10 TV Shows Probably Made Out Of Spite
3. Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho's terrific 2013 sci-fi thriller film Snowpiercer was a moderate commercial success at best despite receiving strong reviews from critics, and in the years that followed failed to break out of its cult niche despite the talented cast and crew involved.
The decision was soon enough made, then, to reboot the IP as a TV series, and after years in development, Snowpiercer finally debuted in 2020 to mixed-positive reviews, before enjoying greater acclaim in its recent second season.
One suspects the feeling among Snowpiercer's rights holders was that the branding was rich and interesting, but because of the "one-inch tall subtitles barrier" that Bong talked about while accepting an Oscar for Parasite, the South Korean thriller begged to be reimagined in the English language.
And given its episodic potential, a TV series made more commercial sense than a mere Hollywood movie remake.
This isn't to say that the Snowpiercer series feels like a particularly lazy or cynical exercise overall, but simply that it speaks to a wider frustration that non-English language films still struggle to score the mass audiences they deserve.