The Killer, a new action thriller from director Choi Jaehun and stars Jang Hyuk, who previously collaborated on The Swordsman (2020), has locked a raft of pre-sales after being launched in the M-Line Distribution sales lineup of the recent European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.

Based on the book ‘The Child Who Deserves To Die’ by author Bang Jinho, The Killer features Jang as Euikang, a retired killer who becomes embroiled in a series of incidents after he starts taking care of a high school girl. The film has set a tentative June release date in Korea and is produced by ASCENDIO.

The film was sold to 23 international territories, including eight European nations and 15 Asian. Among the countries where the film will now be made available are Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland in Europe and Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam in Asia.

The Swordsman, a period-set martial arts film, debuted during the Chuseok holiday in 2020 and was well-received by genre fans around the world. Director Choi followed that up with the horror film The Hypnosis, which was released last year, while Jang was recently on screens in the gangster film Tomb of the River (2021).

A representative from ASCENDIO said that they expected strong results for the film given the high interest in the film from both the local and foreign markets. They expect to settle more overseas deals for the project, including in North America.