General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20268 min read

D-War

D-War (디워), released in the United States as Dragon Wars: D-War, is a 2007 South Korean science fiction fantasy film directed, written, and produced by Shim Hyung-rae, in which serpent creatures from Korean folklore called imugi battle in present-day Los Angeles over a wish-granting jewel.¹ It was the most-watched Korean film released in 2007, drawing more than 8 million domestic admissions, and it was the first Korean film to receive a wide theatrical release in the United States.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Director and writer	Shim Hyung-rae, a former comedian who also served as executive producer and investor³
Korean release	August 1, 2007 (distributor Showbox); 622 screens³
US release	September 14, 2007, on about 1,500 screens through Freestyle Releasing, the first wide US release for a Korean film²
Domestic admissions	7,855,474 admissions and $55,187,480 gross in South Korea, the most-watched Korean film of 2007³^•¹^•²¹
Worldwide gross	$75,108,817, of which $55,187,480 came from South Korea and $10,977,721 from the United States⁴
Critical reception	28% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (36 reviews); Metascore 33 on Metacritic, rated generally unfavorable⁵^•⁶
Later recognition	Visual effects award at the Korean Film Awards (2007) and visual technology award at the Daejong Film Awards (2008); No. 6 on Netflix's global film chart in August 2026⁷^•⁸

Spoilers

Story and folklore basis

The movie takes its inspiration from a Korean tale about the imugi, a serpent believed to become a dragon once it acquires the yeouiju, a magical jewel that grants wishes.¹ The plot rests on the idea that happenings in 16th-century Korea recur in modern downtown Los Angeles, as a wicked imugi and a virtuous one fight for possession of the yeouiju.¹ The evil imugi is named Buraki, a serpent described as 200 meters long, whose forces include giant lizards with missile launchers, flying dragons, and soldiers bred for evil; reincarnated warriors Ethan and Sarah must resurrect the Good Imoogi, Buraki's ancient nemesis.⁹

In the framing narrative, a young man named Ethan Kendrick learns as a child that he carries the spirit of a warrior who battled dragons in 16th-century Korea, and years later, working as a reporter, he meets a tattooed woman named Sarah just as dragons descend on Los Angeles seeking the two souls of ancient lovers.⁵ The Korean Film Council synopsis instead opens a thousand years ago, when a child of destiny is born with the Youijoo in her bosom and the Imoogi comes to earth from heaven with a tremendous number of followers.³

Netflix resurgence and sequel

In August 2026, 19 years after its release, D-War surged up Netflix charts after being added to the service on August 6. It ranked No. 6 on Netflix's global film chart on August 8 and 9, entered the top 10 in 20 countries, and climbed as high as No. 2 in France, Germany, and Italy.⁸^•¹ Foreign media cited the film's character as an easy-to-watch, live-action monster movie as a factor behind the resurgence.¹ For decades, Shim has argued that Korean content ought to be produced with English-speaking audiences in mind, a stance that was criticized back then; given how the film has performed, he stated that he stands by that assessment.¹

Work is underway on a sequel, D-War 2, which will pick up from the first film's ending, in which the imugi transforms into a dragon and ascends to the heavens. The plan is for a production announcement event by the end of the year, filming early the next year, with roughly 80% of the film shot in the United States and the remainder across four countries including Korea, Europe, and China.¹ An earlier sequel attempt, D-War II: Mystery of the Dragon, was announced in 2015 as a Korea-China co-production set in 1969, but no release followed.²⁰

Production

Shim Hyung-rae first made his name as a comedian, whose characters Yong-gu and the Foolish Penguin were popular hits, before turning to filmmaking; his 1989 film Yong-Gu And Daeng Chiri drew more than a million viewers.¹⁰ In 1999 he directed Yonggary, an English-language monster film whose box-office performance fell short of expectations but which raised expectations that Korean filmmakers could produce science fiction movies.¹⁰ After that film's commercial failure, and a distribution contract that left him with none of its revenue, he decided to go all-out on a large-scale fantasy based on Korean legends.¹⁰^•¹¹

D-War took six years to produce, with Hollywood staff and actors, and was shot in English with a largely American cast.¹⁰^•² Filming began in December 2004 with a cast including Jason Behr, Robert Forster, and Amanda Brooks, and the film was screened for foreign buyers at the American Film Market in November 2006 and the Berlin Film Market in February 2007.¹¹ The visual effects were provided by Shim's own company, Younggu-Art Movies, with additional work by Pix Entertainment.¹² The score was composed by Steve Jablonsky, who also worked on The Island and Transformers, and the crew included staff from Con Air and 16 Blocks.¹³^•¹⁰

The budget was reported differently at different times. The Korea Times gave around $70 million in June 2007,² KBS World put the net production cost at 30 billion won,¹⁰ and Screen reported that the previously cited $70 million had been combed back to around $30 million once equipment and technical development costs incurred by the production company were removed.¹⁴ Box Office Mojo lists the budget as $32 million.⁴ Whatever the figure, the film was described as the most expensive movie in South Korean history at the time, in an industry where the average film cost well under 10 billion won.¹¹

Release and box office

Showbox Mediaplex announced in June 2007 that the film would open in South Korea on August 2 and in the United States in late August on more than 1,500 screens, which would make it the first South Korean film to receive a wide American release; Bong Joon-ho's The Host had opened on only 100 US screens.² The US release was handled by Freestyle Releasing, which had distributed The Illusionist on 1,432 screens.² The film opened in Los Angeles on September 14, 2007, and in New York the week of September 15.¹³

In South Korea the film sold 7,855,474 admissions on 622 screens, grossing $55,187,480.³^•²¹ It earned $20 million in its first five days and over $40 million in two weeks of its Korean run.¹⁵ It was the film that kept May 18 from becoming the number-one Korean film of the year.¹⁶ Worldwide, it grossed $75,108,817, with South Korea contributing $55.2 million and the United States $11.0 million against a $5,376,000 domestic opening weekend.⁴

Reception and controversy

The film's commercial success and critical reception made for a sharp contrast. It was widely criticized for its implausible narrative, awkward computer-generated imagery, exaggerated acting, and crude editing.⁷ On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 28% Tomatometer from 36 reviews, with the critics' consensus that the special effects cannot make up for an unfocused script and stale acting; Variety called it "a feast of A-grade f/x married to a Z-grade, irony-free script."⁵ Metacritic recorded a Metascore of 33, generally unfavorable.⁶ In South Korea a heated debate erupted online after the cultural critic Chin Jung-kwon and other panelists sharply criticized the film's quality on MBC's debate program 100-Minute Debate, which devoted an episode to it under the theme "D-War: Is it the hope of Korean cinema?"⁷^•¹

Two moments fed the controversy. Just before the end credits, a grand rendition of "Arirang," one of Korea's best-known traditional folk songs, played over an on-screen message from Shim; the message, which vowed that "D-War and I will succeed in the world market without fail," was dropped from the American release, and the song's inclusion was debated as nationalistic marketing.⁷^•¹⁷^•¹⁸ Critics further charged that the movie traded on sentiment instead of artistic quality, spotlighting the human-interest tale of a former comedian who had learned computer graphics on his own and aimed to challenge Hollywood.⁷ Even so, in 2007 the movie received the Korean Film Awards' prize for visual effects, and in 2008 it took the Daejong Film Awards' honor for visual technology.⁷ A scholarly reading has described the film as an example of spectacle dominating narrative, in which the story functions as a pretext for showing spectacle.¹⁹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Monster and creature films

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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