Mango film success surprisingly tops the Netflix worldwide chart
The film, shot on location in the Axarquía, is at the top of the streaming platform's non-English language list, along with Javier Castillo's adaptation of The Crystal Cuckoo in the series category
La Axarquía is going to have to name Netflix as its honorary streaming platform. For the second time this year, a production shot in this area is number one worldwide on the all-powerful American streaming service's most-watched list. Back in August, the series Two Graves, from the creators of the Carmen Mola brand, a thriller about the disappearance of girls set in Frigiliana, was a smash hit both in Spain and abroad. Now it's the heartwarming and romantic film Mango that has spent two weeks at the top of the list of non-English language films with a story of overcoming adversity amid the organic fruit plantations of Vélez-Málaga.
Without much fanfare, the Danish director of Iranian origin, Mehdi Avaz, has once again demonstrated his status as king of European romantic comedy, captivating international audiences with the emotional depth he established in A Wonderful Life (2023) and, particularly, In Tuscany (2022), which explored the clash of cultures through an intense love story played out in the warm Italian countryside. This same formula has been transferred to the Axarquia area with this film, Mango, which follows a hotel chain executive who arrives in Malaga with the intention of convincing a compatriot - a retired lawyer-turned-farmer facing financial difficulties - to convert his coastal mango plantation into a luxury resort.
With a touch of drama, Avaz's film has once again made waves among Netflix viewers, accumulating over 16 million views in two weeks. It has topped the global list of most-watched non-English language films on the platform, ahead of Bollywood film, Baramulla, and Brazilian film, The Eloá Case: A Kidnapping Live. Furthermore, Mango has seen spectacular audience growth, increasing views by 86% in its second week compared to its premiere.
By region, the film set in Malaga has swept the board in its country of production, Denmark, where the fame of its protagonists, Josephine Park (The Nurse) and the international actor of Iraqi origin Dar Salim (Game of Thrones), has prevailed from the start, as well as in neighbouring Norway, Uruguay and the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where it has also reached number one.
In Spain, not so much
The appealing blend of drama and comedy in Mango has also earned it a place in the top ten in almost 50 countries, while in Spain, paradoxically, it has had more modest results, reaching only fourth place among Netflix's most-streamed films. The worldwide success of the film set in La Axarquía has coincided with that of the series based on the novel by Javier Castillo from Malaga, The Crystal Cuckoo, which has completed its first week at number one for series in Spain and is in sixth place worldwide for non-English language fiction.
The filming of Mango was directed by Malaga-based production services company, Anima Stillking, also responsible for shooting the Spanish locations for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon.
Filmed entirely in the Axarquia area in late summer 2024, coinciding with the mango harvest season, the main location for the Netflix film was a secluded and discreet estate in Benamocarra belonging to the Eurofresh company, where its 40-year-old organic mango groves provided both the backdrop and narrative for the romantic plot orchestrated by box-office hitmaker Mehdi Avaz. The Vélez airfield and, once again, the charming and hilly town of Frigiliana, where Two Graves was set, also played a leading role in this production. The film's success is testament to the Malaga-based production services company, Anima Stillking (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon), which oversaw filming and location-scouting and supplemented the Danish crew with technicians and personnel from Malaga and Andalucía.
Produced by Drive Studios, in association with Rocket Road Pictures and Nordisk Film Distribution, the success of Mango on Netflix's global schedule has provided worldwide exposure and a promotional campaign for the Axarquía area, positioning it within the realm of 'screen tourism', which encourages visits to locations featured in blockbuster films and series. This is a growing phenomenon in Malaga, with numerous series seeking not only the province's scenery, but also the uniqueness and identity of the location, as in the recent series The Girlfriend ('La Novia', Amazon Prime Video) and its spectacular scenes in the Cat Cave (Cueva del Gato) , Fate ('La suerte', Disney+) and its portrayal of La Malagueta and the aforementioned Two Graves ('Dos tumbas', Netflix) and its journey from the mountains around Frigiliana to the beaches of Torrox .
