Production notes

Writer and director Na Hong-jin was reportedly originally collaborating on the project with Alfonso Cuarón. It is Na Hong-jin's first since The Wailing in 2016. He has described how the film developed from an idea he had in 2017 or 2018 of a single image that came to him whilst eating in a restaurant. It is produced by Forged Films, with Plus M Entertainment handling international sales. Cinematography is by Hong Kyung-pyo who previously collaborated with Na on The Wailing. The budget for the film was reportedly higher than any previous Korean film.

The main cast includes Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, as well as Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender, who do not speak Korean in the film. It marks the first on-screen collaboration for real-life married couple Vikander and Fassbender since the 2016 film The Light Between Oceans. In April 2023, Taylor Russell and Cameron Britton joined the main cast. The final cast includes Eum Moon-suk, Lee Sang-hee, and Im Hyun-sik in supporting roles. Although Um Tae-goo and Lee Kyu-hyung were initially reported to be cast in May 2023, they do not appear in the final production and are absent from all official promotional materials and release credits.

Principal photography took place in 2023 in Bukpyeong-myeon. Filming locations included Namchang in Haenam County. Filming also took place in Romania in the area around the Retezat Mountains. A sequence shot with natural daylight involving a horse riding through a forest was filmed in Retezat National Park. Vikander and Russell had completed their filming block by July 2024.

On its opening weekend, Hope had 1.5 million admissions in South Korea, grossing $11.3 million at the box office, topping Minions & Monsters debut weekend ($2.1 million) and Moana second weekend ($1.2 million). By 2 August 2026, the film had grossed over $35 million at the local box office. Upon its release in North America on September 9, 2026, the film grossed $1.1 million on its opening day, ranking second at the box office behind The Odyssey. It went on to gross $3.2 million in its opening weekend in North America, before falling to $1.0 million in its second weekend. In North America, it is the third-highest grossing Korean film of all time behind The King of Kings (2025) and Parasite (2019).

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 174 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website’s consensus reads: "An unhinged sci-fi epic that boasts awe-inspiring production design and amusingly quaint visual effects, Na Hong-jin's Hope gets the adrenaline pumping whenever it focuses on the unraveling of its hapless human heroes." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on reviews from 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Nicholas Barber from BBC gave the movie four out of five stars.