Screen-to-Stage: Yeon Sang-ho’s “Gunche” Is Born as an Immersive Theater Experience Launching in May

Horror that tears through the screen—“Gunche,” Yeon Sang-ho’s creation

Officially invited to the 79th Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight Screening section and spotlighted around the world, director “Yeon Sang-ho”’s new work “Gunche” breaks free from the spatial limits of a traditional theater and welcomes audiences with a massive immersive performance.

The true face of evolving fear: the arrival of “Evolving Zombies”

“Gunche” is a blockbuster thriller depicting a grim struggle by survivors trapped inside a building sealed off by an untraceable infection incident, battling against the infected. In particular, through this project, director “Yeon Sang-ho” teases the unprecedented appearance of “Evolving Zombies”—a new kind of zombie that updates its own functions based on collective intelligence—pushing the expectations of global movie fans to new heights.

Audience-participation immersive show “Inside the Play” launches in May

In May, “Lotte Cultureworks” will officially launch “Inside the Play”, an audience-participation immersive performance inspired by the distinctive world of “Gunche”. This is a rebranding program that further evolves the immersive show “Charlotte the Play”, which last year used the entire Lotte Cinema Sindorim theater as its stage and set an overwhelming record with every performance sold out. Rather than staying in the passive viewing-seat position, audiences will leave that conventional spot and move through the theater while following the actors’ performances and the tightly woven storyline. In the process, they will experience a heightened sense of immersion as if they’ve been dropped right into the middle of a brutal infection outbreak inside the film.

Infinite expansion of K-content: partnering with China’s “Focus Stage” for global entry

“Lotte Cultureworks” is accelerating its push into global markets by building on its explosive success in Korea. Last month, it swiftly signed a business agreement (MOU) with China’s prominent performance production company “Focus Stage”, and has begun full-scale preparations to transplant the core format of “Inside the Play” into theaters across China.

A representative from “Lotte Cultureworks” said about the project, “This is a symbolic attempt to expand the traditional space of a movie theater from a simple viewing venue into an innovative immersive experience space,” and added, “We will continuously strengthen our lineup of experiential content with standout competitiveness not only in the domestic market, but also on the global stage.”