HOPE U.S. Release Expands to 1,500 Theaters

NEON is giving the HOPE U.S. release a much bigger push than we expected. Na Hong-jin’s new creature movie will open in approximately 1,500 theaters on Wednesday, September 9, and NEON says that is its widest U.S. opening for a Korean language film since Parasite. That is a huge jump from the limited runs that international horror movies often receive.

We already knew HOPE was getting an early access event at 175 premium format theaters on Monday, September 7, but this announcement makes it clear that the movie will not disappear after those special screenings. NEON says presales are strong and several shows have already sold out in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin and San Francisco. For anyone outside the biggest cities, the difference is simple: there is now a much better chance HOPE will actually be playing nearby.

The HOPE U.S. Release Is Much Bigger Than Expected

The list of special formats sounds impressive, but approximately 1,500 theaters is the real story. The early event includes Dolby, 4DX, ScreenX, Barco HDR, D-BOX and Dolby Atmos, all of which make sense for a movie that runs 160 minutes and is filled with big action and a huge creature. The wider release, however, is what determines how many people will realistically get the chance to see it.

NEON is comparing the opening with Parasite, which is obviously a high bar and does not mean HOPE will become the same kind of breakout hit. What it does tell us is that NEON expects interest to reach beyond festival audiences and people who already follow Korean cinema. The company is putting the film in enough theaters for regular moviegoers to discover it during its opening week instead of hearing about it after it has already left most screens.

That choice matters because HOPE is not the safest sell on paper. It is long, subtitled, strange and built around large creatures. Those are all reasons a studio might choose a cautious release, but NEON is doing the opposite and putting the movie on roughly 1,500 screens from the beginning.

The Creature Is Still Mostly a Mystery

HOPE is Na Hong-jin’s first feature since The Wailing arrived in 2016. The story takes place in the remote village of Hope Harbor, where police and local hunters pursue a mysterious creature before becoming the hunted themselves. Hoyeon leads a large international cast that includes Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Taylor Russell, Cameron Britton, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender.

The film premiered at Cannes and has already become one of South Korea’s biggest releases of the year, according to NEON. Our first coverage focused on the poster revealing only part of the creature’s mouth, while the next announcement brought HOPE to 175 premium early screenings. We have now gone from a carefully hidden monster, to a single night special event, to a wide release that many more people can actually reach.

What We Think

We were already paying close attention to HOPE because we love creature features, and this looks like it has a much stronger action streak than we initially expected. The smartest thing the marketing has done, however, is keep the creature mostly hidden. Every new detail has made the movie feel bigger without explaining away the thing it wants audiences to fear.

A Korean language creature movie that runs 160 minutes is a serious time commitment, but it is also exactly the kind of ambitious horror project we want to see receive a real chance in theaters. We do not need every international horror film to be sold as the next Parasite, and there is no guarantee HOPE will connect with audiences on that level, but it is encouraging to see NEON give something this unusual enough screens to find out.

At this point, HOPE no longer feels like a movie horror fans will have to hunt down. NEON is putting it in front of a real national audience, and now we get to see whether the movie lives up to that confidence.

Watch the HOPE Trailer

Tickets and local showtimes for both the September 7 early access event and September 9 wide opening are available through the official HOPE website.

Sources: NEON, Variety, and the official HOPE website.