Netflix most popular show Squid Game budget reportedly $21 million, much lower than many other shows
On Tuesday, Netflix reported that the most watched original series on its streaming platform is “Squid Game.” It had 111 million member households that had watched it. “Squid Game” debuted on Netflix on September 17. The streaming platform also said that the South Korean series was the first to cross the 100 million viewer milestone in the first month.
Lucas Shaw reported on Bloomberg that the giant streamer had spent $21.4 million to make nine episodes of the first season of the Korean language series. The outlet said that they had reviewed internal documents but Netflix declined to comment in its accuracy.
According to Variety “Stranger Things” cost $6 million per episode in Season 1 and the costs increased to $8 million per episode in Season 2. Another popular Netflix series “The Crown” had a much higher budget of approximately $10 million per episode. The period drama has been an Emmy favorite, although its viewership is not close to that of Squid Game.
Some of the budgets of the top shows on streaming platforms that cost several times more than “Squid Game” from other streaming platforms according to Business Insider are as follows:
Lord of the Rings–$475 million for Season 1 on Amazon Prime Video
WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier–$25 million per episode on Disney +
The Mandalorian–$15 million per episode on Disney+
The Morning Show–$15 million per episode on Apple TV+.
Earlier, in an exclusive, Variety had reported that Netflix had committed to a budget of $500 million for South Korea. The stupendous success of “Squid Game” could spawn a sequel but director Hwang told the outlet that he did not have “well developed plans for Squid Game 2.” He also said that that he wouldn’t do it alone, if he were to do it. He said that he would consider using a writer’s room and have “multiple experienced directors.” So, a sequel to Squid Games will definitely cross a $21.4 million budget may be several times over, if and when it is made.
Image Credit Netflix
