Hope (2026 film)

1. Plot

Ko Bum-seok is the police chief of Hope Harbor, a small village near the Korean Demilitarized Zone populated mostly by elderly residents. His second cousin, Ko Sung-ki, asks him to look into a dead cow with gaping wounds. Sung-ki and his fellow hunters believe a stray tiger is responsible, but soon find further dead cattle and the farm's owner also dead. Returning to Hope Harbor, Bum-seok discovers that a large creature has massacred several villagers. With reinforcements tied up fighting wildfires elsewhere, he teams up with retired colonel Ahn Nak-yeon to track it down, but the pair mistakenly shoot and badly wound a local chef.

Continuing the search alone, Bum-seok joins a local militia and learns that the creature is in fact an intelligent, apparently indestructible humanoid. After it wipes out the militia, rookie officer Im Sung-ae saves him using grenade launchers she has scavenged. Sung-ae manages to sever one of the creature's legs, and the two give chase by car. Bum-seok hesitates to finish it off after seeing it crying, but it is killed when a tanker accidentally runs it over.

Bum-seok later helps a surgeon examine the body, who notes several similarities to human anatomy. At police headquarters, he and Nak-yeon encounter an eccentric hunter and would-be carpenter, Yang-bae, who claims to have killed a second creature. Though sceptical, they go with him to inspect the corpse stored in his freezer. Meanwhile, Sung-ae tends to the wounded at a makeshift hospital and interviews a Mr Hae-sul, who says he saw several such creatures while out hunting. Worried more remain at large, she sets off to warn Bum-seok.

The body in Yang-bae's freezer turns out to be a monster infant, named Xinertai. Bum-seok realises the adult creature had been searching for its offspring, and angrily blames Yang-bae for triggering the massacre. Authorities subsequently remove the infant's remains. When Sung-ae arrives with news of Hae-sul's sightings, the group fears for Sung-ki's safety, and Bum-seok, Nak-yeon, Sung-ae and Yang-bae head out to warn him.

Elsewhere, Sung-ki and his fellow hunters stumble upon a crashed spaceship in the forest and realise the creatures are aliens. Inside, they find a nursery-like chamber but are ambushed by the alien Empress J'aur and her subordinates, Ma'veyyo and Ai'dovor. The aliens kill everyone present except Sung-ki, who breaks free of Ma'veyyo and is rescued by a heavily armed group of local union members — who are then slaughtered in turn. Bum-seok's group arrives in time to let Sung-ki escape on horseback.

Ma'veyyo pursues him along the highway as Bum-seok and Sung-ae attack from their car. Sung-ki climbs aboard and badly wounds Ma'veyyo, but is accidentally thrown from the vehicle when Yang-bae swerves sharply. Ma'veyyo rejoins J'aur, and together they watch an allied spaceship belonging to Emperor Daiads from a portal in the sky and crash into a nearby mountain. The resulting shockwave sends the police car off the road, forcing Bum-seok, Nak-yeon, Sung-ae and Yang-bae to press on by foot as they try to evade the aliens and reach Hope Harbor in time to raise the alarm. Meanwhile, J'aur and Ma'veyyo search for the infant Xinertai,gin ending tMa'veyyo's own heart.

A mid-credits scene reveals that Sung-ki has survived and is seen limping along the highway.

2. Cast

• Hwang Jung-min as Ko Bum-seok,^[1] the police chief of Hope Harbor
• Zo In-sung as Ko Sung-ki,^[1] a headstrong local who tracks a dangerous creature
• Jung Ho-yeon as Im Sung-ae,^[1] a rookie cop under Hope's police force
• Michael Fassbender as Ma'veyyo, an alien warrior/bodyguard^[1][8]
• Alicia Vikander as J'aur, the aliens' Empress^[1][8]
• Taylor Russell as Ai'dovor, one of the creatures and J'aur's subordinate^[1][8]
• Cameron Britton as Va'migere, the first alien who demolished town^[1]
• Eum Moon-suk as Yang-bae, an offbeat carpenter^[9]
• Lee Sang-hee as Ahn Nak-yeon, a retired colonel^[9]
• Im Hyun-sik as Mr. Hae-sul, an elderly local^[9]

3. Production

3.1. Development

Writer and director Na Hong-jin was reportedly originally collaborating on the project with Alfonso Cuarón. It is Na Hong-jin's first since The Wailing in 2016.^[10] He has described how the film developed from an idea he had in 2017 or 2018 of a single image that came to him whilst eating in a restaurant.^[11] It is produced by Forged Films, with Plus M Entertainment handling international sales.^[12] Cinematography is by Hong Kyung-pyo who previously collaborated with Na on The Wailing.^[13] The budget for the film was reportedly higher than any previous Korean film.^[14]

3.2. Casting

The main cast includes Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, as well as Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender, who do not speak Korean in the film.^[15][16] It marks the first on-screen collaboration for real-life married couple Vikander and Fassbender since the 2016 film The Light Between Oceans.^[13] In April 2023, Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton joined the main cast.^[17][18] The final cast includes Eum Moon-suk, Lee Sang-hee, and Im Hyun-sik in supporting roles.^[9] Although Um Tae-goo and Lee Kyu-hyung were initially reported to be cast in May 2023, they do not appear in the final production and are absent from all official promotional materials and release credits.^[19]

3.3. Filming

Principal photography took place in 2023 in Bukpyeong-myeon. Filming locations included Namchang in Haenam County.^[20][21] Filming also took place in Romania in the area around the Retezat Mountains.^[22] A sequence shot with natural daylight involving a horse riding through a forest was filmed in Retezat National Park.^[23] Vikander and Russell had completed their filming block by July 2024.^[24]

4. Release

Hope had its world premiere at the main competition of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2026,^[1] marking the first South Korean film to compete for the Palme d'Or since Decision to Leave (2022). The selection makes it the fourth film by director Na Hong-jin to be screened at the festival, following The Chaser (2008) in Midnight Screenings, The Yellow Sea (2011) in Un Certain Regard section, and The Wailing (2016) in the Out of Competition section.^[25]

Hope is slated for a July 15, 2026 release in South Korea.^[26] Neon scheduled its theatrical release in the United States for September 9,^[27] and also acquired distribution rights for other English-speaking territories.^[28][29] In May 2026, Mubi acquired distribution rights in Latin America, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Turkey.^[30] Later that month, it was reported that Hope had pre-sold to 200 territories worldwide; among the buyers disclosed were Focus Features, which bought rights for France, the Benelux and South Africa, as well as Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, which acquired the film for Portugal, Scandinavia, Iceland, the Middle East and Israel.^[31]

The film had its North American Premiere in the Centerpiece Presentation section of the 25th New York Asian Film Festival on 20 July 2026.^[32] It had its UK Premiere at the 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival on 16 August 2026.^[33]

5. Reception

5.1. Box office

On its opening weekend, Hope had 1.5 million admissions in South Korea, grossing $11.3 million at the box office, topping Minions & Monsters debut weekend ($2.1 million) and Moana second weekend ($1.2 million).^[34] By 2 August 2026, the film had grossed over $35 million at the local box office.^[35]

Upon its release in North America on September 9, 2026, the film grossed $1.1 million on its opening day, ranking second at the box office behind The Odyssey.^[36] It went on to gross $3.2 million in its opening weekend in North America, before falling to $1.0 million in its second weekend. In North America, it is the third-highest grossing Korean film of all time behind The King of Kings (2025) and Parasite (2019).^[35]

5.2. Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 166 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7/10. The website’s consensus reads: "An unhinged sci-fi epic that boasts awe-inspiring production design and amusingly quaint visual effects, Na Hong-jin's Hope gets the adrenaline pumping whenever it focuses on the unraveling of its hapless human heroes."^[37] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on reviews from 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[38]

Nicholas Barber from BBC gave the movie four out of five stars.^[39]

5.3. Accolades

Award	Year	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Cannes Film Festival	2026	Palme d'Or	Na Hong-jin	Nominated	[40]
New York Asian Film Festival	2026	Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema		Won	[41]
Buil Film Awards	2026	Best Film	Hope	Nominated	[42]
		Best Director	Na Hong-jin	Won