The Academy Museum is launching a screening series retrospective of filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s filmography in conjunction with its Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho exhibition, and it’s launching with a special screening of the film that influenced Bong’s style: John Carpenter’s The Thing. 

The special 4K presentation commences on March 22 at the David Geffen Theater, with tickets opening to the public on February 21 at 9AM PT.

As if that’s not enough of an instant sell, Bong Joon Ho, who selected the film for this series, will be in attendance with horror master John Carpenter himself for a conversation about the sci-fi horror classic.

In the film based on John W. Campbell Jr’s short story, a research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

“Set in the winter of 1982 at a research station in Antarctica, a twelve-man research team finds an alien being that has fallen from the sky and has remained buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Soon, it is unfrozen and unleashed, creating havoc and terror as it changes forms and becomes one of them.”

John Carpenter’s paranoia-laden masterpiece, starring Kurt Russell and Keith David, is a pinnacle of practical effects. Its snowy Antarctic setting plays a pivotal role in isolation, paranoia, and the fight for survival. 

The Academy Museum’s Bong Joon Ho exhibition kicks off the day after this special screening, on March 23, just after the opening of the filmmaker’s latest film, Mickey 17. The museum details what to expect, “Whether set in 1980s Korea or an imagined future, Bong Joon Ho’s films highlight transnational and universal issues: class disparities, social injustice, the environmental crisis, and political and moral corruption. His protagonists are everyday people—unlikely heroes—who confront the absurdities of modern life. From his earliest short films to his international breakthrough The Host (Republic of Korea, 2006), through the Academy Award®–winning Parasite (Republic of Korea, 2019), Bong Joon Ho’s work defies simple categorization, embedding social critique into deeply funny, unexpected, and thought-provoking stories.

“With unprecedented access to the filmmaker’s archive and personal collection, the exhibition features over 100 original objects including storyboards, research materials, film posters, concept art, creature models, props, and on-set photographs.”

While the exhibit will run from March 23 through January 10, 2027, The Thing will be a one-night only opportunity. So set your alarms and reminders now for ticketing when it goes live tomorrow.

Bong Joon Ho on the set of OKJA (2017). Photo: Lee Jaehyuk.