'Train to Busan' director Yeon Sang-ho wants to make a low-budget film every year
The director behind the 2016 blockbuster ‘Train to Busan’ and dark fantasy series ‘Hellbound’ (2021-24), discusses his new low-budget thriller ‘Paradise Lost’ and his goal of making a low-budget film annually.
After conquering the box office with zombie blockbuster “Train to Busan” (2016) and topping global streaming charts with “Hellbound” (2021-24), director Yeon Sang-ho has turned to something smaller: low-budget films. With his latest “Paradise Lost,” set to hit theaters on Wednesday, Yeon says he hopes to make one every year for the rest of his life.
“The biggest appeal was being able to work without too much pressure,” Yeon said during an interview in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Oct. 14.
Yeon is known for his prolific output across a wide range of genres and formats, including animation, live-action films and streaming series.
He has consistently delivered commercial hits. His first feature-length animated film, “The King of Pigs” (2011), was invited to the Directors' Fortnight section of the 65th Cannes Film Festival, while his live-action feature debut, “Train to Busan,” drew more than 10 million moviegoers in Korea. His Netflix series “Hellbound” topped global streaming charts shortly after its release, cementing the worldwide popularity of Korean content following the success of “Squid Game” (2021-25).
With such a successful and high-profile filmography, Yeon might seem an unlikely champion of low-budget filmmaking. Yet after last year's low-budget film “The Ugly,” he is returning to theaters with another low-budget film, “Paradise Lost,” just five months after the release of zombie thriller “Colony,” which premiered on May 21.
“Paradise Lost” follows So-young, portrayed by Kim Hyun-joo, a mother who loses her elementary school-aged son, Sun-woo, portrayed by Bae Hyeon-seong, in a school bus kidnapping. After the incident, she finds comfort in an AI-powered augmented reality program that perfectly recreates her son's appearance and personality. But her world is thrown into turmoil when the real Sun-woo returns alive nine years later.
A still from film “Paradise Lost”BUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Over its 100-minute runtime, the film races toward its climax through a rapid succession of events and shifts in So-young's emotional state.
With a net production budget of just 500 million won ($374,000), a fraction of the billions of won typically spent on Korean commercial films, Yeon completed filming in just 14 shooting sessions, compared to the 40 to 70 usually required for a feature film. “The Ugly” took just 13 sessions.
Some viewers may find the characters' emotional transitions somewhat abrupt, but the film's greatest strength lies in its lean, fast-paced storytelling.
“Low-budget films can be shot quickly and capture the atmosphere of the times as it is,” Yeon said. “As the film industry has become more sophisticated, the process from development to release has grown incredibly long, leaving less room for spontaneity. Low-budget filmmaking gives you freedom from that, too.”
There is also less pressure from investors and fewer concerns about breaking even.
“Paradise Lost” is targeting 500,000 admissions, though Yeon said strong overseas presales have already made the break-even point largely irrelevant.
Last year's “The Ugly” attracted 1.08 million moviegoers, way over its initial target of 500,000 admissions.
“We actually threw a party when 'The Ugly' passed the 1 million mark,” Yeon said.
Director Yeon Sang-hoCJ ENM
The success of story-driven, low-budget films is a trend that has also emerged in Hollywood, and Yeon has taken notice.
“Children's programs used to have pretty high production quality, but the YouTube videos my daughter, who's in fifth grade, watches these days are incredibly low quality,” he said. “When I looked more closely, I realized that kids today aren't particularly impressed by the sheer scale of movies like Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic World.' Instead, they'll watch something even if the production quality is poor, as long as the story is unusual or entertaining.”
Although Yeon wants to explore storytelling beyond the conventional boundaries of cinema, he still believes there is something irreplaceable about making films for theaters: the physical space itself.
“YouTube and streaming platforms are open spaces that anyone can enter, but they're also closed spaces in the sense that you can only discover what the algorithm shows you,” he said. “Having a physical space like a movie theater fundamentally changes the way you reach audiences.”
For the film industry to thrive again, Yeon believes diversity is essential — and low-budget filmmaking offers precisely that.
“In a way, movie theaters symbolize connection because people watch films together, but they also have a contradictory side as symbols of isolation,” he said. “Cinema needs to pursue diversity alongside universal appeal.”
Perhaps it is the privilege of a seasoned director who knows the formula for commercial success. Whatever the reason, Yeon's enthusiasm and ambitions for low-budget filmmaking show no signs of fading.
“There are so many advantages to low-budget filmmaking that I honestly can't think of many disadvantages,” he said. “I'd love to try working on an even smaller scale. For example, I'd like to capture that distinctive texture of independent films from the late 1990s, shot on 6-millimeter digital video. The format's not exactly easy to work with, though.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
