‘Badang’, one of the biggest flops in Malaysian cinematic history. — file pic

PETALING JAYA, March 3 — Badang now officially ranks as the worst-performing Malaysian superhero at the box office.

Through its short history in Malaysian cinema, the genre has had little to offer save for KRU Studio’s Cicakman in 2006.

The lizard man set many firsts; it earned a whopping RM6.7 million while costing RM1.7 million to make.

Its franchise, however, took a beating with Cicakman 2 (2008) costing RM3.5 million and collecting RM2.7 million, while Cicakman 3 (2015) cost RM3.5 million but only took in RM2.53 million.

‘Cicakman’ is still Malaysia's most beloved homegrown silver screen superhero. — Picture courtesy of KRU Studios

Still, the promising start of the first Malaysian superhero movie gave director Azizi "Chunk" Adnan hope enough to make Kapoww!! in 2010.

Until the movie earned a paltry RM270,000 from its cost of nearly RM2 million and Chunk announced his retirement.

The same year, Flare Studios released Mantera The Movie or Man Transformable Exo-Robotic Armor.

‘Mantera’s lavish shoot didn’t’ yield the results the film-makers hoped for. — Picture courtesy of Flare Studios

Shot on location in Dubai and Moscow as well as Kuala Lumpur, the film with an undisclosed budget only managed RM350,000 at the box office.

But no one could have anticipated the flop that would be Badang.

Featuring cosmetics entrepreneur Datuk Seri Aliff Syukri as the title character, it registered the second lowest takings of five local productions which have completed their screenings this year.

‘Kapoww!’ caused ‘Chunk’s’ retirement from movie-making. — Picture courtesy of Tayangan Unggul

According to the official website of the National Film Development Corporation (Finas), Badang ended its two-week compulsory screening with merely an additional RM5,332.50 in its second week, for a grand total of RM74,148.67.

Busker which collected RM68,739.94 was screened in 52 cinemas, compared to 43 for Badang and is believed to have been made on a significantly lower budget than the superhero flick’s reported RM2.2 million cost.