Universal Pictures Swoops on Spanish Remake of ‘A Boyfriend for My Wife’

Anna Marie de la Fuente
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Universal Pictures Int’l Spain has snatched theatrical distribution rights to the Spanish remake of romcom “A Boyfriend for my Wife” (“Un Novio para mi Mujer”), now shooting in Barcelona.

The 2008 Argentine original by Juan Taratuto, starring Adrian Suar, lured up to 1.5 million admissions in Argentina and has been remade in a slew of territories, including Mexico, Brazil, Italy, China, France, Chile, Vietnam and, most successfully, in South Korea where it sold five million admissions.

More from Variety

Its story revolves around a man who finds a rather unorthodox way of getting rid of his lovely but insufferable wife: Finding her a boyfriend so that she dumps him instead. He picks a well-known Lothario to seduce her but the scheme backfires on him.

Directed by Laura Mañá (“Te quiero, imbecil”) from a screenplay penned with Pol Cortecans (“Bienvenidos a la familia”), the Spanish remake is produced by Arcadia Motion Pictures and Athos Pictures along with the participation of Amazon Prime Video Spain,which will stream the pic after its theatrical run.

Barcelona-based Arcadia, whose notable credits include Pablo Berger’s “Blancanieves,” Claudia Llosa’s “Aloft” and Julio Medem’s “The Tree of Blood,” secured the Spanish remake rights from The Remake Company, the subsidiary of worldwide sales agent FilmSharks Int’l.

Arcadia’s Ibon Cormenzana, Sandra Tapia and Ignasi Estapé serve as producers.

“We are delighted to work once more with Arcadia’s amazing team on this film; we feel that the reimagined and updated version, 13 years after the original first broke out, will be an international sales hit,” said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud who handled worldwide sales on “The Tree of Blood” and is an executive producer of the Spanish remake. FilmSharks holds worldwide sales rights and will be presenting footage of the romantic comedy to buyers later this year, said Rud.

The new version stars Belén Cuesta (“The Endless Trench”), Diego Martín (“Elite”) and Hugo Silva (“El Cuerpo”), along with Joaquín Reyes, Eric Masip and Ángela Cervantes, first seen in “Chavalas.”

In 2010, a U.S. remake was in the works at Warner Bros., with Steve Carell set to produce and star, but the project fell through. The idea might still get picked up again now that “The Queen’s Gambit” star Anya Taylor-Joy, partly of Argentine descent, declared it her all-time favorite Argentine film to the local press.

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.