EXCLUSIVE: Vietnam’s Mockingbird Pictures is launching international sales on a slate of Indonesian and Vietnamese horror films at this year’s Hong Kong Filmart (March 17-20), tapping into the growing horror trend in both of these expanding markets.
From Indonesia, the company has picked up international sales rights to Sukma, directed by actor and filmmaker Baim Wong, whose last film as director, horror pic Lembayung, grossed more than $4m in Indonesia last year. Christine Hakim, Luna Maya and Oka Antara head the cast of his new film, about a family haunted by an ancient mirror when they move to a small town. Release is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.
Mockingbird has also picked up two completed titles – Paul Agusta’s supernatural chiller The Butterfly House, produced by Entelekey Media, and Charles Gozali’s The Damnation, produced by Magma Entertainment.
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Released in Indonesia in February, The Butterfly House tells the story of couple encountering supernatural forces in an ancestral home as they prepare for their wedding. The Damnation, which premiered at last year’s Jogjakarta Netpac Asian Film Festival (JAFF), is the story of a pregnant woman fighting off evil forces to save her unborn child. The cast includes Marthino Lio (Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash) playing the husband who attempts to save her life.
Another recent addition to Mockingbird’s slate is Gundik, the next movie from Anggy Umbara, whose Vina: Sebelum 7 Hari was the second highest grossing film in Indonesia last year with 5.8 million admissions.
From Vietnam, Mockingbird is handling sales on a trio of pictures produced by its sister company Bluebells Studio, including the sequel to box office hit Betting With Ghost, which was the third highest grossing local film in Vietnam last year grossing more than $5m.
The sequel, directed by Nguyen Nhat Trung and starring Hoai Linh and Tuan Tran, follows a group of strangers tasked with trekking across the treacherous Mekong Delta to deliver a celebrity ghost’s corpse to receive a huge cash prize. The film is aiming for a September 2025 release in Vietnam.
Also from Bluebells Studio are Le Thanh Son’s romantic comedy My Last Carnival and Do Quoc Trung’s horror film Exorcist: The Blood Demon.
My Last Carnival stars Tuan Tran and Phuong Anh Dao, who last appeared together in Tran Thanh’s Mai, the highest-grossing local film of all time in Vietnam. Currently in pre-production, My Last Carnival follows a young man attempting to avoid taking up the position of chief priest at his village’s annual festival, who teams up with a music show producer plotting to make money from the event.
Starring Diep Bao Ngoc (Face Off 6: The Ticket of Destiny), Exorcist: The Blood Demon is based on an urban legend that has haunted Northwest of Vietnam for centuries. Currently in pre-production, the film is aiming for an early 2026 release.
Mockingbird moved into international sales last year after becoming one of Vietnam’s leading distributors of foreign movies, handling more than 40 titles a year. Last year’s releases, which included hit Thai horror Death Whisperer 2 (Tee Yod 2), grossed a combined $30m.
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