GLOBAL STAGE HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL 2026 · RESPONSIBLE AI SESSION, PART 1
Creator San-ho Kim joins the creative direction of Rayphie; character references feed AI-generated shots, people make the final calls, and a documentary leads the U.S. launch
HelloWorks (헬로웍스) is remaking Rayphie (라이파이), the hero of a 1959 Korean science-fiction comic, with generative AI. The comic’s creator, San-ho Kim (김산호), is part of the creative direction. The company is redeveloping the story and characters, building AI visual prototypes and moving toward animation.
The first work to introduce Rayphie to American audiences will be a documentary, followed by an animated series and possibly a feature. Sam Woo (샘 우), a director at HelloWorks’ U.S. office, laid out the plan on Oct. 3 at the Responsible AI session of the Global Stage Hollywood Film Festival, held at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. The session was organized by K-EnterTech Hub (케이엔터테크허브), with HelloWorks and Millennial Works (밀레니얼웍스) as co-hosts.
Global Stage Hollywood is a nonprofit festival founded by former Warner Bros. executive Douglas Montgomery to build a two-way bridge between the Japanese and American entertainment industries, and it is held at the TCL Chinese Theatres. This year’s edition opened on Oct. 2 with a screening of 90 Meters. On Oct. 3 it ran two AI sessions; Responsible AI was the one led by Korean companies.
Rayphie is the title character of Rayphie, the Fighter of Justice (정의의 사자 라이파이), which Kim drew in 1959. Set in the 22nd century, it is regarded as a pioneering work of Korean science-fiction comics. “It was the very first superhero story ever made in Korea,” Woo said on the panel. “In 1959, Korea was barely coming out of the war, and kids didn’t have anything to cheer for.”
A studio with 1.55 million followers and AI video on the musical stage
HelloWorks has eight years of story development and four years of short-form drama and YouTube production behind it, and its own channels have 1.55 million followers combined. For the stage musical Doctor Dolittle, it produced all of the show’s video content with AI, timing on-screen characters to the live actors. It has also made first-person VR drama pilots, including My Boyfriend Is a K-POP Idol and You Don’t Know Me?
The company says it is choosing its next projects from its own IP, and Rayphie is the one it put forward. Producer Yeongkyu Byeon (변영규) presented the project as “Regenerating a Legend with AI” in his deck for the Korean AI Filmmaking Masterclass at AICON 2026 in Singapore earlier this month.
References, generated shots, assembly — with people deciding
Production runs in three steps. The team first builds character references covering angles, expressions and movement. AI then generates shots of characters, backgrounds and motion. Finally, the film is assembled with direction, editing and sound. The aim, HelloWorks says, is to preserve the character’s identity while exploring a new visual language.
People decide which AI shots make the cut. HelloWorks’ two tests are whether a shot fits the character and whether it carries the scene’s emotion, and its efficiency estimates include revision and editing time. “We have the writers, and then we put in the prompts for how things might look in terms of character creation,” Woo said. “Working with a character created in 1959 was fun, but it’s still a mountain to climb.”
Woo, a songwriter and singer who has worked on Korean drama soundtracks, described the trade-off. “Creating music is not the same as before. We can save a lot of time and cost,” he said. “But the people in between, the session players who play real instruments, tend to lose their jobs.” Hollywood has unions, he noted, while in Korea the debate continues and legislation trails the technology.
A documentary first, and a search for partners
The deck Woo presented in Hollywood was titled “Rayphie Global Commercialization Plan.” Beyond the hero, HelloWorks has catalogued the comic’s vehicles and gear as separate assets: the Swallow Craft, a multi-purpose craft flown by Jebi-yang (제비양); the Guided Spear, a combat and utility device; a field communicator; the Steel Robot, a large mecha for underwater and aerial warfare; and a supporting fleet of aircraft and floating carriers. The plan bundles character, vehicle, mecha and world IP for film, animation, gaming, toys, collectibles and licensing.
Woo opened his presentation with a short documentary film about Rayphie, and the U.S. rollout will start the same way, with a documentary on the character and his creator, followed by an animated series and possibly a feature. Korean audiences love historical stories, he said, which is part of why the documentary comes first. HelloWorks is also planning a separate documentary following the making of Rayphie.
HelloWorks leads development and production. It is looking for investors to back development and production, and for streaming services, broadcasters and international partners to commission and distribute the work.
The first question from U.S. partners: How will you localize it?
“The first question I get is, how are you going to localize it? How are you going to fit the audience in the States — not Europeans, not Chinese,” Woo said. He grew up in the U.S., moved to Korea in 2004 and came back last year, and he found his answer in Korean tradition. Citing KPop Demon Hunters, he said: “What is most traditionally Korean has the most power on the global stage. The key is how you blend tradition with an accessible format.”
Ownership is the other question. “Netflix being Netflix, HBO being HBO — we have to go by their rules,” Woo said, pointing to Squid Game (오징어 게임) as a warning for Korean producers who were left with little of the upside.
Outlook: Going abroad with the creator, and the IP, in hand
Rayphie pairs a living creator with a Korean studio that controls development. On the same panel, Artem “Tommy” Petrov, CEO of CopySight, urged Korean IP holders to move away from one-time sales to global platforms toward continuous licensing that keeps ownership at home. The terms HelloWorks strikes with its distribution partners will decide whether Rayphie can follow that path.
Korean broadcasters and studios face the same choice. Generative AI is lowering the cost of remaking classic titles and archives. Whether that IP keeps earning depends on settling rights with creators, as HelloWorks is doing with Kim, and on spelling out ownership and AI derivative rights in overseas deals.
Quotations are from the session on October 3, 2026, lightly edited for clarity. Unquoted statements paraphrase remarks made on stage. The author moderated the session.
Project details are drawn from remarks at the Oct. 3 session and from HelloWorks producer Yeongkyu Byeon’s AICON 2026 Korean AI Filmmaking Masterclass presentation.
Reference: Sanho Kim (Wikipedia)