Singaporean production company Boku Films has signed an MOU with Korea’s Chungeorahm to co-produce and invest $5m in the Korean sequel to hit monster movie The Host.

Chungeorahm CEO Choi Yong-bae signed the deal with Boku Films head Kelvin Tong last night at the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) during the Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) Singapore Spotlight event.

Also present was Kenneth Tan, head of Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA), which will contribute 50% or $2.5m of Boku Films’ investment.

The original The Host, directed by Bong Joon-ho, clocked up 13 million admissions on local release in 2006 and remains Korea’s top box office hit to date. It was also sold to 134 countries.

A director is yet to be announced for the sequel. Manga artist Kang Full previously worked on drafts of a script, but Choi notes that the story has been evolving past that.

The film’s projected budget is KW12bn, which when first announced last year was “in the $12m range”, but fluctuating exchange rates have brought the budget in dollar terms down to $9.6m.

“We’re pleased to be working with Boku Films and the MDA on this global co-production,” Choi Yong-bae told Screendaily. “SK Telecom has already invested funds for development and planning of the sequel, which we aim to have completed in 2010.”

Chungeorahm previously did a deal with Ning Hao’s Stoneman Films for a Chinese sequel.

“We’ll call the Korean sequel The Host 2, not to be confused with the China version, which right now we can just refer to as the Chinese sequel,” notes Choi. “I’ll be meeting with Ning Hao next month to discuss further developments.”

Boku Films has also seen a top box office hit in Singapore with The Maid and produced the award-winning Rule #1 while MDA is spearheading an initiative to make Singapore an international media hub with support for films, TV, music, games and animation.

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