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Netflix announced Thursday that it would tentatively push back the release of “Time to Hunt” after a local court prohibited the film’s distribution by Netflix outside South Korea.
“Due to the court ruling yesterday, we’ve been forced to postpone the global premiere of ‘Time to Hunt,’” Netflix said in an official statement. The global release had been scheduled for April 10.
The dystopian action film from Yoon Sung-hyun, which was originally slated to open in February, had its release date pushed back due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
On March 23, the film’s local distributor, Little Big Pictures, announced that the film would be released through Netflix in some 190 countries on April 10.
Contents Panda, the company the distributor entrusted with the foreign sales of “Time to Hunt,” alleges that Little Big Pictures unilaterally broke its contract and has threatened legal action.
Contents Panda said it had already sold the film to distributors in around 30 countries and conducted overseas marketing, including promotions ahead of the Berlinale in February, where it was screened at a special gala premiere.
While Little Big Pictures denied the accusation, stating it had been forced to terminate the contract due to unavoidable circumstances, the court accepted Contents Panda’s request for an injunction against the overseas release of “Time to Hunt.”
The court prohibited the release of the film outside Korea through any means, including sales, distribution or screening at cinemas, on online platforms or on television.
A public relations official representing Next Entertainment World, the film company affiliated with Contents Panda, told The Korea Herald that plans for the film’s overseas release were undecided as of now and that the company is “open to negotiations with Little Big Pictures.”
Kwon Ji-won, the CEO of Little Big Pictures, declined to comment on the court ruling, saying he feels “great responsibility for causing such confusion regarding the distribution of ‘Time to Hunt,’” and that he is “currently trying his best to reach the best conclusion to the situation.”
By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)
