Lee Jung-Jae, the leading man in “Squid Game,” reportedly made millions from his role in the global smash and record-breaking Netflix blockbuster.
According to the South China Morning Post, Lee was paid 300 million won ($253,600) every episode for his role as down-on-his-luck gambling addict Seong Gi-hun, a.k.a. Player 456, in the first season of “Squid Game.”
The 48-year-old actor earned $2.2 million for the first nine episodes of the series, ranking him sixth among the top seven highest-paid TV actors in South Korea this year. Kim Soo-Hyun, who reportedly earned $3.4 million for his newest TV drama, “One Ordinary Day,” is at the top of the list. Bloomberg reported, using internal papers, that “Squid Game,” which purportedly cost $21 million to make, brought Netflix more than $900 million in revenue.
Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show’s creator, told The Guardian that despite the show’s success, he did not make a lot of money and that Netflix paid him the amount specified in the contract.
According to Bloomberg, Netflix offered “Squid Game’s” production crew and cast members one-time bonuses after the show’s popularity. The sum was less than what the stars of HBO’s “Succession” were paid for a single episode, according to the report.
According to a 2020 story from The Hollywood Reporter, citing unknown sources, several “Succession” actors were earning around $300,000 to $350,000 each episode for the third season.
According to Bloomberg, Netflix’s economic model differs from that of conventional movie and television studios, where actors and filmmakers are paid a percentage of the profits from a film or television show.
Netflix, according to reports, expects the project will be successful and overpays upfront.
According to the research, the easiest method for Netflix to reward filmmakers is to pay them more for successive seasons.
Netflix has just announced that “Squid Game” will be renewed for a second season.
According to Bloomberg, the cast and crew of the blockbuster series are in line for a significant rise now that the next installment has been confirmed.
After reaching 111 million views less than a month after its September release, “Squid Game” became Netflix’s most-watched show. The show follows a group of people who are heavily in debt and compete in a series of deadly children’s games in order to win a large financial prize.
“Arcane,” a Netflix animated series based on the “League of Legends,” eventually dethroned “Squid Game.”