“Zona Merah: Dead City,” a big-screen expansion of the hit Indonesian zombie series, has brought on Barunson E&A – the Seoul-based company whose credits include Oscar-winning “Parasite” – to sell the film internationally ahead of a debut at the Cannes Film Market.
Produced by Screenplay Films, the feature is adapted from “Zona Merah,” which aired as an original on Vidio, the streaming arm of Indonesian conglomerate Emtek Group. The series connected with audiences on a scale unusual for zombie content in the territory, where the genre had struggled to gain a foothold: it accumulated more than 34 million views and drove a notable surge in Vidio’s subscriber numbers.
The film takes the story in a darker direction, with the crisis spreading to a second city and fresh quarantine measures coming into force as protagonist Maya continues hunting for her younger brother Adi. Sidharta Tata and Fajar Martha Santosa, who co-directed the series, share the same duties on the feature; Tata has written the script while Santosa has responsibility for story continuity across both projects. Much of the series cast is back, among them Aghniny Haque, Andri Mashadi, Maria Theodore, Devano and Lukman Sardi, while Luna Maya, Bryan Domani, Shindy Huang, Myesha Lin and Derby Romero come aboard in new roles. Cameras rolled from April 7 and principal photography is scheduled to wrap in May.
“‘Zona Merah’ showed us what’s possible when a story truly connects with its audience – the kind of connection that extends beyond a single format. Expanding it into a feature felt like a natural progression, both commercially and creatively. ‘Zona Merah: Dead City’ builds on everything the series established, and we’re pleased to have Barunson E&A with us on this next step,” said Wicky V. Olindo, CEO of Screenplay Films.
At Cannes, “Zona Merah: Dead City” will be presented as part of Barunson E&A’s market slate, which also features “Inherit,” a new project from Thai filmmaker Banjong Pisanthanakun backed by GDH559. The Korean company currently has another Indonesian title in the market: “Ghost in the Cell,” from Joko Anwar’s production outfit Come and See Pictures, which launched at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and has since accumulated nearly two million tickets sold, remaining atop the Indonesian box office chart throughout its run.
“Indonesia‘s genre landscape is at an inflection point – audiences are becoming more adventurous, creators are pushing boundaries, and stories from this market are increasingly resonating globally. ‘Zona Merah’ was an early signal of that shift, and ‘Zona Merah: Dead City’ takes it further. Cannes will be the right place to introduce it to the world,” said Choi Yoonhee, CEO of Barunson E&A.
Screenplay Films has established itself as a reliable commercial genre producer in Indonesia, with recent output including Joko Anwar’s “Gundala,” which had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and “Wait Until I Make It,” the second-highest-grossing Indonesian film at the local box office so far in 2026.
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