South Korea’s CJ ENM has sold Yeon Sang-ho’s psychological thriller Paradise Lost to 118 countries ahead of its US premiere at Hawai‘i International Film Festival.
The film has been acquired for France (The Jokers), Japan (Twin Co), Spain (Youplanet Pictures), Benelux (18K Film), Middle East (Gulf Film) and airlines (Emphasis). Further Asian territories to secure the feature include Taiwan (Long Shong), Singapore (Shaw Organisation), Mongolia (Content Distribution), the Philippines (Pioneer Films) and Cambodia (Westec Media). As previously announced, Well Go USA has distribution rights for US and Canada.
Paradise Lost made its world premiere at Toronto last month before playing Busan and will next receive its US bow at Hawai‘i in the festival’s Spotlight on Korea section on November 1.
The story follows single mother So-young, who spends nine years grieving the sudden disappearance of her son Sun-woo, only for him to mysteriously reappear as an adult. In his absence, a desperate So-young has replaced him with a virtual reality version of himself. The returned Sun-woo, however, also has secrets of his own.
The case is led by Kim Hyun-joo of Yeon’s Netflix series Hellbound and Bae Hyeon-seong in his first leading film role. Yeon also co-scripted the feature with Ryu Yong-jae and the story based on 2025 novel Black Inferno by Oh Seong-eun.
CJ ENM stated that international sales revenue alone has exceeded the film’s net production budget.
Produced by Yeon’s Wowpoint, it is set for a theatrical release in South Korea through CJ ENM on October 21 before opening in Taiwan on October 23 and Singapore on November 5, followed by North America and Vietnam on November 6 and Indonesia on November 13.
It marks the second film release for Yeon this year after zombie thriller Colony, which premiered at Cannes in Midnight Screenings and ranks as the fourth highest-grossing film of the year to date at South Korea’s box office. The filmmaker is also known for 2016’s Train To Busan as well as Netflix series’ Hellbound and Parasite: The Grey.
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