MADRID — Netflix fanboys – and fangirls – delight. After huge speculation, and anticipatory Tweets, Netflix has closed a deal with Spanish broadcast network Atresmedia for a new third part of “La Casa de Papel” (“Money Heist” in the U.S.).
Atresmedia’s Sonia Martínez and Vancouver Media’s Alex Pina, “La Casa de Papel’s” creator, produced the original series, broadcast in two parts last year in Spain.
After a licensing accord with Atresmedia, the new deal now sees Netflix and Vancouver Media produce “La Casa de Papel” Part 3, which will be released in exclusivity worldwide on Netflix.
Very little is known about its plot apart from that “the professor will plan new heists, revealed in 2019,” Netflix announced Wednesday morning. In its own press statement, Atresmedia confirmed that the new episodes will include much of the original key cast.
Released on Netflix in two parts, the Spanish-language heist thriller became this year the most watched non-English series on Netflix ever, Netflix confirmed Monday, reporting its boffo first quarter results.
The Netflix-Atresmedia deal represents a new phase of expansion for Atresmedia, after its producing local series which sold abroad, and then series which have seen huge sales for their original versions outside Spain, such as “Velvet” and “Gran Hotel,” licensed to over 120 countries.
As ratings decline at free-to-air broadcasters around the world, Atresmedia is producing series which may not score huge audiences but target urban 20-50s, the most attractive of commercial demographies, and can then be licensed to pay TV players in or outside Spain. Fox Networks Group España and Mediapro have produced a third season of “Vis-a-Vis,” a women’s penitentiary thriller with a cable edge whose original two seasons were produced by Atresmedia and Mediapro; Movistar + initiated its original series releases on its pay TV/SVOD system with “Velvet Collection,” a spinoff of “Velvet.”
Netflix and Vancouver Media will now produce a third part which rolls off the series’ conversion from cult offering in Spain to global phenomenon via Netflix.
