Korean thriller Time To Hunt cleared for Netflix release after court injunction is lifted

By Sam Barsanti | April 16, 2020 | 7:18pm

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Korean thriller Time To Hunt cleared for Netflix release after court injunction is lifted

Photo: Mario Tama

According to Deadline, Netflix has been cleared to release Korean crime movie Time To Hunt, which as been stuck in limbo after its original theatrical run in Korea was canceled back in February due to the spread of the coronavirus. Netflix stepped in and made a deal with production company Little Big Pictures for the global rights to the movie and scheduled it to launch on April 10 in multiple countries, but just before that could happen, distribution company Contents Panda filed an injunction against Little Big Pictures, reminding the production company that it had already given Contents Panda international distribution rights and that deals had already been made in several different markets. Basically, it sounds like Little Big Pictures made a better deal, getting the movie on Netflix and in the many countries where Netflix operates, and then said “yeah, never mind” to the other buyers outside of Korea that had made deals with Contents Panda.

Now, Little Big Pictures has released a statement apologizing for “the confusion being caused” and explaining a “smooth agreement with minimal cost” has been reached between it and Contents Panda, which also put out a statement saying it has “negotiated compensation” with the distributors. Netflix has now also confirmed that it will still release Time To Hunt at some future date, but a specific window wasn’t given. The takeaway here, other than that people around the world will be able to watch this Korean thriller at some point, is that the coronavirus is having weird ripple effects in how movies are made and distributed. Also, Time To Hunt has a bit of timely relevance, with Deadline saying it’s about a group of young people in “a near future” who “commit crimes to survive in a Korea hit by financial crisis.” You hear that, young people? Commit crimes!