Bong Joon-Ho came to the world’s attention with his wonderful 2007 monster movie The Host. The director has followed up his hit adaptation of Snowpiercer with a return to the genre in Okja, but it sounds like it’s going to be quite a different take on the monster film.
Entertainment Weekly has got new pictures and storyboards from Okja, which focuses on the story of Mija, played by Ahn Seo-hyun — a young Korean girl trying to keep her best friend, the titular monster (described as “a very shy and introverted animal” by the director), away from the prying eyes of a sinister corporation that wants to capture it.
Although we don’t get to actually see the titular big new monster yet, the new images do feature both Mija and another protagonist from the film, Red, played by Lily Collins. According to Joon-Ho, she’s a bit of an activist that ties into the film’s themes beyond the big ol’ monster stuff:
Red is part of a group of animal rights activists that figure into the story. On Wall Street, it’s the heart of capitalism. On the surface is a story about an animal, but it’s essentially a story about capitalism.
Turns out, the real monster was inside of us all along! Okja is set to debut simultaneously on Netflix and with a limited theatre release sometime in 2017.