The doldrums of the South Korean box office was happily shattered this past weekend with what is now the biggest domestic Korean movie opening in more than two years since The Roundup: No Way Out in 2022. The occult supernatural horror movie Exhuma had over 2 million admissions in its opening weekend (2.29m from Thurs through Sunday) and also got glowing reviews from critics and moviegoers. Starring Choi Min Sik, Yoo Hae Jin, Kim Go Eun, and Lee Do Hyun, the movie does that scary Korean cultural superstitious horror that can be so spooky fun to watch, think The Wailing. The two veterans are of course excellent in this movie and the boost goes to Kim Go Eun continuing to cement her movie cred and Lee Do Hyun dropping a memorable performance as his final project filmed before enlisting for his current military service.
Was it really a stagnation at the korean box office recently? A month ago, 12.12: The Day was still doing insane numbers. It grossed more than $90 mil with about 12 mil tickets sold.
You have to take into consideration how much was spent producing the movie and marketing.
I think Mara is correct. That movie was made on a budget of 17 million us dollar and made 96 million dollar at the box office.
@Jimmy I see, thanks for the info. Probably only a select few movies do well while the rest incurred losses?
Ι hope this will be released internationally as well!
@Lilith you are welcome. Honestly movie industry does not seem to be doing good in most of the country after pandemic and not just in Korea.
Kim go run really have both good movie and drama career and stay in demand
This movie is doing well at the BO but it isn’t the first hit after the Roundup: nwo. You skipped over the recent success of 12.12 the day. It seems like korean audiences are finally going back to the theatres based on these back to back hits. Pre covid BO boom is returning.