There are seven spectacular Korean blockbuster movies coming to North America this year

Several Korean blockbuster films are headed to North American theaters. A follow-up to South Korea’s epic action war movie The Admiral: Roaring Currents, the most-watched and highest-grossing movie in Korean cinema, Hansan: Rising Dragon was released in the U.S. in 2015.

We take a look at some other Korean blockbusters that are hitting the big screens in North America. With Hunt, Lee Jung-Jae, the Screen Actors Guild winner and Emmy Award nominee who played the surviving contest winner in the hit Netflix K-drama Squid Game, makes his directorial debut.

In addition, Lee also stars alongside Jung Woo-sung, an executive producer of the Netflix science fiction K-drama hit The Silent Sea, and a close friend, and fellow Korean film star.

During its Cannes preview screening in May, the pulsating spy thriller received a standing ovation for a 7-minute span and followed two Korean Central Intelligence Agency agents (Seo-Jung and Lee), who were trying to find a mole and viewed each other as prime suspects.

The director, who also co-wrote the screenplay, told Newsweek ahead of the film’s release that he wanted the antagonists to feel that “they see themselves in each other, despite their clashing opposites,” and that he hoped the two would merge as one.

South Korea will release Hunt on August 10 before screening it at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Despite the film’s U.S. release being in the pipeline, its exact release date has yet to be determined, the distributor told Newsweek.

As an unknown virus forms the backdrop of this gripping drama, a mysterious South Korean man encounters an unprecedented crisis situation on a flight to Hawaii. The heart-pounding thriller, which was viewed at the Cannes Film Festival before being postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, features nail-biting near-misses and chaotic scenes of screaming passengers.

Song Kang-ho (the veteran Parasite actor) plays a police sergeant in the film, and Lee Byung-hun (the actor who played Front Man in Squid Game) plays a passenger. In the film’s most poignant scene, Jae-hyuk (played by Lee) says the words that reflect today’s world.

There is a great deal of shock and horror surrounding everything happening right now. We’re caught up in a catastrophe that no one wanted…” he says. Ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, director Han Jae-rim wrote the screenplay, completed casting, and prepared to start shooting Emergency Declaration. The film will be released in North American theaters on August 12.

Alienoid

It has been many years since aliens kept their prisoners inside human bodies. This is the tale of Choi Dong-hoon’s Star Wars-style blockbuster Alienoid, the first in a two-part series. Starring Kim Woo-bin (who appeared in Netflix’s Our Blues last year) as a time traveler who manages alien prisoners,

Kim Tae-Ri (who won a BAFTA for The Handmaiden) and Ryu Jun-yeol (from A Taxi Driver) is the sci-fi fantasy film’s swordsman. 630 years ago, during the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) on the Korean peninsula, sorcerers attempted to capture a legendary sword that could move time and space. Upon colliding, chaos ensues. On August 26, Alienoid will be released in North American theaters.

Decision to Leave

The decision to Leave is the latest work by Park Chan-wook, the visionary Korean filmmaker behind the BAFTA-winning The Handmaiden and the noir action thriller Oldboy.  In May 2022, Park won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival, where Decision to Leave was also nominated for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

In the film, Tang Wei is paired with Hansan: Rising Dragon’s Park Hae-il (also known as The Host and Memories of Murder director Bong). During the investigation of the death of a man in the mountains, Hae-jun (played by Park) develops conflicting feelings about Seo-race, the mysterious wife of the deceased (played by Tang). In the U.S., the decision to leave will be announced on October 14.

The Ghost Station

This film adaptation is based on the Korean webtoon Ok-so Station Ghost, which describes a ghostly lady at a train station. Director Jeong Yong-ki wrote the screenplay with Hiroshi Takahashi, who wrote the screenplay for The Ring, the 1998 Japanese supernatural horror thriller, and its 2005 sequel Ring 2.

When investigating a mysterious murder at Ok-so train station a month earlier, a young reporter (played by Kim Bo-ra from Sky Castle on Netflix) discovers a horrifying truth. Well, Go USA Entertainment acquired the North American distribution rights for Alienoid, Emergency Declaration, and previous major Korean movie hit such as Train to Busan and Burning. According to Newsweek, no exact release date has been announced for the movie.

Gangnam Zombie

This zombie thriller starring Park Ji-Yeon and Ji Il-Joo (from Hello, My Twenties! on Netflix) takes place in Gangnam, a wealthy neighborhood in Seoul that becomes a center of chaos overnight.

As the survivors attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse, they begin to experience terrifying symptoms that turn them into strange creatures. As part of the acquisition, Well Go USA also acquired North American rights for Gangnam Zombie. There is no exact date for its theatrical release yet, according to the film’s company.

The Assassin

An action film set during the Joseon Dynasty, one of the Korean peninsula’s longest and most powerful dynasties, follows the final mission of the dynasty’s greatest assassin. SBS and other Korean media reported that veteran Korean actor Shin Hyun-Joon plays an assassin who meets an unavoidable fate after crossing paths with a former swordsman and village leader (played by Lee Moon-Shik).

Its exact theatrical release date has yet to be confirmed, but Well Go USA has acquired the North American rights.

Robert Poirrer

Robert Poirrer is a contributing author who covers Hollywood latest movie releases and web series for the MovieThop website. He has a decade of experience in writing movies based articles for numerous renowned media outlets. He is excellent at creating unique content based on emerging trends in a variety of categories especially entertainment, movies and lifestyle. When not writing articles you could find Robert enjoying mountain biking trips with his friends. He graduated in English Literature from North Carolina State University.