Showbox Adds The Killers Anthology Film to Busan Sales Slate (EXCLUSIVE)

 Posted on January 30, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  819 words  |  Martina Birk

Leading Korean content firm Showbox Corp. has added “The Killers,” an unusual anthology film, to its Busan rights sales line up.

The film takes its title and themes from Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story of the same name. Deploying satire, it described the work of a pair of hit-men, but also delved into themes of death, friendship, and the purpose of life. It has become a literary classic and is frequently included in anthologies of short stories.

The anthology film, which is now in advanced stages of production, includes six short films by Korean directors inspired y the Hemingway story. They include Lee Myung-Se (“M,” “Duelist,” “Nowhere to Hide”), Chang Hang-jun (“Rebound,” “Forgotten”), Kim Jong-kwan (“Josée,” “The Table”), Roh Deok (TV series “Glitch,” “Very Ordinary Couple”), Sung Cho and Yunyu.

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Principal photography is expected to be completed by the end of October. The film is a Studio Bill presentation of a Biginsquare and Production M film with world sales by Showbox. “The killers in the film are not only a reference to a person who kills, but also works as a metaphor,” Showbox said.

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The company also recently added “Big Deal,” a drama film about the near-death experience of a leading soju company during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Directed by Choi Yun-jin, the film stars Yoo Hai-jin (“Confidential Assignment 2: International,” “The Night Owl,” “Space Sweepers”) and Lee Je-hoon (TV’s “Taxi Driver,” “Architecture 101”).

Other headline titles on the sales slate include “Because I Hate Korea,” which played as the opening film of the Busan festival, and “Exhuma,” a mystery-horror film starring acting legend Choi Min-sik (“Roaring Currents,” “Oldboy”). The film is directed by Jang Jae-hyun (“The Priests,” “Svaha: The Sixth Finger”) and co-stars Kim Go-eun (“Little Women”), Yoo Ha-jin and Lee Do Hyun (TV’s “The Good Bad Mother” and “The Glory”).

Two further titles play in the Busan festival’s Korean Cinema Today – Panorama section. “Ms Apocalypse” is a tale of an unloved female detective and her secret crush, which is directed by Lim Sun-ae. “Ransomed” is an action drama about a financial courier who is kidnapped in Lebanon and the diplomat sent to extricate him. It is directed by Kim Seong-hun (“Kingdom”) and had a commercial release in August.

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