Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning, a new animated occult fantasy feature based on Woo-hyuk Lee’s best-selling fantasy novel Toemarok, will be introduced to international buyers by Korean film sales agency Finecut at the European Film Market. EFM 2024 will be held February 15-21 as part of the Berlinale in Germany.
One of S. Korea’s most successful novels of all time, Toemarok sold nearly 10 million copies following its release in 1994. Its webtoon adaptation, known in English as The Soul Guardians, by writer Woon and illustrator Hyeop Lee, has garnered 238 million views online since debuting in 2021.
The story centers on a team of four individuals enlisted in a spiritual war: and excommunicated priest, a young woman with telekinetic abilities, a man who lost his sister to an evil spirit and a child prodigy in arcane magic. The film will follow their first adventure together, as they set out to help doctor-turned-priest Father Park protect a child harboring great powers from the influence of a secretive sect and its corrupt leader.
Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning marks the feature directorial debut of animator Dongchul Kim, and is produced by Locus Animation Studios (Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs), which is applying a “cartoon render” combining 2D anime aesthetics with 3D CGI depth. Finecut has picked up the title for release in more than 120 countries and will debut the first footage from the project at EFM.
[Source: Variety]
