Universal has acquired the feature remake rights to the 2012 South Korean thriller Confession of Murder, with Chris MacBride hired to write the English-language adaptation. Glen Powell and Dan Cohen will produce the project through their production company Barnstorm, with Naomi Funabashi and Rishi Rajani producing for Winged Tiger.
The project is currently in development, with MacBride’s specific take on the material being kept under wraps. No director, cast, production start date or theatrical release date has been announced at this stage. Powell is attached as a producer and has not been announced as part of the film’s acting cast.
Confession of Murder follows an investigation that is reignited after a suspected serial killer publishes a book detailing murders he allegedly committed but can no longer be tried for. The original film centres on 10 female victims and follows the mystery surrounding the identity of the killer after the statute of limitations expires. The man who publishes the book, Lee Du-seok, becomes a celebrity following its success, only for another man identified as “J” to claim that he is the real murderer.
Directed by Jung Byung-gil, the original thriller starred Jung Jae-young and Park Si-hoo. It was released in South Korea on November 8, 2012, and had a reported runtime of 119 minutes. The film combined its murder mystery with action-thriller elements, building its story around the unusual question of whether a bestselling author publicly confessing to a series of killings is actually responsible for the crimes.
The Korean film also had a strong commercial run in its home market. Confession of Murder opened across 547 screens and recorded 2,729,827 admissions in South Korea, with a total domestic gross of approximately $15 million. Its performance helped establish the film as a notable Korean thriller, and it subsequently received invitations from several international genre festivals.
The story has already travelled beyond South Korea through previous adaptations. Japanese filmmaker Yu Irie directed Memoirs of a Murderer, a 2017 remake starring Tatsuya Fujiwara and Hideaki Ito. The film became a strong performer in Japan, giving the original Korean thriller another successful life in an international market. A Malayalam-language adaptation, Angels, was also released in 2014.
The new Universal version will now bring the premise to an English-language audience, although it remains unclear how closely the remake will follow Jung Byung-gil’s film. Since MacBride’s pitch has not been disclosed, there is currently no confirmed information about whether the story will retain its original Korean setting or how its central murder mystery will be adapted for the new version.
MacBride comes to the project with several genre features in his recent development slate. He recently sold the feature pitch Kingmakers to Netflix, with 21 Laps and Story Kitchen producing the adaptation of the upcoming strategy sandbox game. He also wrote the global action thriller The Wolf for Amazon MGM Studios and Lorenzo di Bonaventura and previously rewrote Face/Off 2 for Paramount and Original Film. Searchlight has also come aboard his original psychological thriller Echo, with Chad Hartigan attached to direct.
For Powell, the project marks another feature-production venture through Barnstorm, the company he founded with Dan Cohen in 2025. Barnstorm is currently in post-production on The Comeback King, directed by Judd Apatow and starring Powell. The company is also developing a Lou Gehrig film at Universal, with Richard Linklater attached to direct.
Universal executive Christine Sun is overseeing the Confession of Murder remake for the studio, while Barnstorm’s Jacquelina Rosso will co-produce.
With the screenplay still in development, Universal’s Confession of Murder remake remains in its early stages. Further announcements will determine who will direct and star in the film, as well as when production will begin and when audiences can expect to see the new adaptation.
Read More:
