Two Korean films have secured theatrical releases in Japan. HAN Jae-rim’s political thriller The King is set to open in Japan on March 10th next year. The film revolves around prosecutor Tae-su (ZO In-sung) who meets senior prosecutor Gang-sik (JUNG Woo-sung) and wants to become a king of the world. Released this past January, it surpassed 5.3 million moviegoers in Korea. The movie will be released under the same title in Japan. 

JANG Hun’s smash hit A Taxi Driver, the first film to surpass 10 million viewers this year, will also be released in Japan, securing an April 21st release date. The film tells the true story of a Seoul taxi driver (SONG Kang-ho) who takes German reporter Jurgen Hinzpeter (Thomas Kretschmann) to cover the Gwangju Democracy Movement during the Korean government’s media blackout in May 1980. The political drama opened in August of this year and sold 12.18 million tickets in Korea. Moreover, it was chosen as Korea’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 90th Academy Awards. A Taxi Driver will also have the same title in Japan as in Korea, but will be subtitled ‘a promise across the seas’. 

Recently, the Japanese distributors of the two films revealed their posters. The King’s poster features the film’s two main actors while A Taxi Driver’s poster contains its box office results and awards history in Korea. The release of these two films, based on modern Korean history, in Japan, is drawing a lot of attention as many await the reaction from Japanese audiences.