Netflix Unveils English-Language Adaptation of Mexican Box Office Hit ‘Nosotros los Nobles’
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Netflix is about to introduce one of Mexico’s most legendary fictional families to the English-speaking world with “We Are the Nobles,” a new U.S. film adaptation of Mexican sensation “Nosotros los Nobles” (The Noble Family).
Eight years ago, Gaz Alazraki’s family comedy became a certified blockbuster, and still ranks as the second highest-grossing Mexican film of all time, behind “Instructions Not Included.” When Netflix was getting into original production outside of the U.S., its first effort was the series “Club of Crows,” created by Alazraki and inspired by his cinema super-hit.
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Netflix is co-producing with Alazraki, who produced and directed the original, and Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe from 26th Street Pictures, with whom the streamer has a larger overall deal, which also includes an untitled Chupacabra film with Jonas Cuarón, son and frequent collaborator of Alfonso Cuarón. Guido Rud, CEO and founder at FilmSharks, is on board as executive producer.
“Netflix has shown an unwavering commitment to making this film from the beginning, and I’m honored to work with the likes of Michael Barnathan and Chris Columbus, who have filled the cinematic universe with classic films for years,” said Alazraki. “I’m looking forward to working with everyone involved on this new adaptation of the film that changed my life.”
After its release in 2013, “The Noble Family” grossed $26.25 million, overtaking 2002’s priest scandal drama “El Crimen del Padre Amaro” as the country’s highest-grossing film. It didn’t hold out for long though, as Eugenio Derbez’s comedy “No Se Aceptan Devoluciones” (“Instructions Not Included”) was released later that year and more than doubled “Nobles’” admissions record of 7.1 million. Nonetheless, the Noble family has occupied the number two spot since then.
Mexico’s original “Nosotros Los Nobles” turns on a Germán Noble, a wealthy father who, after a stress-induced heart attack, decides to teach his entitled kids Javier, Bárbara and Carlos a lesson by pretending to have lost all his fortune.
The English-language “We are the Nobles” offers new life to a historic narrative that dates back to the 1930s, when Mexican playwright Adolfo Torrado first penned “El Gran Calavera.” The play was first adapted to the screen by legendary Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel in 1949 as “The Great Madcap,” and most recently manifested in “Malcriados,” a Dynamo-produced Colombian remake of “Nosotros los Nobles” in 2015, and “Club of Crows” spinoff “The Ballad of Hugo Sánchez” at Netflix in 2018.
“We are honored to have this timeless story in the works with Netflix, with an amazing producing team,” Rud told Variety. “We’ve been working on this with Netflix for two years, and we hope to do more projects in English with them in the future. We feel this film is going to be a huge success globally.”
Rud is quickly becoming a force in the crossover world of Latin American and Hollywood cinema, and is executive producer on Universal Pictures’ remake of Alejandro Amenabar’s 2001 Golden Globe-nominated horror classic “The Others,” Paramount’s English-language remake of Paraguayan thriller “Morgue” with “Bird Box” writer Eric Heisserer’s Chronology, and a U.S. remake of Oriol Paulo’s (“The Innocent”) seminal 2012 Spanish thriller flick “El Cuerpo” (“The Body”), to be helmed by standout Mexican genre filmmaker Isaac Ezban (“The Incident,” “Parallel”).
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