South Korea's leading movie distributor, Showbox/Media Inc., has signed a five-year deal to produce up to six films with two U.S. film companies, the local company said Wednesday.

Showbox, under the partnership deal signed Monday, will produce up to six Korean-language feature films in the thriller and horror genres with Blumhouse Productions, a Hollywood studio, while the films will be fully financed by Ivanhoe Pictures, a Hollywood production and financing company.

Showbox will also be in charge of marketing and distribution of the co-produced films in South Korea, according to the deal unveiled by the company.

Some of the films can later be remade into English-language versions through discussions among the partners, it said.

"We'll put great energy into recruiting new writers and directors with unique ideas in Korea," Showbox CEO You Jeong-hun said in a press release. "We hope it will serve as an opportunity to invigorate Korea's weak thriller and horror movie market and open the way for promising Korean film producers, writers and directors to advance into Hollywood."

Showbox is the studio behind such Korean box-office smashes as "Taegukgi," "The Host," "The Thieves" and, most recently, "The Throne."

Blumhouse specializes in micro-budgeted genre movies like "Paranormal Activity" and "The Purge" franchises. Ivanhoe Pictures is a production/financing company focused on the North American and Asian markets and recently has co-produced and co-financed a slate of Asian films with Fox International Productions.

In March, Showbox signed an exclusive partnership deal with China's Huayi Brothers to co-produce at least six films over three years. (Yonhap)