Korean films, Q3 2026: the quarter in review

Released on July 15. A mysterious being appears in Hopo Port, a remote harbor village near the Demilitarized Zone, and attacks the village; police outpost chief Beom-seok (Hwang Jung-min), rookie officer Seong-ae (Jung Ho-yeon) and local tracker Seong-gi (Jo In-sung) set out to defend it. It is Na Hong-jin's first film as writer-director in 10 years, since The Wailing, and also stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell.

It drew 330,000 viewers on opening day, the biggest opening of any Na Hong-jin film, then passed 3 million in 11 days and 4 million on August 2. It was selected for the Competition section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, and opened in North America on September 9 through NEON.

Released on September 23. Drawing on the shooting of the first lady at the Liberation Day ceremony on August 15, 1974, the film follows detective Park Cheol-gu (Yoo Hae-jin), who witnessed the shooting, newspaper city editor Kim Jae-hwan (Park Hae-il) and rookie reporter Han Young-il (Lee Min-ho) as they chase the unanswered questions surrounding the case. It was directed by Hur Jin-ho, who also directed A Normal Family.

It opened at No. 1 with 130,000 viewers, passed 1 million on its fourth day and 2 million on October 3, its 11th day. It had drawn 2.23 million viewers as of October 4. Before its release, it premiered in the Gala Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lee Chang-dong's first new film in eight years, since Burning. A laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary director and her husband, meet through the making of a documentary and come face to face with each other's very different lives and hidden desires. Jeon Do-yeon, Sol Kyung-gu, Jo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong star.

In the Competition section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival it won the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize, the first time a Korean film has won Venice's Grand Jury Prize. A Netflix film, it opened first in select Korean theaters on September 23 and had drawn 230,000 viewers by October 4; it will be released worldwide on Netflix on November 6.

Released on September 23, this is the fourth film in the Tazza series. Based on Part 4 of the manhwa Tazza by Huh Young-man (story by Kim Se-young), it follows Jang Tae-young (Byun Yo-han), who believed his online casino business had given him everything, as he runs into Park Tae-young (Noh Jae-won), the friend of the same age who took it all from him, at the tables of the global gambling world. It tells the story of new characters unconnected to the previous three films, with poker instead of hwatu at its center. It was directed by Choi Kook-hee, who also directed Default, and Ayaka Miyoshi and Jo Woo-jin co-star.

Rated for adults only, it passed 1 million viewers on its eighth day and had drawn 1.36 million by October 4.

Released on September 16, it remakes Nancy Meyers's 2015 film The Intern. When Kim Ki-ho (Choi Min-sik), a senior intern with 37 years of work experience, joins the company run by CEO Lee Seon-woo (Han So-hee), who in just three years since its founding has built it into a firm the fashion industry is watching, the story explores workplace life across generations and ranks. It was directed by Kim Do-young, who also directed Kim Ji-young, Born 1982.

It topped the box office on opening day, ending the 42-day run at No. 1 of the foreign film The Odyssey, and had drawn 830,000 viewers by October 4.

Released on August 26. Ok-sil (Lee Jung-eun), a mother who has waited eight years for her youngest daughter, who never came back from a school trip, sets off on a family trip to Gyeongju with her three daughters (Gong Hyo-jin, Park So-dam and Lee Yeon), but what looks like an ordinary trip is in fact a meticulously planned revenge. It is the first commercial feature written and directed by Kim Mi-jo, director of Gull. On opening day it debuted at No. 1 among Korean films (No. 3 overall).