The popular Korean drama "Kidnapping Day" will be remade in the UK by A Story and SHUK, a subsidiary of SHPG.

In 2023, the ENA original drama "Kidnapping Day" loved by viewers in Korea and abroad will be remade in the UK. Today (15th), A Story, a global comprehensive content studio that owns the IP of the same work, announced that it will co-produce the remake of "Kidnapping Day" with SHUK, the first overseas subsidiary of SHPG (Studio Hamburg Production Group), one of the largest media groups in Europe. The remake version of "Kidnapping Day" is already in the process of creating a script, and discussions are also underway for full-scale production. The ENA original drama "Kidnapping Day," starring actors Yun Gesan, Park Song-hoon, and Yuna, is a thriller comedy drama that depicts the special cooperation between a cunning kidnapper and an 11-year-old genius girl. It was broadcast on the ENA channel in Korea in the second half of 2023. It was also selected as the "Best Korean Drama of 2023" by the American economic magazine "Forbes." A Story says that the same work has been proposed for a remake by many production companies around the world since it was broadcast in 2023. This time, SHUK, which is co-producing, is a UK subsidiary of SHPG, which produces TV series and movies targeting Europe and the world. Recently, it produced the black comedy drama "The Cleaner" (script/actor: Greg Davis) on the BBC One channel in the UK and "The Heist Before Christmas" on Sky UK. The script for the UK version of "Kidnapping Day" is written by Irish writer Ronan Blaney. He wrote the movie "Savage Woman Beautiful Punishment" in 2019 and "The Heist Before Christmas" on Sky UK, which he collaborated with SHUK for the first time in 2023. He was nominated for an Oscar for the drama "Boogaloo and Graham" in 2015. Expectations are high for the remake by a top-class writer who won the Short Film Award at the British Academy Awards. Lee Sang-bek, representative of A Story, said, "We will produce a drama that will be successful in the global market with A Story's IP in collaboration with top creators and actors in the UK. We aim for a second leap on the global stage of K-drama." He said, "We are very happy and honored to produce with SHUK, known for its high-quality works, and the popular writer Ronan Blaney. Based on the experience and knowledge gained through this joint production, we want to collaborate with even more top-class global staff in the future." Michael Lehmann, representative of SHPG, said, "We are pleased that SHUK has teamed up with A Story to adapt this hit series that has been well received to English-speaking viewers. This work has all the elements to achieve global success, so we want to further enhance SHUK's position as a global drama production company through this." Vivien Muller-Rommel, managing director of SHUK, said, "We have been watching the wonderful results of the Korean market for a long time. I fell in love with the ambitious series that A Story creates as soon as I saw it. I am very happy to collaborate again with the creative studio A Story and the incredibly talented Ronan Blaney. Ronan has a special ability to captivate viewers with warm and gentle works that are needed in today's challenging times. I want to start shooting as soon as possible." Ronan Blaney, the screenwriter in charge, said, "I am a big fan of Korean dramas. In particular, 'Kidnapping Day' drew warm and tense stories, and made my heart leap. I want to make this amazing work where absolute violence and absolute love meet a work that captivates viewers." Utilizing the IP owned by the production company and co-producing with overseas partners on-site has great significance in the K-drama industry. Not only can we share the revenue from the results of co-production beyond the method of simply selling the rights to the remake version, but we can also share the revenue from the distribution of the drama produced on-site overseas and other businesses.