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I guess the message that Rich Flu’s ending was trying to convey is that no matter how hard we try, we are always going to be slaves to our materialistic desires. [Spoiler Alert] Laura Palmer, originally named Jake, traveled to the other end of the globe so she could protect her daughter, Anna, and especially herself, but it turned out, in the end, Laura’s journey didn’t teach her anything She remained obsessed with her watch and was willing to do anything to get it back. Maybe some people don’t really understand the meaning of selfless sacrifice. This holds true especially in Laura’s case, who saw everything in life as transactional.

In the second half of the film, I was really struggling to understand why director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia was so focused on Laura’s journey and why he was not giving us the answers we yearned for. For example,...

“Rich Flu” (2025) is a drama film that revolves around the themes of class conflicts. It is co-written and directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, the Spanish filmmaker known for his work on the “Platform” films for Netflix. This is his first English-language directorial, which stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the leading role. She plays Laura Palmer, a wealthy woman, living in a world where the rich are affected by a mysterious virus. Rafe Spall and César Domboy star alongside Winstead in key supporting roles.

Rich Flu (2025) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia directed the film from a script he co-wrote with Pedro Rivero, Sam Steiner, and David Desola. It is set in a world where rich people empty their fortunes for fear of death.

What happens in Rich Flu?

“Rich Flu” follows Laura Palmer (Winstead), a high-powered, filthy-rich executive. She has a strained relationship with her husband Toni (Spall) and their daughter...

“Rich Flu” is a new Spanish-produced live-action thriller, directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead , Lorraine Bracco , Timothy Spall , Rafe Spall , Jonah Hauer-King , César Domboy , Richard Sammel , Dixie Egerickx and Alexandra Masangkay, releasing internationally January 24, 2025 in theaters:

“…explores how far people would go to save themselves, when the wealth that made the world go round…

“…then becomes its most dangerous commodity…

“…after a strange disease threatens to kill anyone with any sort of ‘fortune’…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rafe Spall, Timothy Spall, Lorraine Bracco, Dixie Egerickx | Written by David Desola, Sam Steiner | Directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

The new film from Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, who made Netflix horror hit The Platform, Rich Flu is an English language Contagion-esque thriller about a deadly virus that only affects the super-rich. Given that intriguing premise, the end result is something of a mixed bag, but it’s not without its moments and it’s solidly anchored by a terrific lead performance.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Laura, a Hollywood executive who’s introduced listening to a series of movie pitches, one of which sounds quite similar to the film we’re actually watching. The last to pitch ends up being her ex-husband Tony (Rafe Spall), who’s unhappy that she’s about to leave Barcelona and relocate to London with their teenage daughter Anna (Dixie Egerickx), and makes...

Back in 2020, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia made his feature directorial debut (after a couple decades of making short films) with the thriller The Platform, which was released through the Netflix streaming service. You can read my very positive review of that film at This Link, but the gist of it is that I was very impressed and was left eager to see what Gaztelu-Urrutia would make next. He was assembling a film called Rich Flu before the strikes last year, but it turns out that the next movie we’ll see from him is a sequel to his debut, The Platform 2. This one will also be heading out into the world courtesy of Netflix – and the streamer will be releasing the film on October 4th, helping kick off the Halloween season. With that date just a couple of weeks away, Netflix has shared a clip from the film, and that can...

"Beyond Fest announces its 2024 festival slate including the World Premiere of Salem’S Lot, a Very Special Screening of Devara: Part 1, International Premiere of Toho’s My Hero Academia: You’Re Next, West Coast Premieres of The Brutalist in 70mm with Brady Corbet, Palme d’Or winner Anora with Sean Baker and Mikey Madison, Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3 and in-person event screenings with filmmakers Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Sam Raimi, Tarsem Singh, Jennifer Kent, Guy Maddin, Shane Black, icons Al Pacino, Kyle MacLachlan, Sarah Paulson, Ron Perlman, and a 30th Anniversary Speed reunion with stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock and director Jan de Bont."

Los Angeles, CA 12th September 2024 - Beyond Fest, the biggest and highest-attended genre film festival in the US, is excited to announce its complete slate of 2024 programming comprising 82 features, including 16 World Premieres, 4 International Premieres, 1 North American Premiere,...

Jonah Hauer-King, who recently captured Ariel’s heart in the live-action reimagining of “The Little Mermaid,” will play a troubled member of a literary family in “The Eden Express.” The film is produced by Scythia Films in collaboration with Good Question Media, and is written and will be directed by Daniel Cockburn.

Hauer-King takes the lead role of Mark Vonnegut, the son of science-fiction author Kurt Vonnegut. The film follows his 1970 quest, alongside his girlfriend Virge and a group of friends. to escape Nixon’s America to find a better way of life on a British Columbia commune. It’s a place they hope will be an “Eden” on Earth. However, as this new utopia comes into focus, Mark starts to hear voices and see visions that give him ominous instructions, marking the start of his journey with bipolar disorder. “The Eden Express” is based on Mark Vonnegut’s memoir of the same name.

The Toronto International Film Festival will be placing an ever larger emphasis on the international in its name.

Outlined to Variety by Toronto chief programming officer Anita Lee, the move comes in response to the emergence of younger audiences driving the post-pandemic box office rebound, reshaping audience tastes in both U.S. independent cinemagoing and at film festivals.

“Our festival audiences have become younger, and younger audiences are coming out for the non-English international arthouse films,” Lee told Variety, adding it was Toronto’s “biggest growth and shift” in audience attendance.

Drivers for this evolution abound, Lee said, such as the fact that audiences are consuming more international content. In the last few years, a new breed of “crossover or slightly more accessible international arthouse films” has emerged, she added, citing Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness.” “That’s on the rise. There’s more industry attention to films which could work in this way,...

Back in 2020, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia made his feature directorial debut (after a couple decades of making short films) with the thriller The Platform, which was released through the Netflix streaming service. You can read my very positive review of that film at This Link, but the gist of it is that I was very impressed and was left eager to see what Gaztelu-Urrutia would make next. He was assembling a film called Rich Flu before the strikes last year, but it turns out that the next movie we’ll see from him is a sequel to his debut, The Platform 2. This one will also be heading out into the world courtesy of Netflix – and the streamer has just revealed that they will be releasing the film on October 4th, helping kick off the Halloween season. Along with the release date comes the unveiling of a trailer for The Platform 2,...

Back in 2020, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia made his feature directorial debut (after a couple decades of making short films) with the thriller The Platform, which was released through the Netflix streaming service. You can read my very positive review of that film at This Link, but the gist of it is that I was very impressed and was left eager to see what Gaztelu-Urrutia would make next. He was assembling a film called Rich Flu before the strikes last year, but it turns out that the next movie we’ll see from him is a sequel to his debut, The Platform 2. This one will also be making its way out into the world through Netflix, and today a pair of first look images have arrived online to give us a glimpse at what The Platform 2 has in store for us. You can take a look at those at the bottom of this article.

Exclusive: Vince Vaughn (Bad Monkey) will topline Nonnas, an original comedy that Stephen Chbosky (Wonder) has been tapped to direct for Fifth Season (80 for Brady), 1Community (Just Mercy) and Madison Wells (The Eyes of Tammy Faye).

Among those joining Vaughn in the film, which wrapped production last month in New Jersey, are Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon (Blue Beetle) and Academy Award nominees Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas), Talia Shire (Megalopolis) and Brenda Vaccaro (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Others in the cast include Emmy nominee Linda Cardellini (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Emmy winner Drea De Matteo (The Sopranos), Joe Manganiello (The Kill Room), Michael Rispoli (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) and Campbell Scott (Jurassic World Dominion).

Written by Liz Maccie, Nonnas is based on the true story of Brooklyn native Joe Scaravella (Vaughn), who, after losing his beloved mother, realizes he’s wasted...

Mary Elizabeth Winstead is set to star opposite Ewan McGregor in Showtime and Paramount+’s upcoming limited series A Gentleman in Moscow, an adaptation of Amor Towles’ bestselling novel.

A Gentleman in Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov (McGregor) who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol, threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love.

Winstead will play Anna Urbanova,...

Last year, we heard that Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) would be starring in The Platform director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s virus thriller Rich Flu, and would be joined in the cast by Daniel Brühl (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Macaulay Culkin (American Horror Story). Pike, Brühl, and Culkin have since all had to depart the project due to scheduling issues – but Deadline reports that Rich Flu is now filming, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) taking over the role that once belonged to Pike.

In the cast with Winstead are Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).

Spencer and Jackie director Pablo Larraín is producing Rich Flu with Juan de Dios Larraín, through their Fabula banner. Gaztelu-Urrutia is also producing the film,...

After a complete overhaul of its cast, the satirical thriller Rich Flu is in production. The film will now star Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lorraine Bracco, and father-and-son duo Timothy and Rafe Spall. Deadline reports that Rich Flu is now filming in Barcelona, Fuerteventura (in the Canary Islands), and Senegal. The film will chronicle a deadly disease that first targets the ultra-rich, then begins making its way down the economic ladder until anyone with any kind of wealth is at risk; the plot will center around the desperate efforts of people to dispose of the wealth they once desperately tried to accrue.

Exclusive: The cast of thriller Rich Flu has been set with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Star Wars: Ahsoka), Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).

Filming has been taking place in Barcelona, Fuerteventura, and Senegal on the movie, which heralds from Pablo Larraín and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula banner, producers of Spencer, Jackie and No.

Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales and has the project available to buyers at this week’s EFM in Berlin. CAA Media Finance and XYZ Films are co-repping domestic.

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia (The Platform) is directing from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, David Desola and Sam Steiner.

Also producing are Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls via their Nostromo Pictures banner; Carlos Juárez...

Mario Casas, one of Spain’s biggest film and TV stars, and Goya Award winner actress Anna Castillo, will headline “Escape,” the new film by writer-director Rodrigo Cortés.

Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.

Nostromo announced the new film project after completing an intense 2022, in which the company lensed seven films and released two more titles – Marçal Forés’ “Through My Window” and Oriol Paulo’s “God’s Crooked Lines” – both achieving a standout global reach.

“Escape’s” story turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever it takes to get there, raising questions such as if those who care about him will get to stop him from committing increasingly serious crimes and how far will the judge go to not grant him his proposal.

Exclusive: Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) has signed on to star alongside Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope in the upcoming Warhol-Basquiat film The Collaboration, based on the acclaimed play by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, which heads into production in Boston in September.

The Collaboration revolves around the relationship between the two iconic artists, starting in the summer of 1984. International superstar Andy Warhol (Bettany) and the art scene’s newest wunderkind, Jean-Michel Basquiat (Pope), agree to work together on what may be the most talked about exhibition in the history of modern art. But can these two creative giants co-exist with such opposing views of life and art?

Brühl has been tapped for the role of Bruno Bischofberger, the legendary art impresario who first suggested a series of collaborations between Basquiat and Warhol,...

Daniel Brühl, Macaulay Culkin and Rosamund Pike have joined the cast of the pandemic thriller “Rich Flu.”

The film will be directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia. and David Desola, with revisions by Sam Steiner.

The synopsis for “Rich Flu” is as follows: a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively…. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants. How far would you go to save your skin when the wealth that made the world go round suddenly becomes its most dangerous commodity?

Also...

Actors Daniel Bruhl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutias pandemic themed thriller ‘Rich Flu’. They will be starring opposite Rosamund Pike, who had previously been announced as the lead, reports ‘Variety’. Cameras are now set to roll this fall on the high-concept social thriller in which a deadly disease […]...

Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s pandemic themed thriller “Rich Flu.”

They will be starring opposite Rosamund Pike, who had previously been announced as the lead.

Cameras are now set to roll this fall on the high-concept social thriller in which a deadly disease starts killing off the richest people on the planet. At first it strikes the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires, and so on.

With the whole world panicking and headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets they no longer want, in hopes of saving their skin.

“Rich Flu” will be the second feature for Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, whose 2019 directorial debut “The Platform” was awarded best film, and best F/X at the Sitges’ Intl. Fantastic Film Festival.

“The Platform” was first released theatrically in Spain in 2019 and subsequently dropped on Netflix globally in early 2020 and...

Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of the Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia directed thriller, Rich Flu, which we told you about back at EFM with Rosamund Pike attached to star. Production is expected to start in the fall.

In the film, a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants.

Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia, and David Desola wrote the screenplay with revisions by Sam Steiner. Sierra/Affinity is handling foreign sales and has the project available to buyers at this year’s Cannes Film Market.

Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav hails ”passionate and committed steward of the world’s most formidable creative engine”.

Ann Sarnoff, the WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group chairman and CEO, will exit the company when the 43bn Discovery merger is completed, which is expected to be this month.

Sarnoff led Warner Bros as its first female CEO since June 2019 in light of Kevin Tsujihara’s departure and had the unenviable task of shepherding the studio through the pandemic.

Sarnoff’s remit included oversight of Warner Bros Pictures Group, HBO and HBO Max, Warner Bros Television, DC, WB Animation, TBS, TNT,...

Jordan Hoffman to serve as 2022 chairperson.

The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) has planted a flag in the ground for next awards season and will stage its annual gala awards winner on January 4 2023.

The group also announced on Tuesday (April 5) that Jordan Hoffman will serve as the 2022 chairperson of the NYFCC and Stephen Garrett will continue as the group’s general manager.

The recent season’s ceremony, after a delay due to the pandemic, saw former US vice president Al Gore present best documentary to Flee, Martin Scorsese present best director to eventual Oscar winner Jane Campion for The Power of The Dog,...

Buyers flock to genre slate starring Gerard Butler, Rosamund Pike, Julia Stiles.

Sierra/Affinity has reported a strong response to its EFM genre sales slate and has closed key territories on Rosamund Pike thriller Rich Flu, action thriller Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera starring Gerard Butler and Orphan: First Kill, the prequel to Dark Castle horror film Orphan.

Buyers on Rich Flu include Square One for Germany, Sun Distribution Group for Latin America, Originals Factory for France, Scanbox for Scandinavia, Watcha for South Korea, and Cai Chang for Taiwan.

In other deals the thriller has gone in Switzerland (Ascot...