Deok Noh directed a Korean remake of Choi Jae-Won’s hit Indian thriller Drishyam, president of South Korean Anthology Studios, and was confirmed by variety in Busan’s Asian content and film market.
A remake of the Korean Drishuyam franchise with anthology and partnership Indian Panorama Studios was announced at Cannes in 2023.
Panorama Studios was supported by producers Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek Pathak, and Anthology Studios was founded by former Warner Bros. local Korean production manager Choi Jae-Won (aka Jay Choi), “Parasite” actor Song Kang-Ho and Acclaimed Directed Kim Jee-Woon.
Korean filmmaker Deok Noh has entered the 2013 romantic comedy “Very Ordinary Couple,” which won the Asian New Talent Award at the Shanghai International Film Festival. She pivoted into a darker register with the 2015 newsroom thriller The Exclusive: Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, before moving on to storytelling for episodes in 2020 with the sci-fi anthology “SF8” and in 2022 with the Netflix mystery series “Glitch.”
The Malayalam “Drishyam” (2013), written and directed by Jeetu Joseph, was found by Superstar Mohanlal. It tracked the cable television operator, a simple world splitting after the accidental death involving his family, and his desperate measures to protect them from the law. The film’s huge success has produced hit remakes in several languages - in Kannada he starred as “Drishya” (2014), in Telugu as “Drushyam” (2014), and in Tamil as “Papapanasam” (2015). As “Dharmayuddhaya” (2017), starring Jackson Anthony. The Chinese remake, “The Sheep Without a Shepherd” (2019), starring Xiao Yang, won $109 million.
The Malayalam “Drishyam 2” was completed during the pandemic and released in 2021 in person on Prime Video, followed by Telugu “Drushya 2”. The Kannada “Drishya 2” was released in theaters the same year. The Hindi word “Drishyam 2” was one of the biggest Bollywood hits of 2022, selling $45 million worldwide.
The property has also been remade in English, and is being produced by Panorama Studios along with US companies Gulfstream Pictures and Joat Films.
Choi told Variety that filming of the Korean remake will begin next year.
Directed by Kim Jee-Woon and starring Theo James, Anthology’s “The Hole,” “Squid Game” breakout Hoyeon, Yeom Hee-Ran, and Golden Globe winner Christian Slater were acquired for global distribution by Amazon MGM’s Orion Pictures Label on a multi-million dollar deal at Cannes this year.
