The rise of Korean cinema on the global stage has not gone unnoticed in Hollywood and beyond. This isn’t new with Disney investing in Korean genre films as early as the 2000s seen through Ahn Byeong-ki’s horror film The Phone (2002). Disney has since heavily invested in Korean content for its streaming platform Disney Plus. It also acquired 20th Century Fox along with its library in 2019 that includes the Korean-language action film Running Man (2013) and Na Hong-jin’s genre-bending acclaimed feature The Wailing (2016).

Before streaming platforms completely transformed viewing habits in Korea, Hollywood studios like 20^th Century Fox were increasingly active in the Korean market. Warner Bros., too, was attempting to capitalize on the appeal of Korean content home and abroad with titles such as Kim Jee-woon’s The Age of Shadows (2016) and The Day I Died: Unclosed Case (2020). 

Hollywood actors were also appearing in Korean films further signifying the draw of Korean-language titles and it was illustrative of the size of Korea’s market as one of the leading industries in the region. Liam Neeson played General Douglas MacArthur in Operation Chromite (2016), Thomas Kretschmann was the German journalist who reported on the 1980 Gwangju Uprising in A Taxi Driver (2017), and Megan Fox starred in the Korean film Battle of Jangsari (2019) as a US journalist during the Korean War. French actor Vincent Cassel also appeared in the IMF crisis film Default (2018) as the managing director of IMF.

But it was the arrival of Netflix in the mid-2010s that would have the greatest impact on the industry investing vast sums of money into Korea’s content industry. In 2023 it announced it would invest 2.5 billion dollars in Korean content until 2028 doubling the amount the platform had spent since 2016 when it entered the market. 

This week we look at the genre films that Netflix has financed, and also the forthcoming genre productions that feature an array of global talent as interest in Korean content grows.

Netflix & Korean Genre Films (Ballerina (2023), Kill Boksoon (2023))

After financing its first production by a Korean film director with Bong Joon Ho’s, Okja (2017), the streaming service has either financed or acquired the exclusive rights to more than two dozen Korean-language films. These have spanned documentaries (Yellow Door: ‘90s Lo-Fi Film Club (2023)), it first Korean-language animation (Lost in Starlight (2025)), the melodrama 20^th Century Girl (2022) and a number of genre films including the horror film The Call (2020).

Its focus on genre titles isn’t surprising given how such content has consistently been a draw for viewers and critics, especially in the West. Many of the Korean films that have made the biggest splash internationally have been examples of Korean genre cinema in its different forms; from Oldboy (2003) and The Host (2006) to Train to Busan (2016) and Parasite (2019).

Netflix has turned to dystopian genre content in particular spanning both films (Jung E (2023), Badland Hunters (2024) and mini-series (Squid Game (2021-2025), Black Knight (2023), Hellbound (2021-2024)). Many of these series were helmed by established Korean filmmakers such as Hwang Dong-hyuk and Yeon Sang-ho. Korean dystopia on streaming platforms is also influencing some of the titles that are hitting screens with titles like Concrete Utopia (2023) and Omniscient Reader: The Prophet (2025).

Netflix is working with talented young filmmakers including Lee Chung-hyun and Byun Sung-hyun that have produced successful genre titles for the platform. Lee’s The Call wasn’t originally a Netflix title but after its release was pulled owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was streamed on the platform. It followed a similar trajectory to Yoon Sung-hyun’s dystopian film Time to Hunt (2020) and Jo Sung-hee’s Space Sweepers (2021) that were originally scheduled to be released theatrically.

The Call stars Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo about two women living in the same house but in different time periods twenty years apart who are connected by a phone call. It’s based on the British film The Caller (2011) that was shot in Puerto Rico. The Korean remake was well received by critics enjoying a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix evidently saw Lee’s potential for another genre film financing his subsequent feature Ballerina (2023), also starring Jeon Jong-seo.

Released on the platform in 2023 when Netflix was increasing its investment in the country’s content industry, it was one of several genre titles that would premiere at festivals creating an interesting dynamic in the industry. Ballerina produced by Climax Studios about a skilled and dangerous bodyguard (Jeon Jong-seo) who seeks to fulfil her friend’s last request before she committed suicide had its first screening at the Busan International Film Festival.

Also screening in Busan in 2023 was a further Netflix Original Believer 2 (2023), sequel to the Korean remake of Johnnie To’s action thriller Drug War (2012).  Earlier the same year, Byun Sung-hyun’s violent action film Kill Boksoon (2025) featuring Jeon Do-yeon as a contract killer was invited to Berlin International Film Festival before it dropped on Netflix as one of its originals. Byun also impressed film critics and fans of Korean genre cinema with his sophomore feature The Merciless (2017) that secured an invite to the Midnight Section at the Cannes Film Festival.

Byun’s next film Good News financed by Netflix is an action thriller featuring Sol Kyung-gu, Hong Kyung and Ryu Seung-bum that is set on a hijacked passenger plane in the early 1970s. It will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as a Special Presentation in early September. Its invitation comes as three other Korean films are also premiering in Toronto including Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Love, while Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice (2025) will have its world premiere in Venice before heading to TIFF in what is a welcome relief for the industry following no Korean features in Cannes this year.

Hollywood Actors in Upcoming Korean Films (The Hole, Hope, Pig Village)

Kim Jee-woon’s The Hole is also reflective of where the industry is heading both in terms of financing and its international cast. Financed by US company Esmail Corp. and Medan that has offices in LA, London and Doha, the thriller features Theo James, Jung Ho-yeon and Christian Slater and is based on the 2016 Korean bestseller of the same name by Pyun Hye-young about an American professor who resides in Korea and is bedridden following a car accident that killed his wife. His Korean mother-in-law gradually reveals hidden details about his marriage.

It was announced in May that the worldwide rights to the film have been acquired by the Amazon MGM label Orion Pictures. The studio has reportedly committed to a theatrical release in North America.

Kim Jee-woon is one of Korea’s leading genre filmmakers having helmed titles such as A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), A Bittersweet Life (2005) and I Saw the Devil (2010).

Na Hong-jin’s Hope also includes a multi-national cast with Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton starring alongside Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung and Jung Ho-yeon in what promises to be another genre-bending adventure. Na’s three other acclaimed films (The Chaser (2008), The Yellow Sea (2010) and The Wailing) all were invited to Cannes suggesting that there is a possibility his next film has a chance of securing a spot on the Croisette.

In a sign of its global appeal, a photo of the cast along with the announcement of its release next year was reported as an exclusive in the trade publication Variety.  The film, which will be one of the most eagerly awaited titles next year is being distributed and financed by the local studio Plus M Entertainment, while UTA Independent Film Group is handling North America. The film is set in a remote village called Hope near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where the appearance of a tiger sparks off a series of mysterious events.

In a further indication of Korea’s film industry turning increasingly global, Pig Village is an English-language film shot mostly in Korea with Don Lee leading a cast that features US performers Michael Rooker, Colin Woodell, Lisette Olivera, Ali Ahn as well as the British actor Abraham Popoola. The film is based on a story by Don Lee who once again collaborates with director Lee Sang-yong – the pair worked on The Roundup (2022) and The Roundup: No Way Out (2023).

The film centers on a boxer (Lee) who finds himself up against fugitives, criminals and corrupt officials at a hotel near the US-Mexico border. Plus M Entertainment is also distributing and financing this title signaling their global ambitions as demand for Korean content overseas grows. It is the first English-language Korean film to be shot in Korea. Some exterior scenes were filmed in the US.

According to a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive, Lee said “Designing and making a true Hollywood action film through the Korean production system has been a dream of mine for years.”

With the US film KPop Demon Hunters (2025) continuing its phenomenal run on Netflix, and limited series including Disney’s Tempest (2025) that features an international cast, as well as the Amazon Prime series Butterfly (2025) set in Korea, it underlines how transnational the industry here has become. Korean and global studios are financing and producing both Korean and English-language content for audiences in and out of Korea.

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Edited by kofic