Just confirmed as No. 1 on Netflix’s global Top 10 list of non-English language series one week after its premiere, “The Eternaut” plowed 41 billion pesos into Argentina’s economy, Netflix has revealed to Variety.
Whether calculated in historic dollar rates for 2023, when “The Eternaut” was in production, where 41 billion pesos came in at some $70 million, or by current exchange rates, where 41 billion Argentine pesos is worth half that, the economic injection is an extraordinary indicator of the value of major international productions to local economies around the world.
Using common economic practice, the total investment, a measure of impact on GDP, includes both direct production spending and its ripple effect throughout the supply chain. Netflix noted.
For the week April 28-Sunday May 4, “The Eternaut” amassed 10.8 million views worldwide, the production landed in the weekly Top 10 series in 87 countries, including Brazil, France, India, the U.S, Italy, Mexico, Germany and Spain, proving that Netflix hedged the right bet on Bruno Stagnaro’s (“Pizza, Beer and Cigarettes”) adaptation of the iconic Argentine comic strip created by Héctor G. Oesterheld and illustrated by Francisco Solano López.
The six-part sci-fi episodic, written by Stagnaro and Ariel Staltari with Martín M. Oesterheld acting as creative consultant, was produced by Hugo Sigman, Matías Mosteirin, Leticia Cristi, Diego Copello at Argentina’s K&S Films.
The scale of The Eternaut is unprecedented for Argentina. The series stands as one of Latin America’s most ambitious productions to date, a national cultural tentpole in the same league as Brazil’s “Senna” and Colombia’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude;” generating a raucous buzz that continues to radiate through city streets, where locals can be heard praising the efforts and preemptively pining for Season 2.
The narrative tracks a group of troubled protagonists after an eerie summer snowfall turns the once-bustling metropolis of Buenos Aires into a ghost town, killing most of the population. Teaming amidst mounting obstacles, the friends wade through anger, apathy, grief and uncertainty to survive an unrelenting enemy.
Ricardo Darín (“The Secret In Their Eyes”), Staltari (“El Puntero”), Carla Peterson (“Lalola”), César Troncoso (“Yosi, the Regretful Spy”), Marcelo Subiotto (“Puan”), Andrea Pietra (“Socias”), Claudio Martínez Bel (“El agrónomo”), Orianna Cárdenas and Mora Fisz star.
Marking the first screen adaptation of the series, the project was set in motion in 2019 and involved two years of script development and writing, four and a half months of pre-production, 148 days filming in Buenos Aires and over a year and a half of post-production.
With 50 locations in Buenos Aires, 25 artists contributing to 35 virtual sets and 2,900 people involved as cast, extras and stunt doubles, alongside a production crew of over 400, the scale of the project ups the ante, rightfully confirming the breadth of Argentina’s audiovisual talent while positioning the country as an innovative and highly-capable production hub.
Generating hundreds of local jobs, “The Eternaut” activated dozens of service providers and marked a milestone for Argentina’s audiovisual sector as the first regional production of this scale to combine real and virtual sets.
Using photogrammetry and 3D scanning — combining drones, cameras and various technologies — the crew captured the sprawling streets, trains, façades and urban landscapes of Buenos Aires with exacting accuracy. The nods to Argentina were plentiful, as the team had full creative control and made real-time adjustments throughout the shoot to hone in on the homespun storyline, maintaining the essence of the comic strip while lending a dose of live-action adrenaline to the updated, still relevant, social critique.
John Hopewell contributed to this article.
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