{"id":708,"date":"2026-04-30T03:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/04\/30\/parasite-producer-barunson-boards-indonesian-horror-feature-zona-merah-dead-city\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T03:27:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:27:00","slug":"parasite-producer-barunson-boards-indonesian-horror-feature-zona-merah-dead-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/04\/30\/parasite-producer-barunson-boards-indonesian-horror-feature-zona-merah-dead-city\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Parasite\u2019 Producer Barunson Boards Indonesian Horror Feature \u2018Zona Merah: Dead City\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p> \tBarunson\u00a0E&#038;A, the Korean production banner best known for backing Bong Joon Ho\u2019s multi-Oscar winner\u00a0<em>Parasite<\/em>, has boarded <em>Zona Merah: Dead City<\/em>, a feature film adaptation of the hit Indonesian horror series\u00a0<em>Zona Merah.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> \tThe Seoul outfit will handle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/international\/\" id=\"auto-tag_international_1\" data-tag=\"international\">international<\/a> sales on the project, produced by Indonesia\u2019s Screenplay Films, and launch it at the upcoming Cannes March\u00e9 alongside <em>Inherit<\/em>, the new horror feature from Thai hitmaker Banjong Pisanthanakun. The deal extends Barunson\u2019s ongoing push into Southeast Asian cinema, as the Korean company continues to assemble a portfolio of saleable genre titles from the region.  \t<\/p>\n<p> \tThe original <em>Zona Merah<\/em> debuted as an original series on Vidio, the Emtek Group-owned platform that has emerged as Indonesia\u2019s leading domestic streamer. Set in the fictional town of Rimbalaya, the show follows Maya as she searches for her missing younger brother Adi amid a rapidly spreading zombie outbreak, racing to find him before authorities seal off the area as a \u201czona merah,\u201d or red zone. The series became one of Vidio\u2019s biggest hits, drawing more than 34 million views and a surge of new subscribers, according to the platform.<\/p>\n<p> \t\u201c<em>Zona Merah<\/em>\u00a0showed us what\u2019s possible when a story truly connects with its audience \u2013 the kind of connection that extends beyond a single format,\u201d said Screenplay Films CEO Wicky V. Olindo. \u201cExpanding it into a feature felt like a natural progression, both commercially and creatively.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \tThe new feature is said to widen the scope, with another city falling and a fresh red zone emerging. Sidharta Tata and Fajar Martha Santosa, the team behind the original series, are co-directing, with Tata returning as screenwriter and Santosa overseeing story development. Much of the original cast is reprising their roles, including Aghniny Haque, Andri Mashadi, Maria Theodore, Devano and Lukman Sardi, joined by new additions Luna Maya, Bryan Domani, Shindy Huang, Myesha Lin and Derby Romero. Principal photography began April 7 and continues through May.  \t<\/p>\n<p> \tScreenplay Films ranks among Indonesia\u2019s most established genre producers. Recent credits include <em>Wait Until I Make It<\/em>, currently the second-highest-grossing local film of 2026, and Joko Anwar\u2019s superhero origin <em>Gundala<\/em>, which premiered at TIFF\u2019s Midnight Madness in 2019.<\/p>\n<p> \t\u201cIndonesia\u2019s genre landscape is at an inflection point \u2014 audiences are becoming more adventurous, creators are pushing boundaries, and stories from this market are increasingly resonating globally,\u201d Yoonhee Choi, CEO of Barunson E&#038;A, said in a statement. \u201c<em>Zona Merah <\/em>was an early signal of that shift, and <em>Zona Merah: Dead City<\/em> takes it further. Cannes will be the right place to introduce it to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \tThe pickup arrives amid a busy period for Barunson in Southeast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/asia\/\" id=\"auto-tag_asia_1\" data-tag=\"asia\">Asia<\/a>. Last year, the company signed a two-year exclusive sales partnership with Come and See Pictures, the banner of Indonesian horror hitmaker Anwar (<em>Satan\u2019s Slaves<\/em>, <em>Impetigore<\/em>). Anwar\u2019s latest, <em>Ghost in the Cell<\/em>, premiered at this year\u2019s Berlin International Film Festival and has dominated the Indonesian box office since release, closing in on two million admissions. Barunson has also acquired international remake rights to breakout titles from local banner Imajinari and is working closely with several leading Indonesian production houses, including Visinema Pictures, Base Entertainment and Rapi Films. <\/p>\n<p> \tFrom Thailand, Barunson is selling Banjong\u2019s <em>Inherit<\/em>, his first feature in five years \u2014 and an anticipated return to the horror genre for the filmmaker behind landmark local hits like <em>Shutter<\/em> and <em>Pee Mak.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barunson\u00a0E&#038;A, the Korean production banner best known for backing Bong Joon Ho\u2019s multi-Oscar winner\u00a0Parasite, has boarded Zona Merah: Dead City, a feature film adaptation of the hit Indonesian horror series\u00a0Zona Merah.\u00a0 The Seoul outfit will handle international sales on the project, produced by Indonesia\u2019s Screenplay Films, and launch it at the upcoming Cannes March\u00e9 alongside Inherit, the new horror feature from Thai hitmaker Banjong Pisanthanakun. The deal extends Barunson\u2019s ongoing push into Southeast Asian cinema, as the Korean company continues to assemble a portfolio of saleable genre titles from the region. The original Zona Merah debuted as an original series on Vidio, the Emtek Group-owned platform that has emerged as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115,307,2,116,393,27,60,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-cannes-2026","category-hollywood","category-international","category-marche-du-film","category-movie-news","category-movies","category-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}