Malaysian cinema in 2015

Saturday January 16, 2016

07:50 AM GMT+8

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Aidil Rusli
Aidil Rusli loves rock 'n' roll, still believes in the words "indie" and "underground",
and after all these years still sings in his band Couple
facebook.com/wearecouple. You can get in touch with Aidil by emailing:
encik.aidil@gmail.com
JANUARY 16 I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the steady decline in boxoffice takings for Malaysian films continued in 2015. After three years of roaring
business, which began in 2011 (RM108.36 million from 42 films), dropping
slightly in 2012 (RM84 million from 73 films) but picking up again in 2013
(RM85.08 million from 71 films), 2014 has already seen the numbers drop
significantly with a box-office total of RM74.6 million from 81 films, which looks
even worse when you consider that RM17.2 million of that comes from just one
film, The Journey.

A total of RM57.4 million from 80 films does present a significant slump in 2014
but imagine how bad it looks now that 2015 also saw a release of 80 films, but
with a box-office total of only RM52.2 million. And that includes the biggest
Malaysian film of all time, Polis Evo, which brought in RM17.4 million.

Take that out of the equation and youll have RM34.8 million from 79 films, which
leaves a gross box-office average of only RM440,000 per film. With most
Malaysian films budgeted around RM1 million to RM1.5 million, imagine how
scary these numbers are for Malaysian film producers and what a nightmare year
2015 has been for them.

Hits are so few and far between that out of 80 films, only 8 managed to bring in
more than RM1 million at the box-office. If 2014 saw 5 films that failed to even
break RM30,000 at the box-office and 11 that didnt even manage to ring in
RM100,000 at the box-office, 2015 saw 14 that couldnt even bring in RM30,000
and 26 films that failed to cross the RM100,000 mark. Grim, isnt it?

The box-office numbers got worse as the year wore on with 5 out of the 8 films
that crossed the RM1 million mark belonging more to the first quarter of 2015,
and not even its first half as the 5th film to do so, Pilot Caf, was released in April

2015. What happened next was a barren 5 months as 27 Malaysian films were
released to truly indifferent audience reaction, with only 2 out of those 27 films
managing to cross the RM500,000 mark, before Polis Evo finally arrived to save
the day on September 17, 2015.

Even with the ripples of excitement caused by Polis Evos totally unexpected boxoffice performance, only 2 other films managed to cross the RM1 million mark
after it, one of which, Juvana 2 Terperangkap Dalam Kebebasan, being a
sequel to a hit film that was a continuation of a popular TV show.

Even Chinese language films, normally a steady source of box-office income,

have stumbled badly this year with 18 films released and only My Papa Rich
crossing the RM1 million mark with a box-office of RM3 million, making it the
second best Malaysian box-office performer this year after Polis Evo.

Imagine how demotivating all this is for an avid observer and supporter of the
Malaysian film industry like yours truly. Unlike 2014, which at least saw a variety
of good and well made films, from mainstream comedies like Abang Long Fadil,
CEO and Dollah Superstar to indie and arthouse oriented titles like Lelaki
Harapan Dunia, Terbaik Dari Langit and Cuak, not to mention the quite excellent
horror flick Cerita Hantu Malaysia, which made compiling a top 10 list of 2014
Malaysian films not too hard an exercise, the 2015 pickings are so slim that one
might even struggle to compile a Top 5 list for Malaysian films in 2015.

So you cant even construct a narrative of a steady increase in quality and craft
thats yet to be recognized by the movie-going public. Like it or not, 2015 was a
disappointing year both in terms of box-office and quality.

Years and years of assaulting the Malaysian audiences intelligence with quickies,
cheapies and substandard products that sometimes dont even belong on local
TV, let alone the big screen, have finally bore fruit this year. We are here, in this
mess, because we deserve to be here. We asked for it.

Polis Evo is, of course, the obvious bright spot in this depressing year for
Malaysian cinema, clearly demonstrating that if you do a formula film right, with
the right level of professionalism and craft, the audience will come. Love,
Supermoon is also another very bright spot in the mainstream film scene, with
writer-director Wan Hasliza Wan Zainuddin (A woman! Which is of course a fact
thats missed by many observers of Malaysian film by virtue of their allergy to

commercial Malaysian flicks) delivering a rom-com thats both sweet, funny and
kind of epic in its journey following its protagonists from high school to
adulthood.

Then we have this years indie cause clbre, the local Tamil film Jagat, which
became the talk of Malaysian netizens everywhere, even those who dont usually
go to see Malaysian films in cinemas. Going head to head with Star Wars: The
Force Awakens, its obvious that trying to find a cinema that shows Jagat in the
middle of Star Wars mania is not going to be easy, and even though I feel that
the film is slightly overrated by its many champions, mainly due to editing and
pacing problems, mostly because the director (understandably) tried to put in as
many issues about the Indian community as possible, Jagat is a laudable
achievement exactly because of the many issues it highlights, which is not
something you get to encounter every day.

But if were talking about socially conscious Malaysian cinema, however, my

personal favourite remains the criminally-ignored Papas Shoe (a box-office total
of RM8,623 is all you need to know about how little-seen this film is). A Chinese
film directed by an Indian, M. Subash, whos also a Muslim convert, is about as
Malaysian as a film can get, and its story about two little schoolgirls abandoned
by their dad, which plays like a blend of Nobody Knows and After This Our Exile,
is told with a beautifully understated and heart-wrenching economy.

What does this all mean for us in 2016? Hopefully nothing. Were set to witness
Ola Bola later this month, and theres every chance that it might even challenge
Polis Evo and The Journey at the top of the Malaysian all time box-office charts.
Theres still Pekak, Interchange and even the Boboiboy movie to come, and God
knows what other surprises may be in store for us this year. One can only hope
and believe, and with a year this bad already behind us, why cant it get a lot
better, right?

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/opinion/aidilrusli/article/malaysian-cinema-in-2015#sthash.rCFrTzaK.dpuf