The folks behind John Wick are back with Karōshi trailer

Those of us missing the John Wick universe can take heart, because Chad Stahelski—who created that franchise—is coming back early next year with a new dystopian action film. It’s called Karōshi (a Japanese term that means “death overwork”), and Lionsgate released a killer trailer that puts this film at the top of my list of “must see” movies of 2027.

Dying from working too hard is a very real phenomenon, not just in Japan and much of Asia, but also in Sweden, where some 700 workers die each year from overwork. The physical cause is usually stress-related heart attacks or strokes, as well as suicide (karōjisatsu in Japan). Writer/director Takashi Doscher has transported that concept to a grim, futuristic corporate Manhattan, specifically a company called Ikigai Technologies. Per the official premise:

Karōshi is an action-thriller set in a near-future Manhattan, where corporate loyalty and cultural tradition have reshaped everyday life. When a mysterious outsider infiltrates a powerful company after a worker’s death, he exposes the violent system hidden beneath its polished surface.

Karōshi is an action-thriller set in a near-future Manhattan, where corporate loyalty and cultural tradition have reshaped everyday life. When a mysterious outsider infiltrates a powerful company after a worker’s death, he exposes the violent system hidden beneath its polished surface.

Teo Yoo (Past Lives) stars as the aptly named Hiro, who is clearly out for vengeance against the offending corporation. The cast also includes Takehiro Hira, so memorable in the 2024 miniseries Shōgun, as well as Giancarlo Esposito, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Richard Harmon, Isabel May, and Show Kasamatsu.

The trailer opens with Hira’s character lauding the contribution of Ikigai Technologies in helping shape “modern life for millions,” adding praise for employees’ “daily commitment and sacrifice.” Then we see one distraught worker deliberately falling backward to his death from the top of the company’s skyscraper. Enter our protagonist, Hiro, who suspects something more sinister is going on behind the company’s embrace of the samurai path, marked by “integrity” and “honor”—and also violence.

It’s not long before Hiro is battling all kinds of opponents in fine Wickian fashion, including using a paper umbrella to shield himself from the blood spurting from the neck of an opponent he’s just killed—a clever flourish. John Wick would be proud.

Karōshi hits theaters on February 5, 2027.

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