Neon Acquires Na Hong-jin’s Hope Heading to Cannes

Neon is on a pre-festival buying spree and has nabbed its fifth film so far. And this one is surely making waves over the internet, as it comes from none other than The Wailing (2016) director, Na Hong-jin.​

Neon acquires Na Hong-jin’s Hope with its English-language rights for North American distribution. According to Deadline, the studio has reportedly been pursuing the project since November and has finally settled on its confirmed distribution rights.​

Hope is the first Korean film to premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s main competition in four years, following Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave (2022). It is also the first entry into the main competition for The Wailing director, marking a historic event as all his feature films have been invited to Cannes.​

Park Chan-wook will be the jury member whose No Other Choice (2025) was recently snubbed by the Academy. The film failed to get any nominations, particularly in the Best International Feature category, as it was highly anticipated that it would.​

Plot details of Hope

The official synopsis of the film states that a police chief receives the news of a tiger attacking Hope Harbor, a remote village near the Demilitarized Zone. The local youths are terrified, and the police chief needs to roll up his sleeves to find a solution when he confronts a “reality beyond belief.”​

The cast includes Korean stars Hwang Jung-min (Deliver Us from Evil), Zo In-sung (Moving), Hoyeon (Squid Game), and Hollywood stars like Alicia Vikander (The Assessment), Michael Fassbender (Black Bag), Taylor Russell (Bones and All), and Camerin Britton (Umbrella Academy).​

The film is written, directed, and produced by Na Hong-jin; Saemi Kim and Searon Kim are also on the list of the film’s producers. It is executive produced by Jeongin Hong, with Eugene Kim serving as co-executive producer.​

Eugene Kim has positive thoughts about the film’s distribution through Neon, as she said,​

“We are thrilled to partner with Neon, a distributor that has consistently demonstrated an unparalleled eye for global masterpieces…Given the genre-bending nature of Hope, I am eager to see what a powerful impression it will make on North American audiences through Neon’s sophisticated expertise.” [Source]​

What happens next after Neon acquires Na Hong-jin’s Hope? Shedding light on Neon’s strategy in global cinema​

 

 

 

 

 

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There is something about Neon that it absolutely crushes whenever it brings a brain-zapping film to the world. It has a keen eye for films that are bold and auteur-driven and have an unprecedented power to shake international cinema.​

Neon always remains on a buying streak to get hold of such films first by recognizing the potential of the auteurs, such as Parasite (2019) and Titane (2021). Six films have gained Palme d’Or in six consecutive years, from 2019 to 2025. The films include Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Success, Anatomy of a Fall, Anora, and It Was Just an Accident.​

Neon’s CEO, Tom Quinn, explained in an interview with The Ankler once that the company has a clear mantra that helped it achieve outsize success in less than eight years. Quinn looks for films that have a cultural impact and a heavy artistic merit. He believes that these two elements always co-exist, therefore defining an uncompromising ideology behind the daring films that the studio is always on the hunt for.​

Why Neon rarely loses out on getting prominent titles due to its aggressive bidding and an image that it has long held for the benefit of the filmmakers only. The benefit is a guarantee of the longest possible theatrical release that most filmmakers care about.

Other films that Neon brings to the Cannes Festival this year include The Unknown by Arthur Harari, Fjord by Cristian Mungiu, All of a Sudden by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sheep in the Box by Hirokazu Koreeda, and Her Private Hell by Nicolas Winding.​

Possibly, the stars are in Neon’s favor, or there is something that the studio is doing right that contributes to its warp-speed growth over the years. Its viral marketing campaigns, such as that of Longlegs (2024), turned the tables on Netflix, now making it the second-highest bidder.  ​

Neon has gone hard in bringing Korean cinema to the mainstream cinema. Parasite made history by being the first foreign-language film to have won Best International Film as well as Best Picture at the Academy Awards 2020. Neon has genuinely justified its stance in the industry and has the muscle to bring award-worthy masterpieces to the forefront. We expect the same for Hope, too!