“Snowpiercer,” the highly anticipated English-language film debut of director Bong Joon-ho, will hit local cinemas on Aug. 1, its Korean distributor CJ E&M said Wednesday.

The opening will be the world premiere of the film starring international stars such as Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell and Korean actor Song Kang-ho.

The film will later be distributed by Weinstein Company and other distributors in the U.S., France, Japan, Russia and elsewhere.

“Snowpiercer,” based on French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige” by Jacques Lob and Jean Marc Rochette, depicts lower-class people’s struggle to survive on a train that never stops traveling in a post-apocalyptic future.

On Thursday, the first trailer of the $40 million budget film ― the largest in Korean movie production history ― was released, contrasting the lives of people in the lower-class carriages and those in the first-class section.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)