[HanCinema's News] Lawsuit Filed Against "The King's Letters"

By William Schwartz on 2019/07/02 at 19:15 PST

On July 2nd Nanok Publishing filed an injunction to prevent the film from screening later this month. In a statement Nanok Publishing said that "The King's Letters" is based on a book for which they currently hold adaptation rights and for which they were not consulted.

The book in question is titled 'The Road to the Korean Alphabet'. Nanok Publishing pressed its claim with the production company behind "The King's Letters" last year requesting a credit but, Doodoong Pictures rebuffed their claim and decided to go ahead with production even though the issue was unresolved.

Doodoong Pictures offered an agreement to Nanok Publishing to head off these legal issues back in April, but the deal collapsed for reasons that are as yet unknown. Doodoong Pictures is currently claiming that "The King's Letters" is not based on 'The Road to the Korean Alphabet'.

As 'The Road to the Korean Alphabet' is a historical book it may be difficult to ascertain to what extent "The King's Letters" is based on it, as opposed to other historical sources. But even if that was not the case, it would normally be in the best interest of "The King's Letters" to claim to be based on a real historical book, as it would bolster the film's authenticity. Instead, the looming legal battle threatens to push back "The King's Letters" currently planned release date of July 24th.

- Written by William Schwartz

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"The King's Letters" is directed by Jo Cheol-hyeon, and features Song Kang-ho, Park Hae-il, Jeon Mi-sun, Choi Deok-moon, Nam Moon-chul, Jung Hae-kyun. Release date in Korea: 2019/07/24.