International buyers are mad for Hope.
Na Hong-Jin’s sci-fi monster movie, a highlight of the Cannes Film Festival this year, has all but sold out worldwide, securing pre-sale deals in 200 territories worldwide.
Studio divisions Focus Features and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions picked up the film for select international territories, with Focus, together with UPI France, acquiring rights for France, Benelux and South Africa; and SPWA taking Portugal, Scandinavia, Iceland, Israel and the Middle East.
Other major international territorial deals include with Japan’s Gaga, CIS’ The World Pictures, Eastern Europe’s Unicorn Media and India’s Star Ent. Neon acquired Hope for North America, the U.K. and Australia ahead of Cannes and Mubi pre-bought multiple territories, including Germany, Spain, Italy and Latin America.
Plus M Entertainment, which is handling worldwide sales on the title, said the pre-sales deals for Hope have set an all-time record for a Korean title, noting the film has already recouped “nearly half” of its net production budget before theatrical release. For several of the distributors, Hope is their first-ever Korean film acquisition.
Hope follows Bum-seok (The Wailing star Hwang Jung-min), chief of police in the small town of Hope Harbor, a South Korean outpost located near the Demilitarized Zone, which comes under attack from strange, otherworldly creatures. Zo In-sung and Hoyeon co-star with show-stopping cameos from Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell.
The film was an audience and critical favorite in Cannes. The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney called it a “rip-roaring sci-fi creature feature” with “cult classic written all over it.”
International buyers clearly hope that have a money maker on their hands, though the film’s original running length, clocking in at 2 hours and 40 minutes, could make it a programming challenge for some distributors. Na Hong-Jin has set up the film as the first in a possible franchise.
Hope is set for release in Korea this summer followed by a North American rollout in the fall and subsequent releases worldwide.
