Well Go USA has snapped up all North American rights to the anticipated South Korean disaster film Emergency Declaration, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last summer. The distributor will open the film theatrically in U.S. and Canadian theaters in 2022 following its domestic release in Korea.
Directed by Han Jae-rim (The Show Must Go On, The Face Reader), the film stars a trio of Korea’s biggest name stars: local legend Song Kang-ho in his first role since Parasite; leading man Lee Byung-hun following some recent global exposure in Squid Game; and Cannes best actress winner Jeon Do-yeon (Secret Sunshine, The Housemaid). The film marks the first time that all three Korean icons share the screen together, despite working individually with one another previously.
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The film’s plot centers around a commercial airplane that faces a never-before-experienced crisis situation while in flight — an onboard virus outbreak — which forces the pilot to pursue unconventional emergency measures.
“I wrote this screenplay, completed casting and prepared to start shooting in a world in which COVID-19 did not yet exist, but disasters always seem to strike when we least expect them,” said Han in a statement. “As a whole, I think we are now accustomed to the fact that people can sometimes lose strength and become self-centered when faced with a crisis. Thankfully, the situation worldwide is slowly improving despite the turmoil, and I hope that this film can help provide a small measure of comfort and hope to audiences who are exhausted from dealing with the pandemic.”
Rounding out Emergency Declaration‘s talent-heavy cast are Kim Nam-gil (The Shameless), Yim Si-wan (The Merciless, The Attorney), Kim So-jin (Escape from Mogadishu, Another Child) and Park Hae-joon (Believer, Arthdal Chronicles).
“Emergency Declaration is eerily timely, and the brilliance of the cast makes it almost inevitable that viewers will be forced to wonder about their own actions if faced with similar circumstances,” said Doris Pfardrescher, president and CEO at Well Go USA Entertainment. “While development and preproduction for the film were in motion well before the worldwide pandemic took hold, this combination of a sudden calamity, high-stakes moral dilemmas and an eventual “us vs. them” mentality will likely feel all too familiar to audiences around the world.”
