It’s been greater than three years since faculty scholar Justin Lin binge-watched the primary season of Netflix’s “Squid Game” in two days. Now, he can’t wait till Season 2 launches on Netflix on Dec. 26.
Lin was so excited that he drove from the San Gabriel Valley to Hollywood to don a inexperienced tracksuit and compete towards different followers for a seat on the U.S. premiere.
“It was really exciting — we were all on our heels. We were all on our toes,” Lin stated after he watched the primary episode of the brand new season.
The present, about debt-ridden folks so determined for cash that they compete in lethal video games, stays the most well-liked program on Netflix with greater than 330 million views thus far of its first season. Within the Korean drama’s first 91 days on Netflix, “Squid Game” Season 1 captured 265.2 million views — the most important quantity ever on the platform for any program.
Tom Nunan, a former community and studio govt who teaches at UCLA, thinks the second season may very well be even larger.
“The first season was so beloved,” Nunan stated. “Now you have something that’s an established title. People don’t have to rely on word of mouth. You’re going to deal with the existing fan base worldwide, along with everybody who wants to check it out for the first time.”
Netflix’s viewers can also be larger in comparison with when “Squid Game” launched in September 2021. Again then, Netflix’s subscribers had been practically 214 million members within the third quarter of 2021. It has since grown 32% to greater than 282 million globally.
“I have a lot of confidence that our members who watched Season 1 will definitely love Season 2, and those who actually have not been introduced will find Season 2 will also resonate with them as well,” stated Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s vice chairman of content material for Asia Pacific (not together with India) in an interview final month.
Costumed “Squid Game” guards watch over the group on the premiere of the second season of the Netflix sequence.
(Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/invision/ap)
The second season, a Golden Globe nominee, begins the place “Squid Game” left off, with the primary character on a mission to finish the lethal video games.
Netflix has leaned into its worldwide programming, taking large bets on native tales that resonate in particular international locations and areas. Typically these narratives develop into world hits, like “Squid Game.”
“Squid Game broke records and became our most popular show ever, proving that great stories can come from anywhere,” stated Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content material officer, on stage on the “Squid Game” U.S. premiere earlier this month on the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. “The cultural impact was massive globally.”
The primary season had a price range of $21.4 million or about $2.4 million an episode, in accordance with Bloomberg. Netflix declined to touch upon the budgets for both season, but it surely’s clear the filmmakers had extra assets for the brand new one. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk instructed the Hollywood Reporter: “This time, I was able to fully realize my creative vision, whether it was the set building or CGI. We didn’t have to compromise.”
Netflix has put important advertising {dollars} behind the present, internet hosting fan occasions in cities that included Sydney and Paris. The streamer additionally has partnerships with main manufacturers, together with Puma, which created the tracksuits the contestants put on in Season 2 and are promoting a model of it to followers. Different gadgets embody “Squid Game”-themed Crocs and a restricted version “Red Light: Green Light” beef jerky from Jack Hyperlink’s.
The corporate additionally rolled out a multiplayer sport, “Squid Game: Unleashed,” which is accessible to non-Netflix subscribers for a restricted time period. Netflix introduced Monday that it’ll reward avid gamers who additionally tune in to the present, giving them money or wild tokens within the sport primarily based on the variety of episodes they watch of Season 2.
And naturally, there are the legions of “Squid Game” followers sharing the hype.
“They’ve built a lot of anticipation for it and everyone’s ready for it,” stated Jacqueline Yang, a 28-year-old content material creator primarily based in downtown L.A. who watched all of Season 1 in in the future.
Earlier this month, 1,700 followers, together with Yang, participated in a 4.56K run (a reference to Season 1’s predominant character, Participant 456) that began at L.A. Metropolis School. They got tracksuits just like those on the present.
In the course of the occasion, followers had been requested to decide on to run by means of one in all three giant shapes — a circle, a triangle or a sq. (the symbols that cowl the faces of the masked guards overseeing the present’s video games). Individuals who selected the right image might attend the screening.
Lin and a buddy selected the triangle — the best selection, it turned out.
Yang additionally selected the triangle, however her mom was not so fortunate. The household was separated as Yang’s mom competed in two subsequent video games — “Red Light, Green Light” and the scratching of a lottery ticket — however failed.
And regardless that her mom left the premiere early (Yang’s boyfriend picked her up), she didn’t depart empty-handed; she took residence the tracksuit.
“My mom is like, ‘I guess we have our Halloween costumes for this next year,’” Yang stated.
