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(International Core Trust)

Investment Objective

To seek high total return.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if shares of the fund are held by separate accounts of certain John Hancock insurance companies that fund variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts. They are based on expenses incurred during the fund's most recent fiscal year expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets during the year. In subsequent periods, the fund's expense ratio may increase due to decreases in fund assets attributable to redemptions and declines in portfolio valuation. The fees and expenses do not reflect fees and expenses of any separate account that may use the fund as its underlying investment medium and would be higher if they did.

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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (International Core Trust)
Series I
Series II
NAV
Management fee 0.88% 0.88% 0.88%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees 0.05% 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.14% 0.14% 0.14%
Total annual fund operating expenses 1.07% 1.27% 1.02%

Examples. The examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The examples assume that $10,000 is invested in the fund for the periods indicated and then all shares are redeemed at the end of those periods. The examples also assume that the investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example (International Core Trust) (USD $)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Series I
109 340 590 1,306
Series II
129 403 697 1,534
NAV
104 325 563 1,248
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Portfolio Turnover

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's performance. During its most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 49% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The subadvisor seeks to achieve the fund's investment objective by investing in equity investments or sectors that the subadvisor believes will provide higher returns than the MSCI EAFE Index.

Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its total assets in equity investments. The fund typically invests in equity investments in companies from developed markets outside the U.S.

The subadvisor employs an active investment management method, which means that securities are bought and sold according to the subadvisor's evaluations of companies' published financial information, securities prices, equity and bond markets and the overall economy.

In selecting investments for the fund, the subadvisor may use a combination of investment methods to identify which stocks present positive relative return potential. Some of these methods evaluate individual stocks or a group of stocks based on the ratio of its price relative to historical financial information, including book value, cash flow and earnings, and to forecast financial information provided by industry analysts. These ratios can then be compared to industry or market averages, to assess the relative attractiveness of the stock. Other methods focus on evaluating patterns of price movement or volatility of a stock or group of stocks relative to the investment universe. The subadvisor selects which methods to use, and in what combination, based on the subadvisor's assessment of what combination is best positioned to meet the fund's objective. The subadvisor also may adjust the fund's portfolio for factors such as position size, market capitalization, and exposure to groups such as industry, sector, country or currency.

The fund's foreign currency exposure may differ from the currency exposure represented by its equity investments. The fund may also take active overweighted and underweighted positions in particular currencies relative to its benchmark.

As a substitute for direct investments in equities, the subadvisor may use exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives. The subadvisor also may use derivatives: (i) in an attempt to reduce investment exposure (which may result in a reduction below zero); and (ii) in an attempt to adjust elements of its investment exposure. Derivatives used may include futures, options, forward currency forward contracts and swap contracts.

Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund

The fund is subject to risks, and you could lose money by investing in the fund. The principal risks of investing in the fund include:

Active management risk The subadvisor's investment strategy may fail to produce the intended result.

Credit and counterparty risk The counterparty to an over-the-counter derivatives contract or a borrower of a fund's securities may be unable or unwilling to make timely principal, interest or settlement payments, or otherwise honor its obligations.

Equity securities risk The value of a company's equity securities is subject to changes in the company's financial condition, and overall market and economic conditions.

Foreign securities risk As compared to U.S. companies, there may be less publicly available information relating to foreign companies. Foreign securities may be subject to foreign taxes. The value of foreign securities is subject to currency fluctuations and adverse political and economic developments.

Hedging, derivatives and other strategic transactions risk Hedging and other strategic transactions may increase the volatility of a fund and, if the transaction is not successful, could result in a significant loss to a fund. The use of derivative instruments could produce disproportionate gains or losses, more than the principal amount invested. Investing in derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments and, in a down market, could become harder to value or sell at a fair price. The following is a list of certain derivatives and other strategic transactions in which the fund may invest and the main risks associated with each of them:

Foreign currency forward contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), foreign currency risk and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving foreign currency forward contracts.

Futures contracts Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving futures contracts.

Options Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions) and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving options. Counterparty risk does not apply to exchange-traded options.

Swaps Counterparty risk, liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), interest-rate risk, settlement risk, risk of default of the underlying reference obligation and risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in transactions involving swaps.

Issuer risk An issuer of a security may perform poorly and, therefore, the value of its stocks and bonds may decline. An issuer of securities held by the fund could default or have its credit rating downgraded.

Large company risk Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, causing the fund to underperform investments that focus on small- or medium-capitalization stocks. Larger, more established companies may be slow to respond to challenges and may grow more slowly than smaller companies. For purposes of the fund's investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based on its market capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company's securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time.

Liquidity risk Exposure exists when trading volume, lack of a market maker or legal restrictions impair the ability to sell particular securities or close derivative positions at an advantageous price.

Medium and smaller company risk The prices of medium and smaller company stocks can change more frequently and dramatically than those of large company stocks. For purposes of the fund's investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based on its market capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company's securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time.

Past Performance

The following information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund by showing changes in performance from year to year and by showing how average annual returns for specified periods compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Unless all share classes shown in the table have the same inception date, performance shown for periods prior to the inception date of a class is the performance of the fund's oldest share class. This pre-inception performance, with respect to any other share class of the fund, has not been adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of that class. As a result, the pre-inception performance shown for a share class other than the oldest share class may be higher or lower than it wouldbe if adjusted to reflect the 12b-1 fees of the class. The performance information below does not reflect fees and expenses of any variable insurance contract which may use JHVIT as its underlying investment medium. If such fees and expenses had been reflected, performance would be lower. The past performance of the fund is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

Calendar year total returns for Series I:

Bar Chart

Best Quarter:     20.53% (Quarter ended 6/30/2009)

Worst Quarter:   -19.42% (Quarter ended 9/30/2011)

Average Annual Total Returns for period ended 12/31/2012

Average Annual Total Returns (International Core Trust)
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception Date
Series I
15.05% (3.66%) 7.26% Jan. 02, 1997
Series II
14.82% (3.84%) 7.07% Jan. 28, 2002
NAV
15.16% (3.61%) 7.31% Feb. 28, 2005
MSCI EAFE Index (gross of foreign withholding taxes on dividends)
17.90% (3.21%) 8.70% Jan. 02, 1997