Wide Lens Pictures and Shaw Entertainment released the first image from The Killer, their next American-Korean co-production. The plot centers on a merciless assassin who goes on a vindictive rampage and treats his adversaries with no mercy. The production firms provided Collider with access to certain stills in addition to the teaser trailer, which allowed us to reveal that the action-thriller will be released in American theaters on July 13th.
Star of the film and seasoned action star from Korea Jang Hyuk, who most recently appeared in the documentary series Tell Me What You Saw in the film Tomb of the River. The actor is currently best known for playing Park Gye-won in the wildly successful historical drama TV series Bloody Heart. He once again displays his fighting prowess and plays a character in The Killer that you probably won’t want to cross.
The Killer appears to be a thrilling mash-up of brutal and realistic Korean action movies like Oldboy and The Villainess, with a healthy dose of The Raid in some battle scenes, as Shaw indicated – and that’s only from a 30-second trailer! As the release date draws near, we can anticipate a full trailer to get a better feel of the plot and see Jang play John Wick on thugs for a little while longer.
However, given that the plot is based on a well-known webtoon comic, it’s safe to assume that it will mostly stick to the themes of the original work: a retired hitman is compelled to take on South Korea’s criminal underworld after a youngster falls prey to the whims of thugs.
The Killer, an American-Korean action movie, earned $13,000 over the course of three days at the box office in its second weekend of release on July 13.
Since its release, the Jang Hyuk action movie has faced fierce competition from movies like Top Gun: Maverick, which defined the summer blockbuster season, and movies like Minions: The Rise of Gru and Thor: Love and Thunder from Marvel. The Killer pulled in $3,300 on Friday before increasing the following day to $5,430 on Saturday. $4,270 was the Sunday sales total. With a per-screen average of $541.67 and a weekend gross of $13,000, the movie’s overall earnings fell by 74% week over week, bringing the total to $123,137.
The Killer centers on Bang Ui-gang, played by Hyuk, a retired assassin who has settled down into a nice life with his wife, Hyeon-soo, and is based on the Korean novel The Kid Deserves to Die by Bang Ji-ho (Lee Chae-young). Ui-gang offers to look after his wife’s closest friend’s kid, a teenage girl named Kim Yun-ji, played by See-young Lee, when they decide to take a trip together.
While in his care, Yun-ji becomes involved with a local gang, forcing Ui-gang to use his aggressive side to defend her. As a result of this incident, the gang kidnaps Yun-ji, and Ui-gang is accused of murder. Ui-gang, who is currently on the run after being accused of a crime he didn’t do, will need to find Yun-ji and rescue her in order to return her to her home in safety.
Hyuk, the star of the movie, most recently had an appearance in the films Tomb of the River and the Korean investigative series Tell Me What You Saw. The actor is currently best known for playing Park Gye-won in the wildly successful historical drama TV series Bloody Heart. Choi Jae-hun, known for his 2021 horror thriller The Hypnosis, is the director of The Killer.
Nam Ji-woong and Shin Dong-chul collaborated on the adaptation of the book into the action movie, which serves as Ji-feature woong’s film writing debut. The action movie’s producers are Chul Shin, Mark W. Shaw, and Nam Ji-Woong. Wide Lens Pictures released the movie, which was made by Ascendio. The Killer is one of the first movies to have a simultaneous release in Korea and the United States.
On July 13, The Killer had simultaneous premieres in South Korean and American cinemas. The trailer is available to view below.
