'D-War,' once panned as a flop, ranks No. 6 globally on Netflix — and a sequel may be coming

"D-War," the 2007 film by director Shim Hyung-rae, is staging a surprise comeback on Netflix nearly two decades after its release — and Shim has announced plans to begin production on a sequel this year.

According to FlixPatrol, a global OTT rankings tracker, "D-War" climbed to No. 6 on Netflix's worldwide film chart on Monday.

The film reached as high as No. 2 in the film category on Netflix in major European countries including Germany, France and Italy, and appeared on charts in 20 countries.

"D-War" is a science-fiction fantasy film directed by comedian Shim. It draws on the Korean folk legend of the imugi — a serpentine creature — and depicts a battle between monsters over a mystical orb set against the backdrop of Los Angeles.

Critical reception was sharply divided. Reviewers repeatedly faulted the plot for lacking coherence and criticized its computer graphics and direction, earning it near-universal panning as a cinematic failure.

At the same time, the film cultivated a patriotic fandom among Korean audiences who took pride in seeing a domestic production attempt a blockbuster-scale monster film. It drew about 8 million admissions in South Korea upon release, topping the domestic box office for 2007.

The film's recent surge up the Netflix rankings is widely attributed to its addition to the platform on Thursday rather than any reassessment of its artistic merits.

However, overseas viewers remain largely unimpressed. On the German film portal Filmstarts, "D-War" holds an audience score of 1.7 out of 5, while on the French review site AlloCiné it scores just 1.2.

The production budget for "D-War" was about 30 billion won ($21.2 million). Shim was sued on fraud charges after failing to repay loans taken out to finance the film, but was cleared when he demonstrated an intent to repay. In 2011, he filed for personal bankruptcy after being unable to settle debts of 17.9 billion won accumulated through film production and other activities, and was granted relief from most of those obligations.

Shim has said through multiple media outlets in recent weeks that he plans to hold a production announcement event for "D-War 2" before the end of the year and move forward with the project in earnest.