South Korean supernatural drama Exhuma is continuing to prove a box office smash in its home market and is now replicating that success in territories across Asia.
The film led the South Korea box office for a sixth consecutive weekend from March 29-31, taking $3.07m from 418,000 admissions, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking system, reports Screen Daily.
As of this week, the cumulative box office in the territory is $78.5m from just over 11 million admissions. It easily positions Exhuma as the biggest film of the year to date in South Korea, three times ahead of Wonka in second place with $25.1m from 3.5 million admissions.
It may not surpass last year’s top performing title, 12.12: The Day, which grossed $95.2m from 13.1 million admissions. However, it is now ahead of 2023’s second highest grossing film, The Roundup: No Way Out, which took $77.9m from 10.6 million admissions.
Exhuma, directed by Jang Jae-hyun and starring Choi Min-sik and Kim Go-eun, is also winning over audiences in a further six territories across Asia and beyond.
In Vietnam, it has grossed $6.9m (VND173.5bn) from 2.26 million admissions since its release by distributor Mockingbird Pictures on March 15, according to Korean sales agent, distributor and production company Showbox Corp.
This makes it the highest-grossing Korean film ever in Vietnam, ahead of previous leader 6/45, which recorded 2.15 million admissions following its release in 2022. Exhuma took $660,000 on March 15 setting a box office record for a Korean film in the country on its first day of release and became the fastest Korean film to reach 1 million admissions in Vietnam.
The horror has also become the biggest Korean film in Indonesia, where it has taken $6.64m (IDR105.9bn) from 2.34 million admissions since its release on February 28 by distributor Purple Plan. This puts it comfortably ahead of previous leader Parasite, the Oscar-winning Korean drama by Bong Joon Ho, which reached 700,000 admissions in Indonesia in the summer of 2019.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
