It took a zombie sequel about the walking dead to resurrect the international box office. TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA opened over the weekend in five key overseas markets, including Korea, where the movie hails from, and director Yeon Sang-ho's follow-up to 2016's acclaimed breakout hit earned more than $20 million in its debut.
The opening is significant because with theaters shut down around the globe largely since March, an opening of this size hasn't happened in months. This shows that the international box office is slowly recovering from their COVID-19 lockdown and it showcases a huge win and a much-needed sign of life for the industry.
The bulk of PENINSULA'S weekend box office came from Korea which brought in $13.2 million. In Taiwan, the film earned $4.7 million, which represents 76% of the total box office in that country. In Vietnam, the movie pulled in a little over $1 million in preview screenings alone. For a movie of this size, this is a very encouraging sign of its potential moving forward and it signifies that audiences are hungry for new content and will return to movie theaters when it's safe to do son.
I'm sure that it also helps that PENINSULA is the highly-anticipated followup to TRAIN TO BUSAN, which grossed an impressive $92 million globally during its original run. Back in February, rights to the sequel sold around the world, indicating a high level of interest for the zombie sequel. Well Go USA picked up the North American rights, with plans for a theatrical release at the end of the month. This will largely depend on theater reopenings but the film will also be available for streaming on Shudder in early 2021 as the service has picked up exclusive streaming rights.
PENINSULA stars Gang Dong-won and Lee Jung-hyun and centers on a solider named Jung-seok who already escaped the zombie-infested wasteland with his life. He is forced to relive the horror all over again when he's tasked with a covert retrieval mission which has his team thrown for a loop when they unexpectedly find a group of survivors. Their lives will depend on whether the best or worst, of human nature prevails under these extreme circumstances.
Are YOU surprised by TRAIN TO BUSAN PRESENTS: PENINSULA'S huge overseas box office opening?