"Hope" drew 330,000 people on its opening day, setting a new record, and updates on master director Bong Joon-ho were revealed.
A GV featuring director Na Hong-jin and director Bong Joon-ho for the film "Hope" (HOPE), which posted this year's best opening score and is leading summer box office success, was held to great response.
The GV with directors Na Hong-jin and Bong Joon-ho, held at Megabox COEX on its opening day, Wednesday, July 15, was filled with the hot enthusiasm of an audience that filled every seat, as it had sold out as soon as ticketing opened. Bong Joon-ho, who began the GV saying, "I want to calm down the delightful cinematic shock and excitement of 'What on earth did I just see' and ask many questions," offered his first impressions of the film, saying, "It is a very astonishing cinematic adventure. Where else would we get to see a film like this? A film in which audacity and madness explode — thank you for showing such a spectacular scene of cinema, and I sincerely thank you as a fellow filmmaker."
In particular, Bong Joon-ho expressed great admiration for the film's first half, saying, "It is a truly amazing thrill and runaway roller coaster. The breath that seems like it could break yet never does, the rousing music, and the astonishing low-to-the-ground camera work by cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, as if flying just above the ground — there are many elements, but what is the cause of the overwhelming suspense and excitement? I had such thoughts while watching the film," and he unpacked his curiosity about the project from its design inception through its process.
Bong Joon-ho also praised the actors who performed intense action, saying, "In this film, action runs wild, and there are actors who can handle that. An actor's gaze completes the action, and in that sense I was envious. A director's greatest happiness is working with good actors, so it seems you were blessed."
Regarding the film's action and alien character design, director Na Hong-jin said, "I wanted to put creatures and action together in one frame. The style of the action was meant to feel handcrafted like the classic films I might have watched when I was young; I wanted to capture creatures created with CG in a frame with action that has no VFX."
Finally, Bong Joon-ho said, "I watched the film amid runaway excitement, and what was astonishing about the runaway 62 minutes (first half) was that, beyond the exhilaration of action or the wild, frantic madness, various elements were being built up meticulously and step by step within it," adding diverse interpretations of the film's narrative and characters that focused the audience's attention and intensified the fervor.
At the same time, updates on Bong Joon-ho, who has lost a noticeable amount of weight compared with before, also drew attention. After the Hollywood blockbuster "Mickey 17" (2025), he is preparing an animation as his next project, and he is making his first full-length animated film in his directing career. It deals with deep-sea subject matter and is known by the title "The Valley." In particular, compared with "Parasite" and "Mickey 17," Bong Joon-ho's abdominal fat and chin fat have disappeared, and his face appeared noticeably thin as his weight dropped dramatically.<
[Photo] Plus M Entertainment, Forged Films
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