Mubi has acquired rights to Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice for a good chunk of the world, including Latin America, the UK, Ireland, Benelux, Spain, Turkey, India, Australia/New Zealand, and South East Asia. Cinéart will handle the theatrical release in Benelux in partnership with Mubi.
The acquisition follows Neon’s announcement yesterday that it had secured North American rights to the film. Mubi and Neon have been sympatico on several arthouse titles this year. In Cannes, Mubi nabbed multiple international rights on Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, and Oliver Laxe’s Sirat, all of which Neon has for domestic release.
No Other Choice, currently in post-production, is based on Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Ax. The cast is led by Korean stars Lee Byung-hun (Squid Game) and Son Ye-jin (A Moment to Remember), and features Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Yeon-seok. The story centers on Man-su (Lee), a middle-aged man who, after being laid off from his paper company job of 25 years, takes drastic steps in pursuit of employment by systematically killing the other candidates for the job.
Park adapted the novel for the screen together with Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar and Jahye Lee.
No Other Choice is produced by Park and Back Jisun for Moho Film, along with Michèle Ray Gavras and Alexandre Gavras for KG Productions. Miky Lee of CJ Group serves as executive producer. CJ ENM, which financed the project, negotiated the deal with Mubi.
This marks the second collaboration between Mubi and Park, following their release of Park’s Decision to Leave (2022) in multiple territories, including the U.S. That film became Park’s highest-grossing North American release, earning around $2.2 million, surpassing Stoker and The Handmaiden.
Park is represented by WME, Industry Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox. Lee is repped by UTA, BH Entertainment, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Son is repped by MSTeam Entertainment.