a "massive hit" when it was released in China in 1978, where it was the first foreign film to be shown in post-Cultural Revolution China. Pre-production Manhunts producers include Gordon Chan and Chan Hing-kai while the film is being backed by the Hong Kong production company Media Asia on a budget ranging between 30 and 40 million. Manhunt marked the end of Woo's previous production company Lion Rock Films following the box-office disappointment of The Crossing which led to Woo and Terence Chang disbanding Lion Rock Productions. Woo stated that he had "got tired of making big-budget movies. I think about going back to the old times, when it wasn't so much about money but about working with a wonderful, smaller crew to make a real movie." Woo expanded on this later stating that there was great pressure in enjoying the creative process when "being controlled by the numbers during the entire process" or deciding "decide how to shoot a scene because of the budget, not inspiration." The production team includes Japanese art director Yohei Taneda and cinematographer Takuro Ishizaka. The film features a large Japanese cast including Yasuaki Kurata, Jun Kunimura, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Nanami Sakuraba, Naoto Takenaka and Tao Okamoto. In addition, Chinese actress Qi Wei and Korean actress Ha Ji-won were cast in key roles in the film. Filming Production started on Manhunt in June 2016 in Osaka. At the beginning of the production, the cast and crew and local government officials held a traditional Japanese kagami biraki ceremony. Woo stated that Manhunt would go back to his older style of filmmaking, referring to his film The Killer specifically. Manhunt was projected to finished filming in October 2016 and then later reported to be finished filming by the end of November. The China Internet Information Center stated that the film had begun post-production in January 2017. Release Manhunt was scheduled to have its world premiere at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. The film was shown out of competition. It had press and industry screenings 6 September 2017 and a public screening on 8 September 2017. Both Woo and actress Ha Ji-won were scheduled to attended the festival in Venice. The film received its North American premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival as part of their special presentation program. Manhunt had its first press screening in Toronto on 7 September 2017 and was scheduled for a