When horror film KKN di Desa Penari, or Curse of the Dancing Village, took Indonesia by storm last year, it didn’t just overtake global blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War on its way to become the highest-grossing local movie ever.
The tale of a group of terrorized college students in a remote jungle village also minted a fortune for Manoj Punjabi, the co-founder and chief executive officer of movie producer PT MD Pictures. The Jakarta-listed company’s stock has risen 186% since the film was released last year, vaulting Punjabi’s stake to $1.6 billion.
That elevated the film producer to an elite 10-digit club along with film executives including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Jerry Bruckheimer. And he’s using that windfall to build a new Hollywood-style empire in the world’s fourth-most populous nation.
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