Agak Laen

Agak Laen (literally A Little Bit Different) is a 2024 Indonesian comedy horror film directed and written by Muhadkly Acho. The film was produced by Dipa Andika and Ernest Prakasa with Imajinari and Jagartha production companies. It starred Bene Dion, Boris Bokir, Oki Rengga, and Indra Jegel as a group of friends who started a haunted house business, and featuring Tissa Biani, Indah Permatasari, Arie Kriting, and Mamat Alkatiri.

Agak Laen was released in Indonesian cinemas on February 1, 2024.^[1] Agak Laen was a huge commercial success, watched by over 9 million viewers, making it the highest-grossing film of 2024^[2] and became the second highest-grossing Indonesian film of all time,^[3][4] before finally being overtaken by Jumbo on May 10, 2025.^[5]

A sequel with independent storyline, Agak Laen: Menyala Pantiku! was released on November 27, 2025.

Oki is finally freed after imprisonment, which was for driving while using drugs and hitting a goat, and starts working at the fun fair in Rawa Senggol, West Java, managed by Jongki. He opens a haunted house attraction with his longtime best friends, Boris, Bene and Jegel, for money. While he needs money to buy medicine (and a future grave, which should be next to the grave of his late father as asked by his mother) for his sick mother, Boris needs money to share profit while entering the army, Bene needs money to prepare his wedding with his girlfriend Naomi and Jegel needs money to pay everytime he loses a game of gambling.

However, their haunted house wasn't scary enough for the visitors. Oki then takes his mother's certificate to pay the refurbishment of the haunted house. The first night that haunted house opens after refurbishment, a man named Basuki enters to hide from his wife Retno while he is dating a young woman named Intan at the fun fair, only to have a fatal heart attack caused by the jumpscares in the haunted house. When Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel find him dead, they start panicking, and then bury his body, hiding it before Intan checks the haunted house.

The haunted house is closed for a few days due to the incident. Later, they open it again but a few objects in the haunted house start moving by themselves. When two TikTokers make a vlog in the haunted house, a few uninstalled effects appear with Basuki's spirit, who causes the effects. Meanwhile, Retno reports to the police that Basuki is missing. The next day, more visitors enter the haunted house due to the Tiktokers' vlog of it going viral. Jegel then has to urinate on Basuki's burial spot everytime Basuki's spirit has to be summoned for the effects. With the haunted house being a success, the four manage to pay for their needs.

However, when they watch a TV, they see a news that Basuki, who was actually a canditate legistative of the "Bergerigi" Party, is missing. Meanwhile, Intan finds Basuki's cap in the Tiktokers' video. Later at night, a team of the police department comes to the fun fair to the haunted house. Chief Tohar smells Jegel's urine in the haunted house and pays Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel some money. After the police leave, Intan appears and argues with the four for "murdering" Basuki. A mute janitor named Obet, who saw Basuki at the fun fair in his final night, overhears this.

The next day, when the four agree with Jongki to pay Obet extra so he will clean more often, Obet looks afraid seeing Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel due to overhearing Intan's argument. Knowing the evidence about Basuki, he then tells Jongki to call Tohar. Later at night, Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel try to help Obet clean the fun fair up to pay him with Tohar's money but Obet, mistaking them for trying to "murder" him, runs away and ends up injured after trying to climb and falling from a Ferris wheel, leaving him taken to a hospital and the police unable to get information about Basuki from him.

The next day, four discuss where Basuki's body should be removed to. Jegel then gets an idea to hide Basuki's body in the future grave of Oki's mother, which Oki initially disagreed and attempted to drown him. They dig Basuki's burial spot. Meanwhile, Intan is tracked by the police. While Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel still dig Basuki's burial spot, however, the haunted house reaches its opening hour. Two of the visitors stumble into Basuki's burial hole but did not see his body, as they are in fear. Meanwhile, Tohar finds clues of Basuki from Intan.

Meanwhile, the four continue moving Basuki's body to the graveyard, leaving the police to fail finding Basuki's body as they investigate the haunted house. However, the police find a map which reveals Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel's plot. After Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel finish burying Basuki's body on the future grave of Oki's mother, however, Oki receives a phone call which tells that his mother had recently died. He realizes that he had ruined the goals of his mother, as her grave was replaced with Basuki's, and of his friends, as the four are getting arrested.

Two years and four months later, Oki, Boris, Bene and Jegel are finally released from the prison. In front of the prison, Oki meets his younger sister and Boris meets his mother, while Bene only stares in a disappointment. When all of them visit the graveyard to see the grave of Oki's mother, Bene meets Naomi, who is still unmarried. Bene then asks Naomi to get married with him but Naomi tells that her father said that the number of guests for the wedding should be at least 3,000, leaving Bene to get unconscious out of shock, while his friends try to help carrying him.

• Bene Dion as Bene
• Oki Rengga as Oki
• Indra Jegel as Jegel
• Boris Bokir as Boris
• Tissa Biani as Marlina
• Indah Permatasari as Intan
• Arie Kriting as Jongki
• Mamat Alkatiri as Beben
• Sadana Agung Sulistya as Obet
• Bukie B. Mansyur as Officer Tohar Wahyudi
• Arief Didu as Basuki Munandar
• Rita Matu Mona as Berlian Siagian
• Anggi Marito as Naomi
• Praz Teguh as Bedul
• Soleh Solihun as Army officer

Cameo

• Ernest Prakasa as sign language expert
• Aci Resti, Ardit Erwandha, Denny Gitong, Dicky Mangoy, Kristo Immanuel, and Nopek Novian as visitors of the haunted house
• Anastasia Herzigova as News anchor
• Rais Marasabessy as Thug

The project originated from YouTube podcast titled Agak Laen, hosted by Boris Bokir, Indra Jegel, Oki Rengga, and Bene Dion. The program was later adapted into a feature film by Imajinari Pictures, a production company owned by Ernest Prakasa. The negotiation process began during one podcast episode featuring Ernest as a guest, in which the four hosts attempted to realize their plan to make a film by persuading him that their story would achieve significant commercial success if adapted for the screen, including the promise of reaching one million viewers. Ernest ultimately agreed to develop the film.^[6]

Agak Laen is the third film produced by Imajinari, following Missing Home (2022) and Falling in Love Like in Movies (2023). It is also regarded as the first feature-length film to be adapted from a podcast originally based on audio conversation. The project marked Imajinari’s first collaboration involving external intellectual property. Producers Ernest Prakasa and Dipa Andika stated that their confidence in producing the film was rooted in their belief in the strong chemistry among the four lead performers, which Dipa described as a crucial element in film production.^[7] Ernest also requested that the members of Agak Laen contribute as executive producers and invest in the film.^[8] According to Ernest, Agak Laen was the most expensive production undertaken by Imajinari compared to its previous films.^[9]

For the director, Ernest and Bene were initially planned to serve as directors. However, Ernest declined, citing ongoing projects that prevented him from taking on a directorial role, while Bene agreed only to act and was unwilling to direct. Imajinari subsequently decided to seek another candidate and ultimately appointed Muhadkly Acho as director as well as screenwriter, based on his track record in the film Gara-Gara Warisan and the series Induk Gajah.^[10]

Agak Laen adopts the horror-comedy genre, with a premise centered on a haunted house attraction. The members of Agak Laen had previously considered several story premises in the event that the film was approved, ultimately developing three potential concepts. These premises were then discussed in greater depth with Ernest, who became interested in the haunted house–themed story. Acho acknowledged that he was not involved until the premise had been selected. He accepted the premise after being chosen as screenwriter and tasked with developing the initial idea further. The development of the story and character design took approximately two months. Once the script was completed, the cast proceeded to the script reading stage.^[11]

Acho stated that Agak Laen is relatively unique in terms of its screenwriting process. Unlike the films he had previously written, the characters in this film were already well defined from the outset, as the principal cast members possessed distinctive, established personas. As a result, his task primarily involved integrating these preexisting character traits into the screenplay. In writing the script, Acho drew extensively on narrative patterns that frequently emerge in the Agak Laen podcast.^[12]

Agak Laen adopts a character concept similar to that used by Warkop DKI in their films. The four performers portray characters bearing their real names. This approach was previously employed by the comedy group Warkop DKI during its dominance of Indonesian cinema, in which Dono, Kasino, and Indro consistently played themselves, even though their characters were adapted to suit the narrative of each film. Ernest stated that this concept had to be applied because Agak Laen sudah was already well known as a podcast and each member possessed a strong, recognizable persona, making it impractical to change the characters’ names in the film. However, the characterization of the four members of Agak Laen may evolve if the story continues.^[13][14]

Prior to principal photography, the production team undertook approximately five months of preparation, while the cast participated in script readings for three weeks.^[15][16] Filming took place over 18 days in September 2023. With a night market serving as the primary setting, the production constructed the night market set from scratch on an open field in Depok, Jawa Barat. Accordingly, the shooting schedule ran from afternoon until morning to accommodate the night market backdrop.^[17]

Agak Laen features a theme song of the same title, popularized by the four members of Agak Laen. The song "Agak Laen" was released in 2021, with lyrics written by the group’s members.^[18]

Agak Laen was released in Indonesian cinemas on 1 February 2024 with a 13+ age classification.^[19] The film was deliberately scheduled for release 14 days prior to the 2024 Indonesian presidential election, with the intention of easing public tension ahead of the vote.^[20] Agak Laen officially concluded its theatrical run after 98 days in cinemas.^[21] To mark the end of its exhibition, a special group screening event was held at XXI Epicentrum, Kuningan, South Jakarta, on 26 May 2024.^[22]

Agak Laen was also screened in overseas cinemas. On 7 March 2024, the film premiered in Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam,^[23] followed by its release in Singapore on 14 March 2024. Antenna Entertainment, acting as the distributor for the Southeast Asian region, subsequently sought to expand its distribution network through its partners by releasing the film in the United States.^[24] Agak Laen opened in 13 cinemas across the United States on 22 March 2024,^[25] making it the first Indonesian film to be released in the United States that year.^[26]

Agak Laen became available on the Netflix on 31 May 2024.^[27]

Since its theatrical release in Indonesia on 1 February 2024, the film attracted 1,000,000 viewers within its first four days of screening. Within one week, total attendance reached 2,000,000.^[28][29] On the 10th day of broadcast, this film received 3,000,000 viewers with the highest number of daily viewers reaching more than 500,000 people.^[30]

On 16 February 2024, Agak Laen entered the top ten highest-grossing Indonesian films of all time, surpassing Pengabdi Setan, Habibie & Ainun, Laskar Pelangi, and Sewu Dino after reaching 5,000,000 viewers. After 24 days of exhibition, on 24 February 2024, the film exceeded 7,000,000 viewers and became the highest-grossing Indonesian comedy film, overtaking Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss! Part 1 which had recorded 6,858,616 viewers. This achievement also positioned Agak Laen as the second highest-grossing Indonesian film of all time, behind KKN di Desa Penari which recorded 10,061,033 viewers.^[31] After 98 days in cinemas, Agak Laen accumulated a total of 9,125,188 viewers. In recognition of this achievement, the film received a special award for “Comedy Film with the Highest Audience Attendance” at the 2024 Anugerah Komedi Indonesia.^[32][33]

Ernest Prakasa announced plans to produce a sequel on the same day Agak Laen concluded its theatrical run.^[38] He confirmed that Agak Laen 2 would present a new story rather than serve as a direct continuation of the first film.^[39] Oki Rengga revealed that the sequel already has a projected timeline and is expected to enter production in 2025. He also stated that Agak Laen 2 would not be rushed in order to maintain the film’s quality.^[40]

Baruson E&A, the film company behind Oscar-winning Parasite, planned to adapt the film in Korean.^[41]

• Agak Laen at IMDb
• Agak Laen on Instagram