A New Path for Korean Cinema: The Korean-Led Hollywood Remake Bugonia

“Cinema is not dead. It's just transforming into different forms.” – Martin Scorsese

At 82 years old, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese reiterated this message when he received the Honorary Golden Bear at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival. At a time when the rise of OTT platforms and advances in artificial intelligence have sparked concern over the future of cinema, his words carried particular weight — likely because they are grounded in countless experiences and examples from his own long career.

This brings to mind Bugonia, which was released in Korea on November 5. The film is a remake of director Jang Joon-hwan’s feature debut Save the Green Planet! (2003), made 22 years ago when he was still a newcomer. Premiering in the competition section of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival last August, it was introduced to audiences worldwide for the first time there. The word “bugonia” refers to an ancient Greek ritual based on the belief that bees could spontaneously emerge from the carcass of an ox. The term itself has Greek origins — a fitting coincidence, given that this remake was directed by Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos.

In the original film, a couple — Lee Byeong-gu (played by Shin Ha-kyun) and Su-ni (played by Hwang Jung-min) — kidnap Mr. Kang (played by Baek Yoon-sik), believing he is an alien sent to conquer Earth while hiding his extraterrestrial identity. Bugonia, however, reimagines this premise: here, two cousins, Teddy (played by Jesse Plemons) and Donnie (played by Aidan Delves), imprison Michelle (played by Emma Stone), the CEO of a rising biotech firm, in an attempt to expose her as an alien. Following its premiere in the competition section of this year’s Venice Film Festival, Emma Stone quickly emerged as a possible Best Actress contender. Critics praised the film for its depiction of contemporary conspiracy culture as a kind of modern-day apocalypse. Although its Rotten Tomatoes score has since dipped slightly to 86%, it held above 90% through its North American release on October 24.

Director Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet!

has been reborn in Hollywood as Bugonia. (Source: CJ ENM)

CJ ENM and Ari Aster Begin Their Partnership

CJ ENM, which invested in and distributed the original film, began developing the remake project in 2018. Although Save the Green Planet! drew only 73,000 viewers nationwide upon its 2003 release and was not a commercial hit, it earned director Jang Joon-hwan multiple Best New Director awards at major Korean film festivals. The ambitious plan to resurrect this ill-fated gem within the Hollywood system finally came to fruition seven years later.

Bugonia, which opened on October 24 in 17 theaters across North America, expanded to 2,043 screens by the first week of November. Its opening-day gross was USD 709,848 — an impressive per-theater average of USD 41,755. According to Box Office Mojo, this ranks as the fifth-highest per-theater average among all films released in North America this year. The rollout strategy closely mirrors that of Parasite, which launched in just three U.S. theaters on October 19, 2019, and gradually widened to 604 theaters by its fifth week as awards momentum grew. Likewise, U.S. media outlets have already begun naming Bugonia’s cast and director as strong contenders for major Academy Award nominations, further heightening anticipation.

The remake of Save the Green Planet! was initially planned as a low-budget production with a U.S. budget of under USD 30 million (approximately KRW 43 billion). Pre-production began in early 2018 on the assumption that Jang Joon-hwan, director of the original film, would return to lead the project. Development accelerated significantly when director Ari Aster joined as producer. Best known for his uniquely unsettling, occult-inflected films Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019), Aster has long expressed strong admiration for Korean cinema. It is also widely noted that Midsommar itself drew inspiration from Save the Green Planet! .

The collaboration between CJ ENM and Ari Aster began with a special program held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in August 2018. The program featured Hwang Dong-hyuk’s The Fortress (2017) and Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet! — the latter introduced personally by Ari Aster. Upon hearing of the event, CJ ENM reached out with a proposal for collaboration, which Aster accepted, marking the start of the partnership. Naturally, Danish producer Lars Knudsen, Aster’s longtime collaborator, joined the project, and Will Tracy — known for his writing on HBO’s Succession — was brought on as screenwriter.

In May 2020, Aster and Knudsen released an official statement: “Swinging with youthful abandon between white-knuckle suspense, absurd slapstick, grim horror, and a deeply felt (and earned) sense of tragedy, Save the Green Planet! is one of the most remarkable films to come out of South Korea — among this recent wave or any wave, for that matter. When we heard that director Jang was passionate about revisiting this iconic work, bringing it to the U.S. and updating it to reflect the mess of the world today, we leapt at the chance to be a part of it. It’s an honor to collaborate with CJ ENM and the brilliant director Jang Joon-hwan.”

Yorgos Lanthimos Joins the Bugonia Project

Director Yorgos Lanthimos joined the project after Jang Joon-hwan stepped down due to health reasons. Having previously won the Jury Prize and Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival for The Lobster (2015) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), Lanthimos — now widely regarded as a master filmmaker — had every reason to take on Ari Aster’s Bugonia. Around the same time, screenwriter Will Tracy won an Emmy for Succession, which further drew industry attention to the project’s screenplay.

According to Jerry Ko, Executive Director at CJ ENM and the driving force behind the project, the combination of the new creative team and Will Tracy’s Emmy win led several top Hollywood actresses to express interest in the film. Ultimately, two-time Academy Award winner Emma Stone joined as both lead actress and co-producer, alongside Jesse Plemons — winner of the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival — among others. With their involvement, the project expanded into a mid-budget production.

As Yorgos Lanthimos took over as director, it was a natural progression for Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons to be considered for the lead roles. Stone had already collaborated with Lanthimos on The Favourite (2018) and Poor Things (2023), while Plemons appeared in Kinds of Kindness (2024), meaning both actors were already part of Lanthimos’s cinematic world. Notably, for his role as Teddy — a man convinced that aliens exist — Jesse Plemons reportedly met several times with a real-life acquaintance who genuinely believes in extraterrestrial life, studying alien lore and related theories to deepen his understanding of the character.

The casting of the character parallel to Su-ni — who assists the protagonist Byeong-gu in carrying out his kidnapping plan in the original film — unfolded in a more dramatic way. In Bugonia, this role is reimagined as Donnie, Teddy’s cousin, played by Aidan Delves, an actor on the autism spectrum. According to CJ ENM, Delves was discovered through a form of street casting. Director Lanthimos reportedly did not want a neurotypical actor to portray a character with a disability. At the time, 17-year-old Delves responded to a casting notice posted on his school bulletin board, submitted a video audition, and was ultimately selected. Jerry Ko shared, “The character was meant to appear as if pretending not to be disabled, and when director Lanthimos saw Delves’s performance, he was moved to tears multiple times.”

At this year’s Venice Film Festival, Lanthimos explained in an official interview with Korean and international media, “It’s like a warning about what human nature truly is, and where we are headed,” adding, “Viewers may find themselves unsure of whom to side with — and that confusion reflects the conspiracy-filled world we live in today.” To emphasize this theme, he employed music in an unconventional manner. Lanthimos asked composer Jerskin Fendrix — who had previously collaborated with him on Poor Things — to compose the score without reading the script, giving him only a few suggestive keywords. He intended for the music not to blend naturally with the images, but to collide with them. In other words, even in its musical approach, the film deliberately diverges from conventional cinematic grammar.

Bugonia – A New Model for Korean Entry into Hollywood

The emergence of Bugonia coincided with a period of transition in the Hollywood film industry. According to CJ ENM’s Jerry Ko, “Back in 2018, the U.S. studio landscape was shifting. Romantic comedies were disappearing, and the market was splitting between large-scale franchise blockbusters — like the Marvel films — on one side, and smaller independent productions such as Hereditary and Moonlight (2016) from companies like A24 and Neon on the other.” He recalled, “Seeing films like those win Oscars made me believe that Save the Green Planet! — with its originality and audacity — could also be a strong contender.”

The year 2003 is often remembered as a renaissance for Korean cinema, marked by a wave of masterpieces such as Memories of Murder, Oldboy, Silmido, and A Tale of Two Sisters. Amid these works, the quirky, B-grade sci-fi satire Save the Green Planet! was, in truth, treated as an oddity — a film that had arrived ahead of its time. In the end, Bugonia stands as the result of a keen understanding of industry trends, CJ ENM’s determined drive, and, perhaps, a measure of fortunate timing.

Of course, Bugonia is not CJ ENM’s first venture into Hollywood. Earlier examples include August Rush (2007) and Snowpiercer (2013). Going further back, CJ ENM’s partnership with DreamWorks in 1995 laid the groundwork for its overseas expansion in the early 2000s. Yet there is a clear distinction this time. Jerry Ko noted, “Bugonia represents the first instance in which CJ ENM led the project from the initial planning stage — developing the screenplay and producing it with a mid- to high-level budget — while achieving worldwide distribution through a major studio (Focus Features of Universal Pictures).”

The Bugonia team at the 69th London Film Festival, as the film gains momentum as an Academy Award contender.(Source: CJ ENM, Focus Features, Fremantle)

In summary, CJ ENM’s previous ventures into Hollywood primarily involved selling remake rights, making partial investments in existing Hollywood projects to secure domestic distribution — as with August Rush — or acting as an investor-distributor that handled overseas sales, as with Snowpiercer. Bugonia, however, is significant because it marks the first time CJ ENM has served as a direct producer, taking part in the Hollywood production and distribution system from start to finish.

Professor Kim Sun-ah of Dankook University’s Department of Performance and Film — who was a producer at Sidus, the production company behind the original Save the Green Planet! — recalled, “At the time, even CJ ENM was hesitant to invest in it. Looking back, I think what made the Korean film renaissance possible was precisely the courage to make daring films like this.” She added, “While Bugonia owes much to the strength of its original concept, I believe its realization also reflects the global fandom for Korean cinema that has been steadily built over many years.”

CJ ENM’s Jerry Ko noted, “Since this was our first attempt at such a joint production model, we had no proven framework to follow. We had to take risks and seize opportunities created by shifts in the market. When the market is stable, you can enter through existing gaps. But in our case, we had to create opportunities — which made us realize that partnerships with local industry players are more crucial than anything. To minimize trial and error, establishing local collaborations — like the one we built with Ari Aster — is essential.”

The Possibilities and Challenges of Korea-Led Hollywood Collaborations

Following Bugonia, there has been a noticeable rise in Korean films and filmmakers making inroads into Hollywood. Notable examples include The Hole, directed by Kim Jee-woon; Pig Village, produced by and starring Ma Dong-seok; and The Protector, featuring Milla Jovovich in an action-driven role.

The Hole is adapted from author Pyun Hye-young’s novel of the same name, after an American agent directly acquired the rights and approached Kim Jee-woon to direct. The film is a psychological thriller about an American professor who loses his wife in a car accident and, while recovering under the care of his mother-in-law, begins to uncover disturbing truths about his marriage. The initial screenplay was written by Christopher Chen, known for The Accidental Getaway Driver (2023). The cast includes Theo James, recognized for HBO’s The White Lotus, along with Jung Ho-yeon and Yum Hye-ran.

It was recently announced that Amazon MGM’s Orion Pictures will handle global distribution for The Hole, confirming the film’s status as a full-scale international co-production. The film is jointly produced by three companies: Esmail Corp. (known for the TV series Mr. Robot), K Period Media (producer of Manchester by the Sea (2016)), and Korea’s Anthology Studios. With a production budget of around USD 12 million, it falls into the low-budget category by U.S. standards. This marks Kim Jee-woon’s second collaboration with Hollywood, following The Last Stand (2013).

Choi Jae-won, CEO of Anthology Studios, explained, “Esmail Corp., which had acquired the original rights, initially faced difficulties in developing the project. When we joined, we reworked the first draft and received approval to make the protagonist’s wife a Korean character. In most previous co-productions, Korea’s role was closer to outsourced participation, but The Hole represents a genuine joint production led by Korean staff and actors.” The Hole began filming in mid-March, completed its first phase of production in June, and is set to resume with a second round of filming in November.

Meanwhile, The Protector represents a reverse case: an intellectual property developed in Korea and later pitched to Hollywood. The screenplay was written by Moon Bong-seok of Anaxion Studio, with the project co-planned and developed by three Korean companies: Anaxion Studio, Blossom Entertainment (a management and content development firm), and Olbareun Company. Directed by Adrian Grünberg of Rambo: Last Blood (2019), The Protector completed filming in February and is currently in post-production, with a U.S. release planned for February 2026.

Joo Bang-ok, CEO of Blossom Entertainment, stated, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the domestic market was really struggling, so writer Moon Bong-seok — who had already built a strong network in Hollywood — and I decided to join forces and persuade partners there to collaborate. We wanted to create a co-production model in which Korean creators could take the lead, rather than ending up with situations like certain Netflix projects where the IP is taken over or outsourced.” He continued, “We are consistently developing projects that can begin as relatively low-budget films, around KRW 25–30 billion. I believe this approach could become a viable alternative in Korea’s struggling film industry.” The three companies are currently preparing several international co-productions, including a new film from director Paul W. S. Anderson (husband of Milla Jovovich), and an animated feature involving the executive producer of Pokémon.

Pig Village was conceived as a self-rescue strategy amid the downturn of the Korean film industry, following a trajectory similar to The Protector. The film is a joint production among three Korean companies: Big Punch Pictures (founded by actor Ma Dong-seok), Nova Film, and B&C Content. The story follows a professional boxer and a group of criminals with conflicting motives who converge along the U.S.–Mexico border. Director Lee Sang-yong, known for The Roundup series, directed the film, with a screenplay by Cha Woo-jin. The cast features an impressive international lineup, including Michael Rooker (best known as Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy), Colin Woodell, Lisette Olivera, Ally Maki, and Abraham Popoola.

“We felt the need for a new breakthrough amid the prolonged stagnation of the Korean film industry. Since the film was produced with Korean capital and within the Korean production system, we were able to operate with a much more reasonable budget compared to large-scale global productions. From this perspective, we see potential for Korean filmmaking to expand into new directions,” a spokesperson from Big Punch Pictures said.

Whether it involves proactively adapting existing IP to the Hollywood system, pitching newly developed IP to overseas studios, or participating as equal co-producers rather than subcontracted partners, these examples clearly signal a shift in the position of Korean filmmakers. Blossom Entertainment’s Joo Bang-ok noted, “There’s also KPop: Demon Hunters, and thanks to the groundwork laid by Korean creators like Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, there is now a much more welcoming environment for collaboration,” referring to the current favorable climate.

However, significant challenges remain. Hollywood’s mainstream market is itself in flux, and the global platform ecosystem is changing rapidly. Jerry Ko observed, “Even Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, despite strong reviews, is currently operating at a loss — which shows that large-scale projects of this kind are not sustainable business models. Amid this instability, I believe there are relative opportunities for Korean creators.” He continued, “At the same time, it is difficult for a Korean company to oversee everything from A to Z or to resolve every issue alone when co-producing overseas, whether in Hollywood or elsewhere. Even if we maintain leadership, we must decide where our strengths lie. These collaborative models are still in their early stages, so accumulating more experience is essential.”

By Lee Sun-pil (OhmyNews Film Reporter)

Original KOFIC report (Click)