The corporate world is about to get a very violent performance review. Lionsgate has released the official trailer for Karōshi, a new action-thriller from writer and director Takashi Doscher, with John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski producing. This looks right up my alley. I hear it’s only 88 minutes long, which is perfect for my waning attention span and nap addicted brain. This first footage has me psyched!
Set in a near-future version of Manhattan where corporate loyalty has taken an unsettling turn, Karōshi imagines what happens when one employee decides the company isn’t getting away with everything it has done.
The title Karōshi comes from a Japanese term that translates to “death from overwork.” It’s a particularly fitting name for a story built around a corporate culture where tradition and loyalty have been pushed to extreme lengths. Following the mysterious death of a company employee, an outsider infiltrates a powerful technology conglomerate and begins uncovering the violent system hiding behind its polished offices and professional image.
Teo Yoo (Past Lives) stars as the central operative taking on the corporate empire. The ensemble also includes Isabel May (1883, *Scream 7), Takehiro Hira (Shōgun), Bill Camp (Presumed Innocent), Show Kasamatsu (Tokyo Vice), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), and Cynthia Erivo (Wicked). Hira plays the powerful corporate figurehead standing on the other side of Yoo’s mission, while Erivo and Esposito add some formidable screen talent to the mix.
The description of Karōshi as a corporate revenge thriller with a samurai twist gives the trailer plenty of room to play with its unusual setting. This isn’t simply another office drama about a terrible boss and an employee who has finally had enough. Doscher has built a dystopian version of Manhattan where Japanese cultural traditions have reshaped everyday life, and the company’s internal power structure appears to have its own brutal rules. Stahelski’s involvement through 87Eleven Entertainment should also get action fans’ attention, although he’s producing rather than directing. Doscher is the one calling the shots behind the camera.
Doscher previously directed the science-fiction thriller Only (2019), starring Freida Pinto and Leslie Odom Jr. He also worked with Stahelski on other projects before bringing him the Karōshi script. Stahelski, Jason Spitz, Alex Young, and Nathan Kahane are producing the film through 87Eleven Entertainment and True North, with Lionsgate handling distribution.
The production brought together a crew with some interesting genre credentials. Pawel Pogorzelski, whose cinematography credits include Midsommar, handled the film’s photography, while Pete Beaudreau served as editor. Principal photography took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the summer of 2025, wrapping in August.
Karōshi is scheduled to arrive in U.S. theaters on February 5, 2027. Until then, the trailer offers a first look at a future where corporate loyalty has gone completely off the rails, and handing in your resignation might be the least dangerous way to leave a job.
