Poster © Showbox. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Crime
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 3 mins
ReleasedMay 21, 2026
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorYeon Sang-ho
StarringJun Ji-hyun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook
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Colony (2026)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Colony's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Crime |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 05/15/2026 (Cannes); 05/21/2026 (South Korea) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 3 mins |
| Budget | Not reported |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
| Colony's Interests | |
| General | Slime mold, lockdown sirens, security cameras, endless stairwells, the worst product demo ever. |
| Music | Chai Min-joo |
| Movies | Train to Busan (2016). Same director, swap the train for a tower. |
| Television | Hellbound. Yeon Sang-ho's other very bad day for humanity. |
| Heroes | Choi Hyun-seok. Security guard, big brother, longest shift of his life. |
| Colony's Crew | |
| Director | Yeon Sang-ho |
| Writers | Yeon Sang-ho, Choi Gyu-seok |
| Producers | Yoomin Hailey Yang |
| Cinematography | Byun Bong-sun |
| Music | Chai Min-joo |
| Edited By | Han Mee-yeon |
| Production | Wow Point, Smilegate |
| Distributed By | Showbox |
Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun) is a biotech professor who lost her job for refusing to let injustice slide, so when her ex-husband (Go Soo) lines up an invite to a company showcase in a big office tower, she shows. The star of the demo: a slime mold that helps cells regenerate. Security guard Choi Hyun-seok (Ji Chang-wook) is on shift, and his sister Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rok) stopped by for lunch. Problem: a scientist with a grudge (Koo Kyo-hwan) already warned the cops he was coming. Then an outbreak hits and the tower locks down. Yeon Sang-ho, the Train to Busan guy, directs. One hundred twenty-three minutes, zero ways out.
Anyone who checks the fire exits before the keynote. Skip the free samples.
Colony has the smartest zombies of the year and some of the thinnest humans. Yeon Sang-ho, who made Train to Busan, locks a crowd inside an office tower after a scientist with a grudge turns a slime mold into a weapon, and the infected share everything they sense through mycelium, getting sharper after every failed attack. That’s a legit scary idea. The people running from them get one trait each, so the losses barely sting. Jun Ji-hyun’s Se-jeong, a fired professor, reads the horde like a lab report. The best thread belongs to a security guard and his sister (Ji Chang-wook and Kim Shin-rok). She guides everyone through the building from the CCTV monitors and a group chat. It can’t decide between brainy sci-fi puzzle and goofy creature feature, so it half commits to both. It made $53.1 million worldwide. A 6.3 because the monster is brilliant and the humans are placeholders. $799 says you spot fuzzy mold on a forgotten loaf of bread this week and wonder, for one long second, if it’s thinking.
What works: The hive-mind infected are a genuinely fresh twist on the zombie movie, and the brother-and-sister thread at the security desk is the strongest part.
What doesn’t: Most of the survivors are one-note, so the losses don’t land, and the film wobbles between smart sci-fi and silly creature feature.
Who it’s for: Train to Busan fans who want a bigger, stranger outbreak and don’t mind thinner characters.
Spoilers
Young-chul lets the first infected bite him and takes control of the whole horde, and he admits he lured Se-jeong to the tower as revenge. Se-jeong overloads the hive by tricking the infected into a giant spinning loop, Young-chul dies, and every infected person in the city freezes, until one of them moves in the final shot.
| Jun Ji-hyun | Kwon Se-jeong |
| Koo Kyo-hwan | Seo Young-cheol |
| Ji Chang-wook | Choi Hyun-seok |
| Shin Hyun-been | Gong Seol-hee |
| Kim Shin-rok | Choi Hyun-hee |
| Go Soo | Han Gyu-seong |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 4 November 2026 DataBot +80 Numbers refreshed: box office chart updated; IMDb users 6.5 / 10 (21,604 votes) → 6.5 / 10 (22,496 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 28 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 6.5 / 10 (20,420 votes) → 6.5 / 10 (21,604 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 21 October 2026 DataBot +120 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $53.1M → $53.2M; box office chart updated; IMDb users 6.5 / 10 (19,801 votes) → 6.5 / 10 (20,420 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $53.1M; Domestic box office $1.5M; Opening weekend $677K; profit note now waits on a budget; Rotten Tomatoes 82%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 82% (115 reviews); Metacritic 57 / 100; IMDb users 6.5 / 10 (19,801 votes); movie.guru score 5.7.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 18 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.