The Platform 2 Budget

What Is the Budget of The Platform 2 (2024)?

The Platform 2 (2024), directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia and released by Netflix, was produced on an estimated budget of approximately €11,000,000 to €12,000,000 (approximately $12,000,000 to $13,000,000). Neither Netflix nor the Spanish production team publicly disclosed a precise figure, but the budget aligns with the upper tier of Netflix's Spanish-language original film slate alongside Society of the Snow (2023) and Through My Window (2022). The film was produced by Basque Films and Mr Miyagi Films and financed by Netflix as a Spanish-language original.

At approximately €11,000,000 to €12,000,000, The Platform 2 sat significantly above the original 2019 film's reported €2,400,000 (approximately $2,700,000) budget, reflecting the franchise expansion enabled by the streaming success of the original. The increased budget covered an expanded cast, more elaborate practical set construction for the tower-prison environment, a sustained Basque production block leveraging the regional production tax credit, and Netflix's investment in scaling the property into a multi-film franchise.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The Platform 2's estimated €11,000,000 to €12,000,000 budget was distributed across the expanded Spanish-language Netflix original allocation:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Milena Smit, fresh off Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers (2021), took the lead at a top-tier Spanish-cinema rate. Hovik Keuchkerian (La Casa de Papel) and Natalia Tena (Game of Thrones) anchored the supporting cast at internationally recognizable Spanish television rates. Iván Massagué returned briefly to bridge the original. Director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia worked at a sequel-bump rate after the original's breakout, and writers David Desola and Pedro Rivero received Spanish feature-writer rates.
• Basque Country Production Block: Principal photography took place across Basque Country soundstages in Bilbao and surrounding facilities, with the central tower-prison environment built as a vertical practical set across multiple stage floors. The Basque Country regional production tax incentive program (Hacienda Foral) provided substantial credits on qualified Basque labor, anchoring the production's below-the-line economics.
• Production Design and Tower Construction: Production designer Azegiñe Urigoitia anchored the film's expanded tower-prison environment with a deliberate scale-up from the original's contained 333-floor concept. The practical set construction encompassed multiple distinct floor environments, a functional moving platform mechanism that could lower across stage floors, and an expanded community-space sequence requiring multiple set pieces.
• Visual Effects: The film required visual effects for the impossibly long vertical descent shots, the integration of practical and CG floor extensions, and the climactic platform-failure sequence. Multiple Spanish visual effects vendors contributed shots, with the integration line item representing a meaningful share of total production spend compared to the contained practical effects of the original 2019 film.
• Costumes and Specialty Makeup: Costume designer Macarena Soto worked across the film's expanded ensemble cast and the differentiated factional aesthetics that distinguish the new Anointed group from the broader prison population. Specialty makeup, gore effects, and prosthetic work supported the film's violent set pieces, building on the practical-effects DNA established by the original.
• Post-Production and Global Localization: Editing by Haritz Zubillaga and Elena Ruiz, color grading, sound design, and the original score recording were completed in Spain across 2023 and into 2024. Netflix's in-house global localization arm prepared dubs and subtitle tracks across 33-plus languages for the simultaneous worldwide release on October 4, 2024.

How Does The Platform 2's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At approximately €11,000,000 to €12,000,000 (approximately $12,000,000 to $13,000,000), The Platform 2 sits in the upper tier of Netflix's Spanish-language original slate. The comparison set illustrates the broader Spanish-language Netflix economic landscape:

• The Platform (2019): Budget approximately €2,400,000 (approximately $2,700,000) | Worldwide N/A (Netflix). Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's original 2019 film cost approximately one fifth of The Platform 2 and drew approximately 56,000,000 household views in its first 28 days on Netflix, establishing the franchise.
• Society of the Snow (2023): Budget approximately $65,000,000 | Worldwide N/A (Netflix). J.A. Bayona's Andes disaster drama cost approximately five times The Platform 2 and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film, illustrating the upper end of Netflix's Spanish-language original investment.
• Through My Window (2022): Budget approximately $8,000,000 | Worldwide N/A (Netflix). Marçal Forés' Clara Galle-led Spanish YA romance operated at roughly two thirds of The Platform 2's budget on a contained romantic-drama scale and spawned two sequels.
• A Perfect Enemy (2021): Budget approximately $7,000,000 | Worldwide $1,200,000 (limited theatrical). Kike Maíllo's Spanish thriller operated at approximately 60 percent of The Platform 2's budget on a limited theatrical release through Tornasol Films.
• Snowpiercer (2013): Budget approximately $39,000,000 | Worldwide $86,758,912. Bong Joon-ho's English-and-Korean class-system science fiction operated at more than three times The Platform 2's budget on a wider theatrical release and earned a substantially larger worldwide gross, illustrating the contrast between Spanish-language streaming-original and English-Korean theatrical models of the genre.

The Platform 2 Box Office Performance

The Platform 2 was released directly to Netflix on October 4, 2024 as a streaming exclusive, with no theatrical release. The film launched in the platform's 240-territory footprint and immediately entered the Netflix Top 10 chart in 93 countries during its opening weekend, including the No. 1 position in 38 territories.

• Production Budget: approximately €11,000,000 to €12,000,000 (approximately $12,000,000 to $13,000,000)
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): approximately $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 (Netflix global marketing)
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $20,000,000 to $25,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: N/A (Netflix streaming exclusive)
• Net Return: measured in subscriber engagement, not theatrical gross
• ROI: approximately 33,000,000 household views in first 28 days

Netflix reported approximately 33,000,000 household views within the first 28 days of release, placing The Platform 2 among the platform's top non-English-language film launches of 2024. The film hit the No. 1 spot on the Netflix non-English-language film chart for multiple consecutive weeks and remained on the global Top 10 chart through October and into November 2024.

Although the 33,000,000 first-month figure fell well below the original 2019 film's reported 56,000,000 first-month views, the sequel reflected the broader sequel-decay pattern characteristic of Netflix non-English-language franchise extensions. Netflix's strategic positioning emphasized franchise-mass and global engagement-tail value rather than absolute opening-week numbers, with the combined Platform franchise viewership now exceeding 89,000,000 household views across the two films' combined first-month windows.

The Platform 2 Production History

Director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia began developing the sequel to The Platform (2019) in 2020 and 2021, as the original film's streaming success on Netflix made an expansion of the property financially attractive. Writers David Desola and Pedro Rivero, who co-wrote the original, returned to develop the sequel screenplay, expanding the central tower-prison conceit to introduce a new Anointed faction that complicates the food-distribution mechanic established in the first film.

Netflix greenlit the production in 2022 with a substantially expanded budget compared to the original. Principal photography took place across late 2022 and into early 2023 in Spain, primarily on soundstages in Bilbao and the surrounding Basque Country. The Basque Country regional production tax incentive program (Hacienda Foral) provided substantial credits on qualified Basque labor, anchoring the below-the-line economics of the expanded production.

Production design centered on a vertically scaled tower-prison set built across multiple stage floors, with a functional moving platform mechanism that could lower across the vertical environment. The expanded scope required visual effects support for the impossibly long vertical descent shots, the integration of practical and CG floor extensions, and the climactic platform-failure sequence, with multiple Spanish visual effects vendors contributing across the post-production cycle.

Post-production was completed across the second half of 2023 and into 2024, with Netflix targeting the October 4, 2024 streaming launch. The global marketing campaign emphasized the franchise extension, the Milena Smit casting fresh off Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers, and the renewed engagement with the original 2019 film's dystopian-allegory premise. Netflix's 240-territory release supported the immediate global Top 10 placement that defined the opening weekend.

Awards and Recognition

The Platform 2 received modest awards recognition consistent with the Netflix Spanish-language original tier. The film drew Goya Awards consideration in production design, visual effects, and editing categories at Spain's national film awards, building on the original 2019 film's Goya nominations. The film also drew Premios Feroz (Spanish critics' association) consideration in the production design and visual effects categories.

The broader awards landscape did not engage with the title at the major industry ceremonies, including the Academy Awards Best International Feature Film category. The film's legacy within the awards conversation has been concentrated within the Spanish national awards circuit and the broader streaming-original genre community, with the film's value to Netflix measured in subscriber engagement and franchise extension rather than awards-circuit recognition.

Critical Reception

The Platform 2 received mixed reviews. The film holds a 28 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on approximately 60 critic reviews, with a critical consensus that called it "a sequel that lacks the original's sharp allegorical bite." On Metacritic, the film scored 39 out of 100, indicating generally unfavorable reviews.

Critics broadly praised the expanded production design and the scale of the tower-prison practical set, alongside Milena Smit's lead performance. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw called the production design "the film's most clearly realized element," while Variety's Jessica Kiang wrote that the sequel "delivers visual ambition without the conceptual clarity that defined the original."

Critics objected to the screenplay's introduction of the Anointed faction without sufficient narrative development, the conventional third-act resolution, and the dilution of the original's pointed class-system allegory. The mixed critical reception did not impede the film's strong streaming engagement, which validated Netflix's investment in the franchise extension and supported the platform's continued investment in Spanish-language original genre programming.