Bong Joon Ho Plots Crime, Horror Films After 'Ally' — SkimNews
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- Bong Joon Ho will start detailed screenwriting on two or three crime and horror projects next year after completing "Ally," including a Seoul subway-set horror film he's long discussed and remains 'in my head.'
- "Ally" is in post-production with teams in Korea, the U.K., Montreal, and Mumbai; Bong told Variety he expects the animation fully finished around late January or February 2027, with a release window of June, July, or August.
- Distributors are weighing Sundance, Berlin, or Cannes for a festival premiere, and Bong said 'I hope to present the film to a festival audience,' though the strategy depends on his distributors.
- Pathé will release "Ally" in France, Benelux, Switzerland, and West Africa; Neon holds North America; CJ and Penture cover South Korea, Vietnam, Turkey, Indonesia, plus international sales in Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
- Bong receives the Stella della Mole Award at Torino's Museo Nazionale del Cinema on Wednesday, followed by a masterclass and "Parasite" screening; his first Torino visit was in 2003, when "Memories of Murder" won the audience and screenplay prizes.
- Bong framed the Korean industry's post-pandemic box-office recovery in H1 2026 as 'a very good and optimistic sign,' arguing that streaming and theatrical can grow together, and noting Korean creators have grown more ambitious since "Parasite" and "Squid Game."
Why it matters: Two or three new genre projects from Bong map out a multi-film slate for one of the most commercially successful Korean directors working today, anchored by an animated film whose post-production already spans four countries. With Pathé, Neon, and CJ/Penture locked into "Ally" ahead of a 2027 premiere, the deal structure gives Bong leverage to jump straight from animation into the crime/horror scripts he's been circling for years.
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