Wednesday, August 22, 2012

HALF WAY THROUGH THE YEAR, MALAY MOVIES FACING BAD TIMES

The hoopla celebrating last year's box office hits have long gone and mostly forgotten as producers bite their fingernails and shitting bricks and they look nervously at all the numbers that are being posted on the box office charts.

Since I last wrote, not many movies have broken the RM1 million B.O. mark.

Below are the numbers as posted on Finas's website.







29.JALAN KEMBALISKOP PRODUCTION80284.98Selesai Tayang
30.14.06.12JIWA TAIKONUANSA PRODUCTION64210.62Selesai Tayang
31.AIR MATA IBU (MANDARIN)SHINNING PRODUCTION50210.07Selesai Tayang
32.21.06.12HANYA AKU CINTA KAU SEORANGMETROWEALTH PICTURES46210.18Selesai Tayang
33.MAEL LAMBONGEXCELLENT PICTURES77334.88Selesai Tayang
34.28.06.12BAIK GILERLAYAR DIMENSI54210.38Selesai Tayang
35.AKU, AKU DAN DIATAYANGAN UNGGUL53210.16Selesai Tayang
36.05.07.128 JAMMETROWEALTH PICTURES SDN BHD79282.30Selesai Tayang
37.12.07.12MOMOK - JANGAN CARI PASALGALAKSI SENI SDN BHD40210.13Selesai Tayang
38.26.07.12KARMA REBORN (KANTONIS)GENIUS PARADE41190.24Sedang Tayang
39.09.08.12HANTU GANGSTERPRODIGEE MEDIA SDN BHD99 1.18Sedang Tayang

As you can see, only three movies have broken the RM1m barrier and that was Skop's Jalan Kembali with nearly RM5 million, Excellent Picture's coemdy Mael Lambong at RM4.9 million and Metrowealth's action movie 8 Jam at RM2.3 million.

Namwee's Hantu Gangster is however tracking well in its first weekend taking in RM1.18m from 99 screens and is still being screened.

Two non-BM movies, Air Mata Ibu and Karma Reborn didn't even make it past half a million in takings. Karma has only recouped RM240,000.00 and Air Mata Ibu faring worse with only RM70,000 in box office takings.

Tayanga Unggul who has not been aggressive in the cinema circuits of recent fell flat with Aku, Kau dan Dia, a love-story which only garnered RM160,000.00.

Worst performing movie in the last two months was M.Jamil's Momok - Jangan Cari Pasal which sputtered with only RM130,000.00 in ticket sales.

Will movies like Sam, another Skop release and directed by Yusoff Haslam's other son Syafiq, be a hit? It opens this week. Another horror movie Seram Sejuk will definitely live up to its name for the producer as they await the viewers' verdict next week as it goes out against Malaysia's first 3D movie by KRU Films entitled 29 Februari. I really hope these people know what they are doing because I hardly see promotion being done for these titles.





Another big movie Tanda Putera by Shuhami Baba under her Pesona Films stable which is still awaiting release and is already courting controversy. However, controversy good or bad usually works well for a movie. Having said that, Dalam Botol also courted controversy and fell flat.



How long too can Metrowealth keep churning out flops? Can two B.O hits cover losses from ten flops? Or does David Teoh know something that others don't? Can they just survive on Adnan Sempit 2's RM6 million  B.O.? To date, their movies are averaging RM1 million in box office this year. If not for Sempit 2, their best performing movie would be Nongkrong and 8 jam whilst their worse performing release was Hanya Aku Cinta Kau Seorang which made less than RM200,000.00.

With this kind of numbers coming in, I hope Uwei and his producers are confident of recouping their investment for HANYUT in overseas markets because (and I hope I am wrong) I doubt local viewers will flock to see his biggest, his most ambitious and his most expensive movie yet. BUNOHAN at least was well received overseas.



Meanwhile, did anyone notice that Grand Brilliance did not release any titles so far this year?