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. 

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