Hope, the biggest film Na Hong-jin has made so far, opened in South Korean theaters on July 15, 2026. It’s a 160-minute sci-fi thriller with a $46 million budget, set in a remote harbor town that’s cut off from the outside world after a terrifying creature arrives.
It plays a bit like Attack on Titan crossed with A Quiet Place, with a police chief and the other residents trying to keep the town together as fear, isolation, and violence start spiraling.
Na Hong-jin, best known for The Wailing and The Yellow Sea, takes his usual sense of dread and ambiguity and blows it up to a much larger scale here. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Taylor Russell.
After premiering in competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2026, the film reportedly sold to more than 200 territories. It also reportedly earned back about half its budget before release. Then it reportedly became South Korea’s fastest 2026 title to reach 1 million viewers, getting there in under three days, and 2 million within five, even as critics split over its ambition, its action, and its weaker CGI and creature effects. Na Hong-jin has said those effects are still being refined after the unfinished Cannes cut.
If you’re into big, risky sci-fi survival thrillers, Hope is worth watching.
Hope opened in South Korean theaters on July 15, 2026, and you should expect wider international availability through the film’s overseas deals.
