ACTUALS FAR WORSE

When producers report BO results of their movies…they maybe glossing over the actual figures to get the Media to write positively so as to help with a downturn in fortunes…

Such is the case with Hantu Kapcai.

Word on the street was it collected RM2m in five days on most social networking sites. But when official BO receipts came in, it was far less that the proposed amount presented by the producers.

Desperation is slowly but surely setting in…are we film producers in this mode? Grabbing at thin air, waving SOS but calling it altogether something else…

It seems so…seeing that the Other movie during the WT release the same week only mustered RM10k over the same five-day period…

Zizan. KRU. Hantu in the title. Rempits as demographics. Put it all together, and it still isn’t going to save the biz…it is official, We Are In Unchartered Waters…put on the life vests, it is going to be a rough ride.

And we have just struck the tip of the iceberg…

Let’s see how long we can all stay alfoat.

 

REMPIT MOVIE SAVES The Day!!!

The word on the street is…

KRU + Zizan’s rempit supernatural comedy flick, HANTU KAPCAI, snatched RM2m over the course of its first 5 days in cinemas, putting it on a trajectory to beat KL GANGSTER if the momentum holds…erm, not really! LATEST news is that KL Gangster collected 2m in 2days…so yeah, the box office is sliding but there is still hope…

WATCH THIS SPACE!

 

MORE MOVIES FLOP At Local BO

The carnage continues…

Latest victims to be added to the growing list of the Box Office Apocalypse: Afdlin Shauki’s UNTUK TIGA HARI and MIG’s AJI NOH MOTOR.

On 72 screens, Afdlin’s movie struggled to the half a million mark over five days. Whilst the curiously titled comedy Aji Noh Motor on 49 screens made away with only RM150k.

Since Wajib Tayang screenings became two a week in May, malay language films have been hard hit with a few exceptions like Mael Lambong, 8Jam and SAM.

Even Afdlin’s midas touch is questionable now seeing that his last outing with Berani Punya Budak only collecting a poor RM1.13m, with a star studded cast at that.

This week’s release of Hantu Kapcai on 77 screens would be interesting in one of two ways: Will it save KRU as its ’29 Februari’ crashed and burned? Or will it carry KRU and resurrect our ailing industry and prove once again that quality stories and hot stars can bring the audience back to the cineplexes?

Much rides on a ‘Rempit’ movie, sigh!

 

CRASH OR NOT???

The 2nd Week BO numbers for films like Hantu Air & Salam Cinta seemed to have made a miraculous recovery…crash or not?

Hantu Air in its second round, collected RM610k. So it’s first week was a mere RM30k, the movie ‘rocketed’ to the heavens in its second week of release…to the current cume of RM640k…Something is amiss, no?

Let’s take a look at Salam Cinta. First week was a pathetic RM10k. BUT look at its numbers for the 2nd week, it totals RM250k…wtf????

Someone needs to get his eyesight checked or his Maths revisioned??? Yes, FINAS…I am talking about you lot! Check your BO collections properly before posting lah…otherwise, it is like the PDRM saying “Crime is low.”…When it is obviously, NOT!!!

PS…If the BO numbers stand, than it is indeed a relief! My call that we are in a crisis is all for naught!

Then again, I am hiking up my gates and fences and rolling out the barb wire…oops!

PPS – KEPONG GANGSTER (yes, another movie with ‘Gangster’ in the title, wait for the KEPONG GANGNAM ones…) collected a decent RM1mil at the BO…but still far behind Namewee’s HANTU GANGNAM…sorry, I am in Psy’s Zone now!

 

THE BIG CRASH of the Celluloid Kind

Hantu Air collected RM30k on 50 screens over 5 days.

Salam Cinta fared worse. And what is worrying is that the movie was a Metrowealth production.

I can hear the alarm bells ringing and the sirens blaring…

So what happened?

The ‘dead bodies of box office flops’ are piling up, one by one. Slowly but surely.

No one is being spared. Metrowealth is a victim. KRU with their ’29 FEB’…and only SKOP managed to dance around the quicksand.

1) BLAME IT ON ‘POOR PRODUCTION VALUES, LOW CREATIVE CONTENT’…Producers must relook this. They have long believed hung on to the ‘keep costs low, expect returns high’ mantra. Well, audiences today have sniffed them out to the extent that they are no longer turning up just because there is a NEW Malaysian movie released. If calculations are right, only FOUR souls attended a screening at an average of five screenings a day, over the 5 day release for Salam Cinta. Yes, you read it right the first time – FOUR paying customers.

2) LOCAL vs HOLLYWOOD…What a tough choice, eh? Not really. I mean, our spending power is limited. So if it is really up to THE EXPENDABLES and JIWA TAIKO, sorry my friend…And what with the release of TWO wajib tayang movies a week, we are seeing productions that have taken a year to make, blow up in a matter of days. Audiences vote with their money, so Producers had better wake up to that fact and start paying attention just like our ruling government. If you don’t perform, stop saying ‘Janji DiTepati’…You can no longer pull wool over their Facebook eyes.

3) WAJIB TAYANG,ASTRO FIRST, DVD WINDOW – I hail Wajib Tayang as a great governmental policy that forces capitalist exhibitors from getting away and having no choice but to screen our locally made films, good or bad. I won’t cry for these capitalist exhibitors cause they are raking in the big bucks from Hollywood releases, so what is a bit of CSR? On the other hand, Astro First at the three week marker has the VOD right to screen premium releases may prove detrimental to what is viewed as an exclusive engagement at the local cineplexes. If audiences feel that this is being eroded, they would not feel the compulsion to spend their hard earned money on something that has the shelf life of a sushi. Our DVD windows pressed for time against pirates fare no better and as such, we are shooting ourselves in the foot with our ‘hurried windows of release’.

In short, local movies no longer hold the ‘MUST SEE’ quotient.

And that is why we are in dire straits.

The bells are tolling…

MOVIE PRODUCERS, please awaken from your slumber of ‘tidak apa-lah’…

Cause unless we do something drastic, something very soon…

Our movie industry is going the way of the DODO…Extinction!

 

WAJIB TAYANG WHATTTT???

Rumors are flying…

Flying fast and furious like…

A BIG movie producer has had his wings clipped (but I don’t see the same rule apply for ALL)…and the Wajib Tayang dates are no longer ‘chosen by producer’ but is left to the authorities to decide…

WAJIB TAYANG WHAT???? Not rumors flying now but loads of BS…

Sad state of affairs.

 

FILM HISTORY Malaysian Style, Bolehlah!

Over the last two weeks, we have borne witness to a renaissance in terms of local films doing good and making their mark in the local history books.

First was the much anticipated KRU Remy Ishak “29 FEBRUARI” – which was the first film to have been made in Malaysia boasting 3D stereoscopic technology. Despite its lacklustre box office performance, it is still a wondrous feather in the cap for the studio in terms of being progressive.

The second film that truly pushed the envelope I feel is MIG distributed “SERAM SEJUK”. The supernatural laffer starring Angah Raja Lawak has the distinction of being the first film to be sold VOD via Facebook. This is an offering from AstroFirst and must be lauded as it breaks new ground for distribution and exhibition no other country in Asia has seen before.

Kudos to my friend Mike D’Oliviero over at Astro for such a ‘game changer’. Always engage change, I say…

 

BLOG JOURNAL OF MY NEXT FILM

This picture was taken some years back during a particularly difficult production which made me think of keeping a ‘blog journal’ for my next film. I want to share with you the ups and downs of filmmaking in its various forms, from concept to silver screen. So please feel free to drop by now and then, hopefully you will enjoy the ride…Fasten Your Seat belts!

Trailer to the Movie in the pic:

 

Homegrown SEEFOOD Sees Many Firsts!

Malaysian produced animated feature – SEEFOOD – finally comes to shore March 8th. It is the country’s first English language cartoon and has seen play dates in more than 90 territories (another first!) around the world including USA, China, South Korea, France, Germany, Russia etc. Created by Jeffrey Chiang and produced/directed by Goh Aun Hoe of Silver Ant fame, the movie is the most expensive animated production in Malaysian cinematic history, yet another first.

So be the FIRST in line come release date and see what the rest of the   world has been talking about – “Seefood is the MUST-SEE Malaysian film of 2012! Don’t miss it!”

 

 

SEEFOOD’s Malaysian Gala Premiere!

On the first day of March 2012, after almost three years in the making, Seefood shall be unveiled to VIPs, honored guests and members of the Press. It has been a long journey home as Seefood has ventured out to almost a hundred countries since its phenomenal sales interest at last years Cannes Film Market. It has indeed been an epic journey and its culmination is yet to be seen as major territories like China and the USA have yet to experience ‘fishes on land’!