Or water absent neighbors’ plants, or take in a friend’s cat, or pay her daughter’s rent? Sold by The Match Factory, a feel-good, second chance feminist comedy winningly performed by its leads which won a 2020 Malaga Festival Special Jury Prize and scored €980,683 ($1.1 million) at Spanish cinemas.
“‘Rosa’s Wedding’ is based on a news item about van agency in Kioto Japan, which organised weddings where the bride married herself (“solo weddings”) to talk about a universal issue: Many women live to care for other people more than for themselves,” says David Castellanos, founder of Cinema Republic, which represents the film’s remake rights.
“Two Many Chefs” (“La vida padre”)
Director: Joaquín Mazón,
Screenwriters: Joaquín Oristrell
Producers: MOD Producciones, Kowalski Films
Mikel’s dad, Juan Inchausti, a genius chef given up for dead 30 years ago, suddenly returns with amnesia to his modern-day restaurant in Bilbao, now run by nouvelle cuisine devotee Mikel, who is up for a third Michelin star. But for that he needs the Basque cuisine genius of his father. A drama comedy parable about connecting to one’s roots, whether family or culture, directed by Mazón (“The Night My Dad Saved Christmas”). “It’s a universal story that links two generations and two different times. Above all, it’s set in the world of high cuisine, which is always very appealing,“ said De Santiago.
“With Chinese cuisine being one of the best cuisines in the world, the contrast between the worlds of traditional and high new cuisine could also be very appealing. And, in the end, it’s a father-son story, which is easy to identify with.”
“When You No Longer Love Me”
Director: Igor Legarreta
Javier Echániz, Asier Guerricachebarría and Ion Iriarte
Producers: Centuria Films, Cepa Audiovisual, Cuando Dejes de Quererme AIE, Grupo Creativo EOK
Laura, born in the Basque Country where her father Félix abandoned her as a small child in 1968, now living with her stepfather Fredo in Buenos Aires, receives a phone call in 2002 that her father’s body has been discovered, shot in the back of his head 34 years before. An intricately plotted murder mystery but far more impactful as a whodunit than whodunit, a triple love story building emotional power in its final act.
“‘When You No Longer Love Me’ is a thriller, and thrillers work well in almost every country,” said Bretones.
In this case, it is also a romantic thriller, which makes it even more attractive for markets like China. Love, family secrets and a murder mystery are universal themes. Chinese audiences already enjoy many films with these elements,” said Another advantage is that the story can be adapted to different budgets, which is always appealing to producers.