EXCLUSIVE: South Korea’s Finecut has scored sales of Wind Up: The Movie as it continues to expand its slate with theatrical versions of short-form series.
The fantasy buddy feature stars Jeno and Jaemin of leading K-pop boy band NCT and was edited together from 50 short-form episodes, first presented as phone-friendly vertical videos. The film adopts the traditional horizontal aspect ratio.
It has been acquired for Japan (KDDI Corporation), Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia (Purple Plan), Taiwan (Caichang International), Thailand (Sahamongkolfilm International). CIS (Best Cinema) and inflight (Bofrato),
The story follows a high-school baseball pitcher, played by Jeno, who is unable to throw a strike due to the guilt of accidentally hitting another boy and taking away that boy’s dream. Jaemin plays a transfer student who unexpectedly appears and declares himself the pitcher’s manager.
It is directed by Kim Sung‑ho, whose credits include 2014 family drama How To Steal A Dog and Netflix series Move To Heaven. The project is produced by Takeone Studio, which launched Kitz in January, and major K-pop entertainment firm SM Entertainment.
Finecut has arrived at the market with three further titles that originally debuted as short-form series on Korean streaming platform Kitz. They include dark fantasy comedy Reapers On Duty, starring Hyungwon of K-pop group Monsta X alongside Lee Min-ki; time-travel romance Wi-Fi Love In The Palace, starring The Boyz member Younghoon and Luda of girl group WJSN; and occult comedy After-School Exorcism Club: Girls’ Night, starring five members of Fifty Fifty.
As with Wind Up: The Movie, each feature was shot in a wide-angle format for theatrical release, with short-form versions produced simultaneously. All four features were produced by Kitz, which specialises in K-pop–driven content. While the short-form versions are available globally on Kitz, the feature films are being positioned for theatrical release in multiple territories.
Reapers On Duty follows a pair of grim reapers, a rule-abiding rookie (Hyungwon) and a rule-breaking veteran (Lee), who become involved in a forbidden life-extension case.
Wi-Fi Love In The Palace is based on popular webtoon Love And Wifi In The Palace, serialised on Kakao Page. The film is a time-travel romance spanning past and present, following a webtoon artist (Younghoon) desperate for a hit and a palace maid (Luda) who dreams of becoming a royal concubine, both connected through a mysterious cabinet.
Director is Sa Seok-choon, who co-directed Bon Appétit, Your Majesty with Chang Tae-you – who joined the project as chief creative director.
After-School Exorcism Club: Girls’ Night is an occult comedy about five quirky high school girls who team up to exorcise a spirit before it takes over their school. The cast is led by the five members of K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty - Keena, Chanelle Moon, Yewon, Hana, and Athena.
Directed by Jung Zoo, who has helmed numerous music videos for K-pop artists including BTOB’s The Winter’s Tale
Kitz is a global platform that supports 11 languages, including Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese, to ensure accessibility for international audiences.
Finecut also handles sales of July Jung’s Dora, which is set to premiere at the festival in Directors’ Fortnight.
No comments yet