Dani de la Orden, director of 2024 breakout “A House on Fire,” is set to adapt for Beta Fiction Spain “El director,” the best-selling non-fiction book written by David Jiménez, about his experience as editor-in-chief of Spanish daily newspaper.
A former international correspondent in Asia and war reporter, Jiménez was brought in in May 2014 supposedly to lead El Mundo’s digital transformation. What he found, however, as he recounts in “El director,” was a mutual favors pact between the newspaper and Spain’s establishment. Refusing to compromise the publication’s independence he was dismissed after just a year.
De la Orden will helm “El Director” from a screenplay by two of Spain’s most reputed screenwriters, Michel Gaztambide (“No Rest for the Wicked,” “Close Your Eyes”) and Alejandro Hernández (“Los Farad,” “The Captive”).
A “high-profile drama,” the film will go into principal photography in February 2026, Beta Fiction Spain CEO Mercedes Gamero told Variety. “This is a very interesting, very contemporary, very important topic, underscored by what has just happened to Jimmy Kimmel,” he added, noting as a reference in tone “All the President’s Men,” added Pablo Nogueroles, General Manager of Beta Fiction Spain.
Terrorist Manhunt Thriller ‘Cronos’ Goes Into Production
News of the “El Director” adaptation comes just days after Beta Fiction Spain and Nostromo Pictures, behind Netflix smash hit “Through My Window,” announced production on “Cronos,” a large scale high-stakes thriller centering on the real-life operation – Operation Cronos – launched to hunt down the perpetrators of the 2017 Barcelona terrorist attacks.
Shooting for eight weeks from Sept. 29 on different locations in Catalonia, the film is directed by Fernando González Molina, a specialist in big canvas movies such as “Palm Trees in the Snow” and “The Invisible Guardian,” both from Nostromo. Written by genre specialist Alberto Marini (“Retribution,” “Sleep Tight”) “Cronos” will be narrated from the point of view of the head of operations of Catalonia’s Mossos D’Esquadra police force, its communications director and a police officer in Ripoll, the small town in the Pyrenees where the terrorists came from, Gamero said.
“Cronos” is based on two years of research, including the real-life figures portrayed in the film who were met by the film’s actors, to understand their real feelings during what became a four-day manhunt. “This will establish highly emotional dramatic arcs for the main characters in the film,” Gamero noted. Film Factory Ent. handles international sales rights.
‘La Roja,’ ‘Rondallas’
The man-hunt thriller goes into production as Beta Fiction moves into pre-production on “La Roja” from Marcel Barrera, writer-director of 2025 best-picture Goya winner “El 47,” another eye-catching box office breakout which has grossed €4.0 million ($4.7 million) in Spain.
A feel-good dramedy with social elements a la ‘Full Monty,’ but based on true facts like ‘El 47,’” Gamero has said, “La Roja” comes in on immigration from a novel angle, turning on Pakistan and Indian nationals who came to the people to form an important part of the Spanish national cricket team.
New Acquisitions: ‘Anxious People,’ ‘Violette’ and ‘Les Miserables’
In other news, Beta Fiction Spain has acquired Spanish distribution rights to three high-profile upcoming movies. Starring Angelina Jolie, Aimee Lou Wood and Jason Segel, “Anxious People” is helmed by “A Man Called Otto” and “World War Z” director Marc Forster from a script by Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Magee, adapting Fredrik Backman’s novel. Black Bear, Hope Studios, 2DUX, and World Wide Word produce the feature which is currently shooting at the newly launched Pinewood Indie Film Hub.
Headed by Matthias Schoenaerts, Melvil Poupaud and Leila Bekhti, “Violette,” the second-chance drama marking the next film by “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, was introduced to buyers by Studiocanal at this year’s Cannes Market. Mediawan’s Palomar and 24 25 Films produce.
Following on Beta Fiction Spain’s successful release of “The Count of Monte Cristo,” it has also acquired “Les Miserables,” also from Studiocanal, starring Vincent Lindon and Tahar Rahim. “We feel that these timeless, well-written stories can resonate with audiences, as happened recently with “The Count of Montecristo” said Gamero.
Beta Fiction Spain’s Way Forward
“It’s increasingly more difficult to be successful theatrically, but that’s our goal. We’re building our pipeline. said Nogueroles, noting Beta Fiction Spain will release La “Familia Benneton 2” in 2026. “Our goal will be to be the number one independent or one of one of the top independent distributors in Spain on the distribution side,” he added.
Several tailwinds play in Beta Fiction Spain’s favor.
For one thing, it is now up to full speed. “This is our third year of operations and the first year in which we will have what we were set up to do which is to have 10-12 movies theatrically released per year, about half of them films that we produced or co-produced with partners. And the other half films that we acquire,” said Nogueroles.
It has excellent talent relations, also attaching Arantxa Echevarría, behind ETA mole thriller “Undercover” which has grossed an extraordinary €9.7 million ($11.3 million) in Spain, to direct bio “Dolores,” an upcoming fiction film portrait of Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria.
“One of our goals is to keep on working with the talent we used to work in our previous lives. Having the next movies of Marcel Barrena, Dani de la Orden, Arantxa Echevarría, Fernando Gonzalez Molina – four of the top notch filmmakers in Spain, is for us important,” Gamero observed.
As the theatrical market contracts around a select number of releases, BFS has the muscle to take big swings. “We are certainly looking for bigger films on the acquisition front, uh, from bigger partners and from better partners,” said Nogueroles.
In what may move towards a closer title-by-title relationship in Spain between two of Europe’s most important and ambitious upscale studios – Beta and Studiocanal – Beta Fiction has not only acquired two of the best selling Studiocanal titles at Cannes – “Violette” and “Les Miserables” but has also picked up “Band Together” (“Rondallas”), produced by Ramón Campos’ Bambú Producciones, co-owned by Studiocanal.
The return to feature film direction by Sánchez Arévalo, one of Spain’s foremost crossover filmmakers, the film world premieres at San Sebastián and could prove a crowd-pleaser, follows the inhabitants of a town in Galicia who, after a traffic accident at sea, decide to dust off the village “rondalla,” a traditional music band.
Spain, moreover, has not suffered so much the pull back of streaming services seen in many parts of the world. According to the European Audiovisual Observatory, last year global streamers plowed €2.0 billion ($2.3 billion) into Spanish originals, doubling their investment in France, Germany and Italy.
Streaming services are also increasingly ready to partner on different widowing models. “We continue working with partners like Movistar Plus+, Atresmedia, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max. Their support has been vital to us as a new company. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” said Nogueroles.
variety.com
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