Rights to “I, The Executioner,” which will premiere as a Midnight Screening at the Cannes Film Festival this year, have been picked up by South Korea’s CJ ENM.
The crime-action film directed by Ryu Seung-wan (also written Ryoo Seung-wan) is a sequel to Ryu’s 2015 hit “Veteran” and in Korea goes by the title “Veteran 2.”
Few details of the story have yet been disclosed, but CJ describes the film as “combining Ryu’s trademark action with observations and messages about social change.” Ryu last year enjoyed major box office success with crime comedy “Smugglers.”
Hwang Jung-min, who recently enjoyed box office success in “12.12: The Day,” reprises his role from “Veteran.” He is joined in the sequel by Jung Hae-in (“Tune in for Love”) as a new member of the film’s Violent Crime Investigation Squad.
“I, The Executioner” was produced by Filmmaker R & K, the production shingle owned by Ryu and his wife Kang Hae-jung, with CJ ENM as financier and local and international distributor. CJ ENM expects to give the film a theatrical release in South Korea at an unspecified date in the second half of the year.
The original “Veteran” had its international premiere in a sidebar of the 2015 Toronto festival, was named best film at the Sitges genre festival in Spain. It earned over $85 million at the South Korean box office.
“Ferrari” director Michael Mann is working with CJ ENM to develop an American-set remake of “Veteran.” If it materializes, the retread is likely to come after Mann’s “Heat 2.”
Cannes has an extensive track record of programming Korean genre films in its Official Selection, with previous crowd-pleasers including Kim Jee-woon’s “Cobweb” and “The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” Han Jae-rim’s “Emergency Declaration” and a trip of titles by Na Hong-jin, “The Chaser,” “The Yellow Sea” and “The Wailing.”
The CJ ENM cluster, which now also encompasses TV production powerhouses Fifth Season and Studio Dragon, has seen its films selected for Cannes in almost every year since 2016. These have included: Park Chan-wook’s “The Handmaiden”; Byun Sung-hyun’s “The Merciless” in 2017; “The Spy Gone North” in 2018; 2019 Palme d’Or winner “Parasite”; Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Broker” and Park’s “Decision to Leave,” both in 2022; and “Project Silence” last year.
“We are honored to be able to introduce ‘I, The Executioner,’ to filmmakers and audiences around the world at the Cannes Film Festival,” said Jerry Ko, head of film. “CJ, which has been building network and infrastructure, and early on broadened its horizons to the global market, is very happy to be able to once again promote the status of Korean cinema to the world.”
