Kim Hyun-joo and Bae Hyeon-seong's Yeon Sang-ho Thriller 'Paradise Lost' Opens in Korean Theaters Today After Selling to 118 Countries

Yeon Sang-ho’s new psychological thriller “Paradise Lost” opens in theaters across South Korea today, October 21, with a rare distinction already in the bag: distributor CJ ENM says the film has fully recovered its entire net production cost through overseas pre-sales alone.

The film was sold to 118 countries before its domestic release, with overseas revenue alone surpassing the net production budget of roughly 500 million won, according to CJ ENM via SBS Entertainment News and Money Today. The Korean Film Council’s ticketing network also put “Paradise Lost” at No. 1 among Korean films in advance ticket reservations on October 20, trailing only the Japanese animation “Chiikawa the Movie” overall, per Kyungbuk Ilbo citing KOBIS data.

“Paradise Lost” centers on Ryu So-young (Kim Hyun-joo), a mother who lost her son nine years ago in the disappearance of a camping-school bus, only to have Ryu Seon-woo (Bae Hyeon-seong) — long believed dead — miraculously return. Newsis describes it as a psychological thriller about what unfolds when the boy comes home. It premiered at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival’s Special Presentations section, where all four screenings sold out its roughly 2,300 seats, and also played the 31st Busan International Film Festival’s Gala Presentation to sold-out houses. It has additionally been invited to the 46th Hawaii International Film Festival’s Korean cinema special section, where its US premiere is set for November 1 and 4.

The film is Yeon Sang-ho’s latest low-budget experiment, completed in just 14 shooting sessions with cast and crew reportedly accepting reduced guarantees in exchange for profit-sharing deals. The director’s recent track record gives the model credibility: his May release “Gunche” drew 5.95 million moviegoers, while his 2025 film “Eolgul,” made for just 200 million won, attracted 1.08 million admissions nationwide, according to SBS.

Kim Hyun-joo and Bae Hyeon-seong are spending release day on the promotional circuit, with stage greetings at CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall, Megabox Coex and Lotte Cinema World Tower — the latter including a GV session with actor Kim Shin-rok — per Newsis. The pair also appeared on SBS PowerFM’s “12 O’Clock Chu Hyun-young” radio show at noon on the 21st.

On the show, Kim Hyun-joo cleared up an anecdote about going camping behind the director’s back, saying she had not kept it from the “Paradise Lost” team at all. “It wasn’t the ‘Paradise Lost’ team. I went with the ‘Hellbound’ directing team and the martial arts team — the ones I did a lot of action with,” she explained. “I didn’t go in secret. I just didn’t tell anyone. I went quietly,” she said, drawing laughs. The actress added that she had recently gone camping alone on a whim in the rain and came back refreshed.