Finecut acquires global rights to Korean animated Guardians film
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Korean sales agent Finecut has acquired international distribution rights to "Guardians of the Video Game", a 3D animated feature directed by Uhm Young-sik, unveiling the deal ahead of the inaugural TIFF Market in Toronto. The film adapts a popular Naver Webtoon of the same name, reflecting the continued push to turn hit Korean webtoons into global screen properties, and builds on Uhm's prior success with "Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs", which Finecut sold to 120 territories.
The source webtoon, created by Gasfard, boasts a reader rating of 9.98 and 345 million views, and has already been adapted into a mobile game on Google Play. Produced by Locus Animation, the film follows an exiled guardian of the gaming world who falls into a forgotten pixel RPG and must secretly guide a hero while uncovering a conspiracy, blending retro and cutting-edge 3D animation styles; it is in post-production for a fourth-quarter 2026 release, with first footage due to be shown by Finecut at the TIFF Market.
- Finecut buys global rights to Korean animated film "Guardians of the Video Game"
- Adapts hit webtoon with 345 million views and 9.98 rating
- Set for Q4 2026 release; footage debuts at TIFF Market
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Korean animation is increasingly built from webtoons – digital comics designed for scrolling on a phone – and turned into films or shows aimed at international audiences. "Guardians of the Video Game" follows this pattern: it started life as a hugely popular webtoon series on Naver, one of Korea's biggest platforms, before being adapted into a 3D animated feature. The company at the centre of this story, Finecut, is a Korean sales agent, meaning it buys the rights to films and then sells them on to distributors and broadcasters around the world.
The film's director, Uhm Young-sik, has previous form in this space, having co-directed Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs, a film Finecut also handled and sold to a large number of countries. The story itself centres on a disgraced guardian of a video game world who ends up trapped in an old, forgotten game and must help its hero while unravelling a hidden plot, mixing old-style pixel graphics with modern 3D animation.
This matters because it reflects a wider industry trend of Korean webtoons being turned into global entertainment properties, following the success of shows and films built from similar source material. It also ties into TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival, and its newly created TIFF Market, a marketplace event where films are shown to potential buyers and distributors before wider release.
Full account
Seoul-based sales agent Finecut has picked up international sales rights to Guardians of the Video Game, a 3D animated feature adapted from the Naver Webtoon of the same name, with the deal announced in the run-up to this year's Toronto festival market. One outlet describes the market specifically as the inaugural TIFF Market, while the other refers to it more generally as the Toronto market, without flagging the newly launched status of the event.
The source material comes from a webtoon created by Gasfard that has drawn some 345 million views and, according to one report, carries a reader rating of 9.98. It was previously adapted into a mobile game for Google Play before this animated film version was developed. The story follows a guardian exiled from sleek, cutting-edge 3D game worlds who ends up in an obscure, pixel-based role-playing game. Working covertly, he must guide an unwitting hero towards completing the game while also trying to uncover a conspiracy that threatens both himself and the game world he has landed in. One account frames the setting as a hidden, family-friendly realm maintained by a secret order of guardians, while the other places more emphasis on the film's visual concept of contrasting retro RPG aesthetics with modern 3D animation.
The film is directed by Uhm Young-sik, whose previous work includes the animated feature Running Man: Revengers and the animated segment of Yumi's Cells Season 1. He also co-directed Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs, a film that was distributed in around 120 territories with Finecut handling sales; one report names his co-directors on that project as Moo-Hyun Jang and Hong Sung-ho. Guardians of the Video Game is produced by Locus Animation, the studio behind Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs and Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning, which now has a sequel in the works. Locus has built up a slate of webtoon adaptations, including Barkhan and Denma.
Guardians of the Video Game is currently in post-production, with a release targeted for the final quarter of 2026 and first footage due to be shown by Finecut at the Toronto market. The sales agent is bringing a broader slate to the festival, including the 3D animated feature Long Long Night, which is set for the Centrepiece section — described by one outlet as its Toronto premiere and by the other as a world premiere — and Hong Sangsoo's Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, winner of the Pardo Awards for best direction and best performance plus the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Locarno. One of the two reports additionally lists two further Finecut titles heading to Toronto: July Jung's Dora, starring Kim Do-yeon and Ando Sakura and previously invited to Cannes' Directors' Fortnight, and Park Hoon-jung's noir Tristes Tropiques, winner of the Silver Raven Award at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and an invitee to Sitges, Fantasia, Fantasy Filmfest and L'Étrange Festival.
Where outlets differ
One report explicitly calls the event the 'inaugural TIFF Market', while the other simply refers to the 'Toronto market' without noting it is a new event.
Only one source gives the webtoon's reader rating (9.98); the other omits this figure.
One report offers a more atmospheric description of the film's world (a hidden, family-friendly realm run by a secret guild of guardians), while the other emphasises the film's visual concept of blending retro RPG and modern 3D animation styles.
Only one source names the co-directors (Moo-Hyun Jang and Hong Sung-ho) who worked with Uhm Young-sik on Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs.
The two reports describe Long Long Night's Centrepiece section screening differently — one calls it a Toronto premiere, the other a world premiere.
One source lists two additional Finecut Toronto titles, Dora and Tristes Tropiques, which the other does not mention at all.
Coverage
- Variety — ‘Guardians of the Video Game’ Lands Finecut for International Sales Ahead of Toronto Market
- Deadline — Korea’s Finecut Picks Up Retro Gaming Feature ‘Guardians Of The Video Game’ Ahead Of TIFF Market