Occult film 'Exhuma' surpasses 10 million admissions mark

Director Jang Jae-hyun and cast of ″Exhuma″ celebrate the film surpassing 10 million admissions mark on Sunday. [SHOWBOX]

The grave-digging occult film "Exhuma" surpassed 10 million admissions on Sunday morning, becoming the first film to do so in Korea in 2024.

The film hit the 10-million-ticket threshold on Sunday morning, the 32nd day since its release on Feb. 22. "Exhuma" has been sitting atop the local box office every day since its opening, defeating much-anticipated competition from the second installment of "Dune" and award-winning dramas "Past Lives" and "Poor Things."

"Exhuma" is the 32nd film to surpass 10 million ticket sales in Korea and the 23rd Korean film to achieve the distinction. It is also the first occult film to hit the mark in Korea.

Starring Choi Min-sik and Kim Go-eun, "Exhuma" revolves around two shamans, a feng shui expert and a mortician who join forces to investigate a string of mysterious occurrences affecting a wealthy family in the United States. Their journey begins by exhuming the grave of the family's ancestor in a remote Korean village. Mysterious happenings follow.

“Exhuma” is the third movie that Jang Jae-hyun directed and wrote, following “The Priests” (2015) and “Svaha: The Sixth Finger” (2019). The film has earned commercial success for its subtle criticism of Japanese imperialist rule between 1910 and 1945, especially in tandem with the March 1 Independence Movement Day.

The film premiered at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, or Berlinale, with a screening on Feb. 16. It was included in the Forum section, which showcases experimental films, an honor director Bong Joon-ho’s “Snowpiercer” (2013) and Kim Tae-yong’s “Late Autumn” (2010) received in the past.

Find out more about the cast of "Exhuma" at Celeb Confirmed

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]