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Netflix Acquires Live-Action Jin-Roh Film
posted on by Karen Ressler
Variety reported on Tuesday that Netflix has acquired streaming rights to Illang: The Wolf Brigade, Kim Jee-woon's live-action film of Hiroyuki Okiura and Production I.G's Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade anime film, outside of Korea. Netflix has not yet revealed a release date.
The film opened in South Korea and Japan on July 25. Filming took place from August 2017 to March.
Kim directed the film at Lewis Pictures. The cast includes Gang Dong-won, Han Hyo-joo, Jung Woo-sung, Kim Mu-yeol, Han Ye-ri, and Choi Min-ho. Union Investment Partners, Warner Brothers Pictures, and Warner Brothers Korea produced the film.
Variety describes the story of the Korean film:
Set in 2029, it follows the actions of a special forces squad set up to quell a terrorist sect which opposes the formation of a joint government between North and South Korea.
The Korean media portal Osen reported in December 2012 that Kim was "under consideration" for the Jin-Roh adaptation, although the film had not yet been green-lit at the time. Screen International then said in January 2013 that Kim's next project after The Last Stand (a 2013 American film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) "is most likely going to be a Korean film – a remake of Mamoru Oshii's Jin-Roh that takes place in Korea." Since then, Kim directed Warner Brothers Korea's 2016 film The Age of Shadows.
The anime film written by Oshii (Patlabor, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence) takes place in an alternate history of Japan, where a Special Forces team is tasked with preserving peace in Japan during a time of civil unrest. Special Forces member Kazuki Fuse witnesses a suicide bombing by a young girl, and is forced to undergo retraining within the unit.
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