Joko Anwar’s latest horror offering, Pengabdi Setan 2: Communion, may be on course to be among the best Indonesian box office entries of all time, after having broken a record for this year.
The sequel to 2017’s Pengabdi Setan (Satan’s Slaves) opened nationwide on Aug. 4. According to Indonesian box office data, 701,891 movie-goers saw Communion on its opening day.
That puts Communion second on the all-time biggest opening days in Indonesia, behind only the 2019 romance flick Dilan 1991, which sold 800,255 tickets on its first day. The figure is also an opening day record for the year 2022, as well as an all-time record for horror movies.
The all-time record holder for cinema admissions is 2022’s KKN Desa Penari, a horror flick based on a viral Twitter thread, with 9,233,847 tickets sold. Communion may well end up beating that number, considering KKN sold 315,486 tickets on its opening day.
Just like the first film, Communion is written and directed by Joko Anwar. The movie is set a few years after the end of the first film, which sees the return of the leads, namely Tara Basro (Rini), Bront Palarae (Bahri Suwono or “Bapak”), Endy Ardian (Toni), Nasar Annuz (Bondi), M. Adhiyat (Ian), Egi Fedly (Budiman), and, last but certainly not least, Ayu Laksmi (Mawarni Suwono or “Ibu”).
Based on word-of-mouth reviews, Communion levels up on the scares from its prequel, which itself was a critical and commercial success.
“In 2017, Pengabdi Setan was watched by 97 thousand people on its first day. Now, we have more than 700 thousand. We can only express our infinite gratitude to everyone for their prayers and support. The road is still long. Hopefully, Pengabdi Setan 2 can entertain Indonesia for a long time,” Joko Anwar wrote in the tweet.
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