HONG KONG, May 25 (AP) -- South Korean film producer Park Hyung-jun's production company has bought the remake rights to John Woo's classic Hong Kong gangster movie "A Better Tomorrow," the company said Thursday.

Park's company, Fingerprint Pictures, bought the remake rights from Fortune Star Entertainment, the distribution division of media company News Corp.'s STAR Group, the two companies said in a joint statement.

Fingerprint plans to start shooting the remake in 2007 and is currently recruiting a director and script writers for the film, which made actor Chow Yun-fat's gun-toting, trench coat-wearing character a screen icon.

The companies said Fingerprint and Fortune Star will handle the film's international distribution outside of South Korea.

"We are thrilled and honored to have acquired the rights to remake one of the most prestigious films in Hong Kong's history," Park was quoted as saying in the statement.

"A Better Tomorrow" tells the story of two estranged brothers -- one a gangster, the other a policeman. In Woo's original, released in 1986, late Hong Kong pop star Leslie Cheung plays the policeman and Ti Lung plays his older brother.

Chow plays an associate of the gangster, but his character's feisty personality and stylish gunplay stood out.

Park's producing credits include "Byul" and "My Boyfriend Is Type B."