The first still from Bong Joon Ho's animated feature debut, 'Ally.' V8 Pistons Pictures Celebrated Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho’s much-anticipated foray into 3D animated filmmaking is beginning to come into focus. The multi-Oscar winner and his producers on Thursday revealed a title, story summary, target release date and even a first-look image of the mysterious project, which he’s been developing since 2019 but has kept quiet about until now.
The film is titled Ally, and it will be completed in the first half of 2027 for a worldwide theatrical release later that year. Bong co-wrote the screenplay with 36-year-old filmmaker Jason Yu, a protégé who directed the well-received Korean horror feature Sleep from 2023. Bong has partnered with younger screenwriters before, most notably his former production assistant Han Jin Won, with whom he co-wrote his 2019 history-making Oscar winner, Parasite.
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Financing and distribution for Ally are being handled by CJ ENM, Penture Invest and Pathé, with Barunson C&C overseeing production. The film is produced by Seo Woo-sik, marking his third collaboration with Bong following Mother (2009) and Okja (2017).
Bong and his producers also shared a relatively detailed overview of the film’s premise and lead character for the first time. Their official summary reads: “At the heart of the story lies Ally, a curious and endearing piglet squid living in the uncharted depths of the South Pacific Ocean. She dreams of one day seeing the sun and becoming the star of a wildlife documentary. But when a mysterious aircraft sinks into the ocean, her peaceful world is suddenly thrown into danger. Alongside her colorful and loyal — yet unlikely — companions, Ally is thrust into an extraordinary journey that will take her all the way to the surface. Inspired by remarkable real-life marine creatures, the film explores themes of friendship and courage, as encounters between humans and the creatures of the deep reshape both worlds. Set against visually stunning underwater worlds and epic action sequences, the film is a family adventure blending humor and emotion.”
The project represents Bong’s first animated feature and one of his most ambitious undertakings to date. He has spoken of the film as a passion project dating back nearly a decade, inspired in part by Claire Nouvian’s photo book The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss. Bong hand-drew the entire storyboard himself, as is his custom, and has described the production process as “a very wild and tough job,” while working on it in hotel rooms between festival jury duties and press tours for Mickey 17. Although a departure from his live-action filmmaking, the new film continues his penchant for genre adventurism, following the serial killer procedural Memories of Murder (2003), the creature feature The Host (2006), the psychological thriller Mother (2009), the dystopian sci-fi Snowpiercer (2013) and his Oscar-winning class satire Parasite (2019).
The creative team draws from 12 countries and includes animation supervisor Jae Hyung Kim (Toy Story 4, Inside Out), supervising producer David Lipman (the Shrek franchise) and production designer Marcin Jakubowski (Klaus). DNEG, the VFX powerhouse behind Inception and Dune, is handling the 3D animation.
Pathé will distribute in France, Benelux, Switzerland and West Africa, and will handle international sales excluding Japan, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — territories that CJ ENM and Penture will manage directly. CJ and Penture will also distribute in South Korea, Vietnam, Turkey and Indonesia. For the territories not already taken, Ally will be a hot title at the upcoming Marché du Film in Cannes.
The announcement marks a significant reveal for a project that has been the subject of intense industry and fan curiosity ever since reports first emerged that the Parasite director was venturing into animation. Korean industry chatter has suggested the film’s budget could be as high as $60 million, which would make it the most expensive film the country has ever produced.
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