Editorial · Article
Hope (2026) Review: Our Scores, the CGI Question, Is It Scary?
Now in theaters · Neon · Directed by Na Hong-jin
By Alan Willey · · Updated
Hope is in US theaters now, having opened Wednesday, September 9, 2026, distributed by Neon. It is the first film in a decade from Na Hong-jin, the Korean director of The Chaser, The Yellow Sea, and The Wailing, and it is reported to be the most expensive Korean film ever made.
In the remote border village of Hope Harbor, a police chief and a rookie officer are called to deal with a creature that begins attacking the community after wildfires cut the village off. Hwang Jung-min and Hoyeon play the officers, Zo In-sung co-stars, and Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton play extraterrestrial visitors. The film premiered in the main competition at Cannes in May 2026 and opened in South Korea on July 15 with the largest advance-ticket total of any 2026 release, eight weeks before the US date.
We have now seen it. Hope scores 7.6 Overall on Watch Darkly, with Atmosphere at 7.8 and Gore at 7.0 against a Fear of 4.3. It is a creature epic with a strong sense of place and a lot of blood, and it is not built to frighten you. Our full five-axis breakdown is on the film page. If you have already seen it, we have a separate full ending breakdown that spoils everything, including the scene in the credits.
Release dates: Cannes, Korea in July, US in September
Hope premiered in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2026, where it drew a six-minute standing ovation and sharply divided reviews. It opened in South Korean theaters on July 15, 2026, through Plus M Entertainment, with the largest presale total of any 2026 release: 592,855 advance tickets and a 68.1 percent share of all presales nationwide by the morning of opening day, per Korean Film Council ticketing data. Its North American premiere was at the New York Asian Film Festival on July 20, where it screened as the centerpiece film.
Neon opened it in US theaters on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. The US trailer arrived on July 9. No US streaming plan has been announced.
What is Hope about?
Hope is set in Hope Harbor, a remote village near the Korean border. After wildfires knock out communications, village police chief Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) and rookie officer Sung-ae (Hoyeon) are called to deal with a creature that has begun attacking the community, while a local hunting party sets out after it and finds the roles reversed. The official synopsis describes a chain of ignorance and human conflict that escalates into "a tragedy of cosmic proportions."
The scale is unusual for Korean cinema. A reported budget of more than 50 billion won makes Hope the most expensive Korean film ever made, and it sold to roughly 200 territories before release. Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton play the extraterrestrial characters, credited under names like Ma'veyyo and J'aur. Michael Abels, the composer of Get Out, Us, and Nope, wrote the score.
Is Hope connected to The Wailing?
Not by the story, no. Hope is an original screenplay, not a sequel or a spin-off, and nothing in it continues The Wailing.
What carries over is behind the camera. Hope is Na Hong-jin's first feature since The Wailing in 2016, and he wrote, directed, and produced it. Hwang Jung-min, who played the shaman in The Wailing, leads the cast here as the village police chief, and cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, who shot The Wailing, is back too. The register is a good deal different, though. The Wailing was a supernatural horror film that kept its evil unexplained, and Hope is a science-fiction creature film built around a threat you can see and a lot of large-scale action. Our scores reflect that. We give The Wailing a Fear of 7.0 and an Atmosphere of 9.5, against 4.3 and 7.8 for Hope. If you are going in for that same slow occult dread, this is a louder and less frightening film.
Is Hope in English? Subtitles, dubbing, and the alien language
Hope is a Korean-language film with some English dialogue. Its Western cast members do not play English-speaking characters in the usual sense: Fassbender, Vikander, Russell, and Britton play extraterrestrials who speak an invented language created for the film, which is subtitled for every audience, including in Korea.
The US release screens in Korean and the alien language with English subtitles. Neon did not announce an English dub, and its foreign-language releases typically screen subtitled.
Is Hope scary?
Not very, by our scoring. Hope takes a Fear of 4.3 on Watch Darkly. For comparison, we give The Wailing a 7.0 and Train to Busan a 6.5. Its Atmosphere is 7.8, so the film is considerably stronger on place and mood than on fright.
We counted two jump scares in the whole film while watching it, and both are minor. That is very few for a creature film of this length. Gore is 7.0, above The Wailing at 6.0 and Train to Busan at 6.5. Intensity is 6.0.
The festival reception was split. It holds an 80% Rotten Tomatoes score across 40 reviews and a 68 on Metacritic, with the praise going to the action filmmaking and most of the criticism going to the visual effects. The Hollywood Reporter called it a rip-roaring creature feature with instant cult-classic energy; IndieWire was much harsher. Our five-axis scores, and the timestamps for both jump scares, are on the film page.
Is the CGI in Hope really that bad?
Some critics say yes, and some say it does not matter. IndieWire's Cannes review called the creature work some of the worst CGI since The Mummy Returns, and a run of early Letterboxd reviews from the festival singled out the effects as the film's weak point. The Hollywood Reporter's first reaction called it a rip-roaring creature feature with instant cult-classic energy, and several of the positive reviews concede the effects while arguing the action filmmaking carries the film anyway.
The argument did not slow it down at home. Hope opened in South Korea on July 15 with the biggest advance-ticket total of any 2026 release. We have now seen it and scored it 7.6 Overall, so the effects did not cost it much in our assessment. The full five-axis breakdown is on the film page.
Related films on Watch Darkly
The Wailing(2016)
Na Hong-jin's previous film, and the reason Hope carries the expectations it does. A rural Korean community, an outside threat, and a police officer in over his head, played for slow occult dread where Hope goes for scale.
Train to Busan(2016)
The reference point for Korean genre filmmaking at blockbuster scale. Another mainstream crowd film built on ordinary people under attack and the choices that fracture a group.
Nope(2022)
An alien spectacle that shares Hope's interest in awe and showmanship over pure fright. Michael Abels wrote the score for both films.
The Mist(2007)
A small community, an inexplicable threat, and the people inside the group doing about as much damage to each other as the thing outside does to them. Of anything in our catalog, it is the closest to how Hope works: a misunderstanding that keeps getting worse until the survivors are the real danger.
Common questions
- When does Hope (2026) come out?
- Hope opened in US theaters on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, through Neon. It opened in South Korea on July 15, 2026, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2026.
- Is Hope (2026) the same movie as Hope (2013)?
- No. Hope (2026) is Na Hong-jin's science-fiction creature film with Hwang Jung-min and Michael Fassbender. Hope (2013), also known as So-won, is an unrelated Korean drama directed by Lee Joon-ik about a family rebuilding after a crime against their young daughter. The two share nothing but the English title.
- Is Hope connected to The Wailing?
- Not by story. Hope is an original screenplay with no narrative link to The Wailing. It is Na Hong-jin's first film since The Wailing in 2016, and it reunites him with actor Hwang Jung-min and cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, but it is a science-fiction creature film rather than supernatural horror.
- Is Hope in English or subtitled?
- Hope is a Korean-language film with some English dialogue, and its alien characters speak an invented language created for the film. US theaters screen it in Korean and the alien language with English subtitles. Neon did not announce an English dub.
- Do Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander speak Korean in Hope?
- No. They play extraterrestrials who speak an invented language written for the film, shown with subtitles in every market. Fassbender plays Ma'veyyo and Vikander plays J'aur, alongside Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton as fellow visitors.
- Is Hope (2026) scary?
- Not very. We give Hope a Fear of 4.3 on Watch Darkly, against 7.0 for The Wailing, and we counted two jump scares in the whole film, both minor. It is a creature feature and an action film more than a sustained scare machine, and it scores higher on atmosphere at 7.8 and gore at 7.0 than on fright. Full scores are on the Hope film page.
- Who is in the cast of Hope?
- Hwang Jung-min as village police chief Bum-seok, Hoyeon as rookie officer Sung-ae, and Zo In-sung as Sung-ki, with Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton as the extraterrestrials. Um Tae-goo and Lee Kyu-hyung also appear.
- Is Hope based on a book or a true story?
- No. Hope is an original screenplay written, directed, and produced by Na Hong-jin.
- How much did Hope cost to make?
- Reported figures conflict. The Korea Times puts the budget above 50 billion won, about $33 million; Forbes reports more than 70 billion won, roughly $46 million; and AFP wire coverage said around 30 million euros, about $35 million. Every account agrees it is the most expensive Korean film ever made. No official number has been confirmed.
- How long is Hope, and what is it rated?
- Hope runs 157 minutes, about 2 hours and 37 minutes. The Cannes Film Festival's listing gave 160 minutes for the festival screening. In South Korea it is rated 15. No US rating has been announced; we'll update this page when one lands.
- Where can I watch Hope?
- In US theaters now, through Neon. It opened in South Korea on July 15, 2026. No streaming or home-rental date has been announced in either market. Neon's recent horror releases have generally reached a streaming partner or digital rental within roughly 90 days of theatrical, so late 2026 is a reasonable expectation. We will update this once a date is set.
- Is the ending of Hope explained?
- The ending has been one of the most argued-about parts of the film since Cannes, and Korean coverage around the domestic release reported the same split. Na Hong-jin addressed it at the July 6 Seoul press conference, saying the story "possesses completeness." We keep this page spoiler-free, so we won't describe it here. If you have seen it, our [full ending breakdown](/articles/hope-2026-ending-explained) covers the final chase, what the aliens say once the film subtitles them, and the scene in the credits. The film page also carries a spoiler-gated note on how it ends.
- Does Hope have jump scares?
- Two, and both are minor. We counted them while watching the film. That is very few for a creature film of this length; Hope builds its horror out of scale, blood and sustained action rather than jolts. The timestamps for both are on the Hope film page.
- Does Hope have a post-credits scene?
- Yes, one, and it arrives after the first block of credits rather than at the very end, so stay through the first credits roll. It concerns one of the main characters. We keep this page spoiler-free, so the description is in our separate ending breakdown at watchdarkly.com/articles/hope-2026-ending-explained.
- Will there be a Hope 2?
- A sequel script already exists. At Cannes in May 2026, Na Hong-jin confirmed a follow-up story and script are written and said he would like to shoot it if he gets the opportunity, per Screen Daily and Variety. In a 2023 Ilgan Sports interview he said the story could grow into a trilogy. Nothing has been greenlit or dated.
- When did predictions on Hope close?
- Predictions closed when the film opened in US theaters on September 9, 2026. They are locked now. Signed-in users can rate Hope on all five Watch Darkly axes instead.