On the same stage where Bob Barker presided over “The Price Is Right,” “Squid Game” is coming to life.
On Wednesday, Netflix will present its latest live-action experience, based on the hit dystopian show in which desperate South Koreans competed in a brutal competition of simple school games for a prize of 45.6 billion won (about $38 million). The winners approached the money. The losers died. The live attraction mimics both the series' popular iconography (the huge piggy bank full of cash, a giant animatronic doll named Young-hee, the sterile white bedroom) and the children's games.
For $30, “Squid Game” fans will compete in about 70 minutes of gameplay, with moral twists and six group activities, including the Red Light schoolyard race, Green Light and a non-lethal version of the terrifying game of the series. Glass Bridge Challenge, which required contestants to choose between two clear squares for each step across a bridge. If they chose incorrectly, they descended hundreds of feet to their death.
To feel even more like a character from the show, customers can purchase a tracksuit for $50 and wear it throughout the experience. There's also a $100 VIP ticket option: in a nod to the original, you can watch the unfortunate masses compete in the games while sipping cocktails in a stylish lounge.
“It's all the fun without the death,” said Greg Lombardo, director of live experiences at Netflix.
Netflix plans to expand the live experience to other cities, but no additional locations have been confirmed. It is one of several adaptations of “The Squid Game” that Netflix has planned in hopes of keeping viewers interested during the long gap between the show's first season, which debuted in September 2021, and the second, which It is being filmed in South Korea and will be released. next year.
One is an unscripted English-language competition show, “Squid Game: The Challenge.” Its first five episodes debuted on November 22 and a second batch became available on Wednesday; The final episode will arrive on Wednesday.
A video game will also arrive soon in which players will be able to compete with characters from the series. A virtual reality game is now available and in Brazil, Burger King is offering “Squid Game”-themed meal combos in four cities. (Want an umbrella-shaped onion ring to go with that smoothie?)
The brand's ramifications follow a formula that Netflix has successfully employed for other popular shows, such as “Bridgerton” and “Stranger Things.” A “Stranger Things” play that the streaming service helped develop will premiere in London's West End on December 14.
However, the expansion of intellectual property like the “Squid Game” brand is receiving increased scrutiny in Hollywood. In recent years, the closest an entertainment studio could get to a sure thing was a franchise spin-off of a popular intellectual property: a movie begets a sequel, begets a theme park attraction, begets a line of consumer products. Now a certain fatigue has set in among the audience.
Marvel movies like “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels” struggled at the box office. The recent Harry Potter spinoff, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” and the DC Comics movie “The Flash” also underperformed. The industry has been forced to ask itself: what deserves attention in franchising and when is too much?
“I would say that, in general, when you have intellectual property, if you do too much of something, that can dilute what it is,” Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said in an interview. “The other thing we look at is: Are you staying true to the DNA of the show and why people loved it, but expanding on that connection?”
The reasons why Netflix is trying to expand “The Squid Game” are obvious. Not only is it the most-watched show on the platform, but unauthorized merchandise from the game, including tracksuits and Young-hee dolls, began selling almost immediately after its debut. Netflix is now working with two global partners to meet the demand for green sportswear, especially around Halloween.
Influencers have also taken advantage of the show's popularity. Last year, YouTube star MrBeast recruited 456 contestants to compete for $456,000 playing tug-of-war and Red Light, Green Light. The content video generated 112 million views in the first five days online.
With that kind of interest in an outside version of a real-life “Squid Game,” Netflix decided it was the right time to try to capitalize with a reality show of its own, but in English, so as not to confuse the public.
“I was very curious how people would react to those games, the situations, the moral dilemmas,” said Minyoung Kim, Netflix's head of Asian content, responsible for bringing the South Korean show to the service.
Still, some wonder if a reality show based on the South Korean filmmaker Hwang Dong HyukThe bleak vision he has of his country's class struggles and the global inequalities of modern capitalism should exist.
While “Squid Game: The Challenge” debuted atop Netflix's English-language television chart with 20.1 million views and the original show returned to the Top 10, reviews of the reality series have been scathing. Most criticized the 10-episode season for glossing over the broader critique of capitalist culture that is at the heart of the nihilistic series.
“I obviously see it as an attempt to expand and monetize a franchise, but it seems particularly absurd given the anti-capitalist message of the show,” said Miranda Banks, chair of the department of film, television and media studies at Loyola Marymount University.
“'The Squid Game' was a South Korean series and is influenced by the politics of South Korean culture,” he added. “So part of this is not just a translation of the genre, but also a translation of a nation. And in doing so, it is not surprising (and arguably quite amusing) that it becomes a pro-capitalist dream fulfilled.”
The producers of the reality show are aware of the irony. But they said that by getting as close as possible to the original – the same number of contestants (456) and a life-changing amount of prize money ($4.56 million) – they felt they could create compelling television despite what was at stake.
“This was a drama that very much revolved around the fact that the people who were eliminated were killed,” said producer Stephen Lambert. “Obviously we were never going to do that, but having such a big prize meant that when you were eliminated, your dreams died, and they were really big dreams that people had.”
(The filming of the reality show has generated its own drama, with complaints from several contestants about “inhuman” conditions. When asked about the complaints, the producers said in a statement that they “take the well-being of our contestants extremely seriously.”
Still, does allowing fans to play along with a social satire degrade its integrity?
Mrs. Banks doesn't think so.
“I think you probably have fans who are there to hear the social commentary, the drama and the state of the game,” he said. “And then there are the people who love to play. They could be different age groups. It could be different demographics.”
For Marian Lee, Netflix's chief marketing officer, spin-off brands are doing their job – bringing renewed attention to “The Squid Game” – but she recognizes the risks of creating so many versions that depend on the same source.
“We have a hugely popular show that basically captures the cultural zeitgeist of the time, but the doll, the whole iconography, carries over into the unwritten,” she said. “For us as a marketing team, how can we make sure people understand that this is an unscripted version and it's not season two yet? You have to make sure the fans follow you: Oh, this is the unscripted version. Oh, this is the live experience. Oh, season 2 is coming.
“The fandom is there. It's just about making sure we can create different moments for each of those things.”
