An Indonesian poster for Exhuma”. Photo The Korea Herald

SEOUL — Director Jang Jae-hyun’s occult mystery flick Exhuma, which is expected to surpass 10 million in audience numbers here this week, has also caught the attention of moviegoers in several Asian countries.

Exhuma opened in Indonesia on February 28 and sold 180,000 tickets in 20 days, becoming the most successful Korean film in Indonesia to date. The movie has also surpassed the animated franchise flick Kung Fu Panda 4 in terms of the total number of screens allocated in Indonesia.

The movie also opened in Việt Nam on Friday and marked a record-high US$660,000 in ticket sales on its opening day -- the greatest opening record for a Korean film released in Việt Nam, surpassing the 2022 comedy film 6/45.

In Taiwan, where the movie opened on March 8, it grossed 28.8 million Taiwanese dollars ($907,000) a week after opening.

The movie is being distributed to 133 countries around the world including Việt Nam, Indonesia, Taiwan and Mongolia. The flick is slated to open this month in the US, Canada, Britain and Australia.

Exhuma continues its strong performance at the Korean box office, attracting 9.38 million moviegoers as of this week. It is the most-viewed film released so far this year.

The movie is attracting moviegoers at a much faster pace compared to the 2023 hit film 12. 12: The Day, hitting the 1-million admissions mark within three days -- a day earlier than the 2023 film.

Exhuma, the first work of acclaimed "master of K-occult" Jang in five years, centers around the story of Sang-deok (Choi Min-sik), who is tasked with relocating a tomb with the help of Young-geun (Yoo Hae-jin), an undertaker, after young exorcists Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun) receive a hefty sum of money and discover through a supernatural phenomenon a dark omen related to a wealthy Los Angeles family.

The movie, which is veteran actor Choi’s first-ever occult genre flick in his 35-year acting career, was invited to the 74th Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. — The Korea Herald