Remember Squid Game?
Written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, “Squid Game” made its debut on Netflix on September 17, 2001. It quickly became must-see TV during the pandemic lockdown, Variety reported that Squid Games became a global phenomenon, racking up 1.65 billion hours of streaming in the first four weeks after its release. Eventually, the show became Netflix’s most-watched original show by far, with over 2.2 billion hours viewed.
It must have been an incredible, obvious success from the onset, with studios tripping over each other to buy such a massive, winning concept, right?
Nope.
Dasl Yoon and Timothy W. Martin, wrote in the WSJ that the South Korean survival drama was initially dismissed by the industry as grotesque and unrealistic . . . for over a decade:
“Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk came up with the idea for the show more than a decade ago, while living with his mother and grandmother. He had to stop writing the script at one point: He was forced to sell his $675 laptop for cash.
Back then, potential investors and actors bristled at the brutal killings and implausibility of individuals competing to the death for money…” (emphasisi mine)
It is amazing how many people with experience, expertise and capital passed on funding what would become the most popular worldwide show of the 2020s.1
Credit Netflix for recognizing the dynamic tension and shock value of a game with deadly consequences would have for viewers; add in elements of class struggles and you have a recipe for streaming appeal overlooked by traditional Korean and US studios.
Season Two of Squid Games is coming, and it’s a reminder of how little we know about the future, and how often sheer randomness determines the outcome of events…
Previously:
Nobody Knows Anything, John Wick edition (September 6, 2023)
Forget the iPhone: BlackBerry is still the one to beat (August 24, 2023)
Can Anyone Catch Nokia? (October 26, 2022)
Why the Apple Store Will Fail (May 20, 2021)
“No matter how you cut it, you’ve got to own Cisco” -2000 (May 15, 2023)
Nobody Knows Nuthin’ (May 5, 2016)
Nobody Knows Anything (Collection)
Sources:
Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Is the Dystopian Hit No One Wanted—Until Everyone Did.
By Dasl Yoon and Timothy W. Martin
WSJ, Oct. 4, 2021
‘Squid Game’ Is Decisively Netflix No. 1 Show of All Time With 1.65 Billion Hours Streamed in First Four Weeks, Company Says
By Todd Spangler
Variety , Nov 16, 2021
__________
1: How many writers would keep pursuing their dream of getting a show made in the face of that sort of resistance for over a decade?
A trailer dropped over the weekend for Season 2; I cannot tell if this is real or not (I don’t see it anywhere from an official Netflix source) but it looks pretty convincing…
