Adapted from a well-known web cartoon whose title translates into English as “Now at Our School,” “Dead” is to be directed by Lee JQ (“Beethoven Virus,” “Damo: The Legendary Police Woman,” “Intimate Strangers”) and Kim Nam-su.
With a screenplay by Chun Sung-il, “Dead” focuses on a group of high school students who are faced with an extreme crisis situation when they become trapped in their school, while a zombie virus spreads like a wildfire.
Netflix has enjoyed success with Korean content. These comprise a mixture of exclusive shows, acquired film and series, and others which have been co-produced and aired in Korea via local broadcasters.
“Dead” will be produced by JTBC Studios in association with Film Monster, and be presented as a series that screens exclusively on Netflix worldwide, without a local Korean release.
“Netflix has announced partnerships with Korean producers including CJ ENM and Studio Dragon in a bid to secure competitive content,” a recent KOFIC report said.
The firm’s recent acquisition of dystopian thriller movie “Time to Hunt” has had its global release halted by a court order. It would have been the platform’s first Korean movie to go straight to streaming without a previous commercial release.
The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, and was acquired from producer Little Big Pictures, after multiple attempts to release it commercially in Korean theaters were halted by the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. Little Big Pictures and Netflix initially said that the film would be available worldwide from April 10.
The deal was quickly contested by Contents Panda, the sales agency arm of Next Entertainment World. It had previously struck some 30 rights deals with overseas distributors, and claimed to have another 70 pending. On Wednesday last week, a Seoul court stepped in with an injunction, ruling that the film should not play outside Korea in any format.
“The ‘Time to Hunt’ launch date has been postponed globally, including Korea,” Netflix told Variety in a statement.