Dexter Studios Invests in Director Kim Yong-hwa’s Next Feature ‘Along with the Gods: Life and Death’, the Third Installment of Korea’s First ‘Double 10-Million’ Film Series

ⓒ Dexter Studios

Dexter Studios(KOSDAQ: 206560) announced that the ‘Along with the Gods’ franchise—the first film series in Korean cinema history to have both its first and second installments surpass 10 million theater admissions—will return with its third chapter. Director Kim Yong-hwa has confirmed ‘Along with the Gods: Life and Death’ as his next project, entering full-scale pre-production targeting a crank-in in the second half of 2027. Dexter Studios, which successfully brought the afterlife to the screen in the previous films, will once again join the project as an investor and key production partner.

Based on the hit webtoon by Joo Ho-min, the ‘Along with the Gods’ series ignited a box-office sensation across Asia, opening a new horizon for Korean fantasy blockbusters with its solid storytelling rooted in Eastern afterlife mythology and unprecedented visual effects depicting hell. The franchise earned critical acclaim and swept major domestic film awards, winning Best Director, Best Technical Achievement, and Best Visual Effects at the Blue Dragon Film Awards, Grand Bell Awards, Baeksang Arts Awards, Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, and Film of the Year Awards.

The first installment, ‘Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds’, captured the journey of a deceased soul guided by three afterlife guardians through seven trials across 49 days. Driven by Director Kim Yong-hwa’s poignant humanistic storytelling and groundbreaking visuals, it drew 14.41 million viewers. The second installment, ‘Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days’, achieved the highest opening-day box office record in Korean film history (1.24 million admissions) and accumulated 12.27 million viewers. Combined, the franchise set an unprecedented record in Korean cinema as the first series to achieve back-to-back 10-million viewer milestones, reaching a cumulative 26.68 million audience members in Korea alone.

The franchise has also achieved remarkable success in global markets. Both films occupied the #1 and #2 spots for highest-grossing Korean films of all time in Taiwan. Building on the first film’s success, the second installment set all-time opening weekend box-office records for Korean films upon release in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Director Kim Yong-hwa’s upcoming ‘Along with the Gods: Life and Death’ centers on ‘Gucheon’ (the Nine Heavens)—a realm where souls remain trapped due to earthly attachments they cannot let go of even in death. Following ‘The Two Worlds’, which judged the sins of the dead, and ‘The Last 49 Days’, which unraveled the millennium-long ties of the three guardians, the new film follows the protagonist ‘Soli’, who is frozen between life and death, as she crosses nine distinct worlds to find a song left unsung.

Continuing its investment from the first two films into the third, Dexter Studios will oversee the entire post-production pipeline—including VFX (Visual Effects), DI (Digital Intermediate), sound design, and mixing—reaffirming its stature as a premier ‘all-in-one content studio’. Previously, Dexter brought the afterlife to life by applying VFX to over 90% of the scenes across both films, while enhancing production value through its proprietary DI and sound design. Leveraging the technological prowess that brought the Seven Hells to life, Dexter will now construct the never-before-seen nine worlds of ‘Gucheon’.

Wook Kim and Jong-ik Kang, Co-CEOs of Dexter Studios, stated: “The ‘Along with the Gods’ franchise is a monumental project that demonstrated how combining Korea’s advanced VFX technology with high-quality IP can create a film loved by millions globally. Once again, we will craft a story and visual experience that only Dexter can deliver, presenting a K-movie equipped with both commercial appeal and artistic excellence to captivate the global market.”