It is clear that Juan Antonio Bayona is one of the most important directors in the world today. And as if he didn’t already prove it by being chosen by Amazon Prime Video to direct the first season of The Rings of Power, he has now confirmed it again with his new Netflix film that is already competing for the Oscars: The Snow Society.
The film is based on real events and set in 1972. The Society of Snow tells the impressive story of the Uruguayan Air Force flight 571, chartered to take a rugby team to Chile, which crashed in the heart of the Andes. Only 29 of its 45 passengers survived the accident. Trapped in one of the most hostile and inaccessible environments on the planet, they will have to resort to extreme measures to stay alive. And, as we can see, it has quickly conquered the general public.
An unprecedented success
The movie has achieved several records since its release. It started with 55.8 million hours played, the most successful non-English language film in its opening weekend in 2023. In addition, it reached 22.9 million views, placing it just behind the also wonderful Nowhere in this type of premieres.
But this is not the only thing that The Snow Society has achieved. The film has had the same number of hours played as The Killer, David Fincher’s film, and has surpassed Rebel Moon, Zack Snyder’s fiasco that, however, has performed very well on Netflix. Taking into account that these two films were much more expensive than The Snow Society, this is spectacular news for Bayona and his team.
Furthermore, it was the most watched movie on Netflix from January 1st to 7th in 43 countries, and it has maintained its position during the following week. And only one movie, Trolls, surpasses it as the best release of a non-English speaking movie in Netflix’s history. We can be proud.
