Barunson E&A, the Korean production banner best known for backing Bong Joon Ho’s multi-Oscar winner Parasite, has boarded Zona Merah: Dead City, a feature film adaptation of the hit Indonesian horror series Zona Merah.
The Seoul outfit will handle international sales on the project, produced by Indonesia’s Screenplay Films, and launch it at the upcoming Cannes Marché alongside Inherit, the new horror feature from Thai hitmaker Banjong Pisanthanakun. The deal extends Barunson’s 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 Indonesia’s 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 “zona merah,” or red zone. The series became one of Vidio’s biggest hits, drawing more than 34 million views and a surge of new subscribers, according to the platform.
“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,” said Screenplay Films CEO Wicky V. Olindo. “Expanding it into a feature felt like a natural progression, both commercially and creatively.”
The 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.
Screenplay Films ranks among Indonesia’s most established genre producers. Recent credits include Wait Until I Make It, currently the second-highest-grossing local film of 2026, and Joko Anwar’s superhero origin Gundala, which premiered at TIFF’s Midnight Madness in 2019.
“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,” Yoonhee Choi, CEO of Barunson E&A, said in a statement. “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.”
The pickup arrives amid a busy period for Barunson in Southeast Asia. Last year, the company signed a two-year exclusive sales partnership with Come and See Pictures, the banner of Indonesian horror hitmaker Anwar (Satan’s Slaves, Impetigore). Anwar’s latest, Ghost in the Cell, premiered at this year’s 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.
From Thailand, Barunson is selling Banjong’s Inherit, his first feature in five years — and an anticipated return to the horror genre for the filmmaker behind landmark local hits like Shutter and Pee Mak.
