New Line Wins Producing Rights to ‘Train To Busan’ Remake

New Line Cinema came out on top against five film studios for the English language remake rights of Korean zombie horror film Train To Busan. 

The apocalyptic horror movie adaptation rights were sought after by Hollywood studios such as Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate, Screen Gems and New Line. The final bid was between Lionsgate and New Line, with the latter eventually bringing home the gold.

James Wan, director of popular horror franchises such as Saw and Insidious series, will be producing the movie with his production banner Atomic Monster. Joining Wan is The Nun scribe Gary Dauberman, who will be writing the script. French film company Gaumont will also be producing alongside Atomic Monster’s president of production Michael Clear.

Both Wan and Dauberman have backgrounds in the horror film industry. Wan’s The Conjuring series’ latest horror installment, The Nun, earned 100 million dollars to date. He also directed the upcoming DC superhero film Aquaman, which debuts in December. Dauberman penned films such as Annabelle (also directing the third sequel), Stephen King’s It as well as its upcoming sequel It: Chapter Two.

Terms of the English remake were not disclosed, and further details of the production have yet to be released.

The original Train To Busan movie was directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starred Gong Yoo in 2016. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The movie hit box office success internationally when it was released.

The story is set in South Korea in the middle of a zombie virus crisis. It centers on Seok-woo (Gong Yoo), a divorced workaholic who takes his young daughter on a train ride from Seoul to Busan to see her mother for her birthday. A woman with a zombie bite mark then boards the train and begins spreading the virus among the other passengers.