Cambodian 'Wedding Dress' Remake Tops Abnormal Studios' Busan Slate

A Phnom Penh-set remake of Kwon Hyung-jin's 2010 South Korean drama "Wedding Dress" leads the slate of Malaysia's Abnormal Studios at this year's Asian Contents & Film Market in Busan, where the company is selling the film ahead of its Cambodian release.

The adaptation shifts the mother-daughter story to Cambodia. Dalin, a single mother who designs bridal gowns, has let her devotion to work open a gap with her 10-year-old daughter Mina. A terminal diagnosis changes her priorities, and she prepares everything her daughter will need for a happy life after her death.

Huang Han directs. It is his first feature, and his earlier work has screened at the Berlin, Busan and Pingyao film festivals. The film keeps the core of the original story while rooting it in the daily life and emotional textures of the region.

What else is on the slate?

Abnormal Studios is also selling "The Hungry One," the upcoming feature from Venezuelan horror director Alejandro Hidalgo. His credits include "No Voltees" (2024), "The Exorcism of God" (2021), distributed in more than 150 countries, and the 2013 breakout "The House at the End of Time," Venezuela's top-grossing horror film.

The new film follows Emily, a white American woman whose Chinese husband takes her to his relatives' ancestral home in Malaysia during the 15-day Hungry Ghost Festival, when the boundary with the underworld lifts and ghosts wander among the living. A mounting series of eerie encounters puts everything she cares about at risk. The film is in pre-production, with producers closing the last round of financing.

Further titles include:

• "Ali & Ben's Spicy Meats" — an independent cannibal black comedy-horror from Feisal and Iskander Azizuddin, in which two friends with nothing to lose become hooked on power after hitting on a winning spicy beef jerky recipe made with human flesh.
• "Mimpi Kita: Castle in the Air" — a Malaysian sci-fi fantasy pitting a simulated world against a dystopian real one, asking what children owe their parents. It took part in the It Project section of the NAFF Project Market at this year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.
• "Because of You Ka Kui" — a tribute to Canto rock frontman Wong Ka Kui that, according to the company, has drawn strong fan support in select territories.
• "Next Stop, Somewhere" — a drama led by Hong Kong veteran Anthony Wong.
• "Far Away Close to You" — a Cambodian fish-out-of-water rom-com playing on the might-have-beens of youthful romance.

Southeast Asian genre titles fill out the lineup: "The Ghost of Banana Tree," adapted from a well-known Cambodian folk horror legend; "Silent Murders," a crime thriller set in Cambodia's criminal underworld; "KL Love Story," an ensemble drama about temptation, loyalty and loneliness in Kuala Lumpur's after-dark scene; and the supernatural horror "Her Deadly Eyes."

Indonesian audience favorites round out the slate, among them the horror franchises "The Doll," "Mata Batin" and "Rumah Kentang," plus the rom-coms "Sunshine Becomes You" and the "Eiffel… I'm in Love" series.

How big is Abnormal Studios' operation?

The company, a subsidiary of Westec Media Limited, has been acquiring and releasing films since 2020 and has handled more than 400 titles. It now releases roughly 100 films a year across Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Mongolia and Nepal. Recent hits include "How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies" and "Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In."

The Busan market offers Abnormal Studios a test of whether a localized Cambodian remake of a Korean weepie can travel beyond its home territory alongside a slate built on regional genre brands.