Showbox/Mediaplex’s 2013 thriller Hwayi: A Monster Boy, the long-awaited comeback of Save the Green Planet (2003) director JANG Joon-hwan, is gearing up for an English language remake following its release late last year. Now Film, the production company behind the Korean original, will participate in the US update along with Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) producer Frida Torresblanco. Plans were set in motion during the Cannes Film Festival, which wound to a close on May 25th.

 

Hwayi producer LEE Jun-dong opted to take part in the redo rather than sell the film’s rights, citing concerns over the creative direction recent Hollywood updates of Korean films have taken. Before diving into the particulars of the new project, Now Film will set up a Limited Liability Company in North America. The co-production format for the Hwayi remake will resemble the model used for the US version of Bong Joon Ho’s The Host (2006), though that project has had no new updates since 2008.

 

YEO Jin-gu stars as a teenager who was adopted by a group of criminals at an early age and begins to learn the tricks of the trade. KIM Yun-seok plays the gang’s leader. Hwayi: A Monster Boy was a solid performer at the Korean box office after accruing almost 2.4 million admissions last fall.