It has been more than two years since New Line Cinema successfully won the rights to the American remake of 2016’s hit South Korean zombie film Train to Busan in a competitive bidding war against major studios, and now it looks like the project is finally making some progress. According to Deadline, acclaimed Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto (May the Devil Take You, The Night Comes for Us) is currently in negotiations to direct producer James Wan’s long-in-development Train to Busan remake.
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Train to Busan was directed by Yeon Sang-ho. It follows the story of a workaholic businessman and father who accompanies his doe-eyed daughter on the titular train ride to see her mother at the very same time that a malevolent virus breaks out, turning the populace into ravenous, milk-eyed ghouls. When one of those blood-sucking zombies gets on the train, Hell is unleashed and the father must team up with a gaggle of survivors to fight the dead and protect his child.
The 2016 film set the box office ablaze across Asia, smashed box office records in South Korea and became the biggest Korean film of all time. It starred Gong Yoo (The Age of Shadows), Jung Yu-mi (Manhole), Ma Dong-seok (Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days ), Choi Woo-sik (Big Match. Okja), An So-hee (Hellcats), Kim Eui-sung (Assassination), and Kim Su-an (The Battleship Island, Along With the Gods: Two Worlds).
Last year, director Yeon debuted its second installment titled Train to Busan: Peninsula which featured an entirely new cast led by Gang Dong-won and Lee Jung-hyun.
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The American remake of Train to Busan will be written by Gary Dauberman (Annabelle, The Nun), who is also producing through his Coin Operated banner along with James Wan via his Atomic Monster and Gaumont’s Nicolas Atlan and Terry Kalagian. It is also executive produced by Judson Scott, Sidonie Dumas, Christophe Riandee, and Johanna Byer.
(Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Sundance)
