South Korean supernatural thriller Exhuma has passed the 10 million admissions mark at the local box office, cementing its blockbuster status in the country.
The film led the South Korea box office for a fifth consecutive weekend, grossing $4.56m from 618,000 tickets from March 22-24, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking system.
It takes Exhuma’s total box office to date to $73.4m from 10.2 million admissions, comfortably positioning it as the most successful title in South Korea this year to date, ahead of Wonka in second place on $25.1m from 3.5 million admissions.
However, it still has some way to go before it matches the top performing titles of 2023: historical action drama 12.12: The Day, which made $95.2m from 13.1 million admissions; and action sequel The Roundup: No Way Out, which took $77.9m from 10.6 million admissions.
Exhuma marks the first film in five years from Jang Jae-hyun, director of Svaha: The Sixth Finger and The Priests, and stars Choi Min-sik of Disney+ series Big Bet and Roaring Currents; and Kim Go-eun of TV’s Little Women.
The story follows a wealthy family in Los Angeles who experience paranormal events and summon a shamanic duo to save their newborn baby. After sensing a dark ancestor’s shadow, they call in a geomancer and mortician to set about exhuming a grave in Korea — but unleash a malevolent force.
The film received its world premiere at the Berlinale last month, where it played in the festival’s Forum strand, and has since been sold by Showbox to the US, UK and territories across Asia.
Over the weekend, it remained leagues ahead of Dune: Part Two, which ranked second with $1.1m from 122,400 admissions, for a cume of $15.3m/1.77 million admissions – the third highest performing title of 2024 in South Korea to date.
In third was Japanese animation Spy x Family Code: White, which took $795,000, while Wonka added $239,000 in fourth. This was followed by Lee Seung Yoon Concert Docking: Liftoff, a Korean concert film which took $160,000 over a three-day run.
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