SINGAPORE – It seems Singaporeans never tire of zombies.
Following the success of zombie horror films such as 28 Days Later (2002) and World War Z (2013), South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan has become the top-grossing Korean movie of all time in Singapore.
The movie which was released at local cinemas on Aug 4 has taken in $1.17 million at the box office, distributors Golden Village Pictures and Clover Films said in a statement on Thursday (Aug 11).
This makes it the only Korean movie which has ever crossed the million-dollar mark in Singapore. The only other Korean movie to come close to a million bucks was 200 Pounds Beauty (2007) which brought in $980,000 for Singapore cinemas.
Photo: 200 Pounds Beauty
Over in its home country, Train to Busan also broke the record for garnering 10 million admissions in the shortest span of time, and is also the first Korean movie to clock 10 million admissions at South Korean theatres this year.
Train to Busan stars Gong Yoo, who plays a divorced father taking a train from Seoul to Busan with his daughter (played by Kim Soo An) so she can see her mother. A virus outbreak in the train then turns passengers into zombies and all hell breaks loose.
The Straits Times rated the move three-and-a-half stars out of five, calling it “fresh”, “suspenseful” and “truly imaginative”.
Internationally, the film has also been well-received beyond the region, with a 96 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an impressive four-and-a-half star rating on We Got This Covered. The New York Times called it “a public-transportation horror movie with a side helping of class warfare”, and named it a NYT Critics’ Pick in July.
ljessica@sph.com.sg
