Streaming giant Netflix has just announced the release date for its new Korean series ‘The 8 Show’. The thriller series premieres on Netflix worldwide on 17th May, 2024. Netflix revealed the release date for ‘The 8 Show’ with a short teaser cum date announcement video on social media. Have a look at the video shared by Netflix –
Going by the teaser and premise, ‘The 8 Show’ will be a dark and edgy thriller, with psychological drama elements. Based on the webtoon ‘Money Game’, created by Bae Jin Soo, the series follows a group of down-on-luck contestants desperate for money, who are invited to a game show where they must survive 100 days of increasingly dangerous challenges. Whoever makes it will win the massive prize can divide the winning prize of 44.8 billion won equally.
Sounds familiar?
Of course it does!
Coz the premise of ‘The 8 Show’ is eerily similar to Netflix’s monster Korean hit, ‘Squid Game’.
But will The 8 Show be as big for Netflix as Squid Game proved to be?
The answer is yes and no.
Yes, because given audiences’ love for dark and edgy content, coupled with an inherent voyeuristic tendency in humans, The 8 Show has all the elements to make it a hit.
But no, we don’t think The 8 Show will be as successful as Squid Game for Netflix. For one, Squid Game is a singularly unique show whose pathos and ethos cannot be replicated. Secondly, any clone or thereabouts of a blockbuster series is in imminent danger of being compared to the original hit. And the clone is mostly found wanting. Heck, even Squid Game Season 2 has a strong chance of falling flat, only coz of the dreaded “comparison with the first” syndrome.
Whether The 8 Show will find the Squid Game brand of success or not is up in the air as of now. We’ll have to wait until 17th May to find out.
The 8 Show is a thriller series written and directed by Han Jae Rim. The series stars Ryu Joon Yeol (Believer, Taxi Driver), Chun Woo Hee (The Beauty Inside, Be Melodramatic), Park Jung Min (Hellbound), Park Hae Joon (The World of the Married), Bae Sung Woo (The King, Metamorphosis), Moon Jung Hee (Vagabond), Lee Yeol Eum (Nevertheless), Lee Joo Young (Believer 2), among others.
The official Netflix synopsis for The 8 Show series reads – “Eight individuals trapped in a mysterious 8-story building participate in a tempting but dangerous game show where they earn money as time passes”.