Filming has started on Operation TAP, Netflix’s first feature film made in Portugal. The production comes from SPi, the international arm of SP Televisão, and is loosely inspired by the 1980 hijacking of a TAP Air Portugal plane.
What the film is
Directed by João Nuno Pinto, known for Mosquito and 18 Holes to Paradise, the film stars Rui Pedro Silva, Afonso Pimentel and Victoria Guerra. The plot follows a 16-year-old who hijacks a Madrid-bound flight and demands US$10 million. Instead of ending as a pure crime thriller, the night of tension becomes a story about empathy and the human connections between hijacker and hostages.
The screenplay is written by Pedro Lopes, Miguel Rico and Marina Preguiça Ribeiro. Lopes, whose credits include SPi’s Glória and Codex 632, was named chief creative and strategy officer at SPi in late June.
Why it matters for streaming
This is not Netflix’s first Portuguese project. SPi produced Glória, the streamer’s first Portuguese original series, which premiered in 2021. Moving from a single series to a first feature signals that Portugal is a market Netflix wants to build rather than sample. For media planners and entertainment marketers, local originals are inventory that carries both acquisition and retention weight: they give a market a reason to subscribe and a reason to stay.
The creative positioning also matters. A hijack story could be sold as a high-concept thriller, but the producers are foregrounding empathy and human connection. That may give Netflix a local campaign angle that does not rely purely on genre spectacle, and it could travel beyond Portugal to Portuguese-speaking audiences.
The production pipeline
- 2021: Glória — Netflix’s first Portuguese original series, produced by SPi.
- Now: Operation TAP — Netflix’s first Portuguese film.
- Coproductions: Codex 632 with RTP and Brazil’s Globoplay; Vanda with Legendary Entertainment and Spain’s La Panda; Cold Haven with Iceland’s Glassriver, selected for Berlinale Series Market Selects 2026.
SPi’s slate suggests the strategic value is less about one film and more about the production house’s ability to connect Portuguese storytelling to international partners. If Operation TAP works, it strengthens SPi as a go-to regional producer for streamers looking to localise in southern Europe and the Portuguese-speaking world.
What to watch
Three benchmarks for our readers:
- Track how Netflix positions Operation TAP in Portugal versus Brazil and other Lusophone markets.
- Compare its audience behavior with Glória to see whether film titles deepen local engagement faster than series.
- Watch whether the empathy-led campaign angle outperforms a straight crime-thriller pitch in paid social and trailer cut-downs.
For media planners, the practical takeaway is to model Portugal not as a standalone market but as part of a Portuguese-language cluster, especially when the producer’s roster already includes Brazil’s Globoplay. The risk is assuming a local title stays local; the opportunity is buying into a regional content pipeline early.
Source: C21media
