Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Bugonia’ Has Become a ‘Bigger Movie Than We Initially Thought’ Says Producer
Before Bong Joon-Ho’s “Parasite” swept the 2020 Academy Awards, CJ Entertainment, the South Korean production and distribution company behind the film, were not planning such a big entry into the Hollywood mainstream. In fact, prior to this success, they were trying to shop a potential English-language remake of the 2003 Korean cult favorite “Save the Green Planet!” on an indie scale similar to the original. As reported on by The Hollywood Reporter, while speaking at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival at a forum on Navigating the New Paradigm, head of CJ ENM’s film division, Jerry Ko admitted that despite trying carry on the homespun spirit of the original, attaching talent like Yorgos Lanthimos, Ari Aster, Emma Stone, and Jesse Plemons has ballooned the project, now retitled “Bugonia,” into something bigger than he ever expected.
“We started out with the belief that the film’s concept was ahead of its time and that [maybe we] could make an indie movie, but as we traveled around Hollywood, we realized that there were many hidden fans of the original film,” said Ko. “I happened to be in L.A. and saw Ari Aster moderating a screening of ‘Save the Green Planet!’ at a theater, so I reached out to him and asked him to be a part of the production. So he came on board as a producer. Then Will Tracy, a screenwriter of ‘Succession,’ came on board and wrote the story. The buzz started to build from then on.”
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Eventually Lanthimos, hot off his award-winning hit “Poor Things,” came on as director, followed by his “Kinds of Kindness” stars, Stone and Plemons, leading the cast. Filming took place in England over the Summer and wrapped in Atlanta recently. It was taken to Cannes Market in May, where international distribution right were sold to Focus Features, who will also co-finance. They plan on releasing the film on November 7, 2025, a prime awards slot.
“Save the Green Planet!” comes from South Korean filmmaker Jang Joon-Hwan and was released in 2003, slowly growing wide critical and audience appreciation over time. It follows an immature man who believes that a pharmaceutical executive is actually an alien and decides to kidnap him in order to stop an oncoming invasion. “Bugonia” will gender-swap the character, with Stone playing this role in Lanthimos’ version, but Ko shared at Busan that they still aimed to honor Jang’s original vision.
“We started the project with the intention of reviving director Jang’s sense of imagination, which was ahead of its time and was not fully appreciated 20 years ago,” said Ko. “The film developed into a bigger movie than we initially thought. By getting people on our side who understood the film’s potential, we were able to create buzz.”
And Ko believes this is just the beginning of Korean films finding new life on the global stage.
“We have been exploring various ways for global exposure such as Hollywood remakes, and localization of hit IPs,” he said. “If Korean creators come up with stories that they can do well, we help them expand overseas in a way that suits the nature of each work.”
Other films coming from CJ Entertainment in 2025 include director Park Chan-wook’s new film “No Other Choice” (working title), as well as a series adaptation of the South Korean action crime film “Fabricated City.”
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