Author: Loomis (Kim Song-ho) Source: Money Today Star News, The Hankyoreh, Hankyoung , various

You can`t keep a good monster down: Gwoemul will return in THE HOST 2. © 2006 Chungeorahm Film

Chungeorahm Film, the South Korean motion picture company of THE HOST (Gwoemul) fame, will produce a sequel to the monster hit. Producer Choi Yong-bae (also CEO of Chungeoram), announced in mid-June that he will release the sequel, tentatively titled GWOEMUL 2 (Creature 2), within 2 or 3 years. It has been officially confirmed that Bong Joon-ho, the writer and director of the original film, will not return. Producer Choi has some rather interesting plans for the sequel. For the first phase, there will be two or three `pilots`; 10-minute short films. The purpose of these pilots is to attract financiers, to develop visual effects technology in South Korea, and to find a potential director for the sequel. There is no word yet if the pilot films will act as a bridge between the first film and the second, or will be supplementary stories. It is not yet confirmed who will direct the pilot shorts, and it is not known if a single director will helm all the pilots or if different directors will handle each episode. Choi indicated that, because the original film was such a huge hit, many candidate directors feel there is too much pressure to accept the sequel assignment.

THE HOST 2 producer Choi Yong-bae poses next to a poster for THE CUT. © 2007 Chungeorahm Film

However, the first director to helm one of the pilots was recently determined. He is Son Tae-woong, whose debut feature THE CUT (Haebuhak Gyoshil, a.k.a. ANATOMY CLASS) has just been released in South Korea by Chungeoram Film. Son was chosen because Chungeoram was impressed by his directorial style in THE CUT. He is a close friend and classmate at KAFA (Korean Academy of Film Arts) of Bong Jun-ho. He shot Bong`s short film INCOHERENCE (1995), and Bong did the same for Son`s short PILTONG NAKHA SHILHUM (literally in English, A PENCIL CASE FALLING EXPERIMENT). Later, they co-wrote Bong`s feature film debut BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE (Flandersui Gae, 2000). According to Son, one of the local visual effects companies has already begun working on the first pilot. Chungeoram plans to show the pilots to the public before the end of the year. On a related note, producer Choi Yong-bae mentioned that there was some consideration for a THE HOST TV series. This is believed to be in the very early stages of conception and there no official announcement yet regarding a possible television show. The production budget of GWOEMUL 2 will be 10 billion Korean won (approximately $10.9 million US), the same as the original film.