pic by BLOOMBERG

LOCAL films grossed a total of RM93.8 million in the first 11 months of the year, with animated films Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal, BoBoiBoy Movie 2 and Ejen Ali: The Movie among the highest contributors.

The BoBoiBoy film led with the gross of RM29.57 million followed by Upin & Ipin (RM26.2 million) and Ejen Ali (RM23.6 million) as of Dec 15, according to the National Film Development Corp Malaysia’s (Finas) Mandatory Screening Scheme.

Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Eddin Syazlee Shith told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that the achievements of local box office films in local cinemas for the years 2018 to 2019 have shown positive growth as GDP in cinemas for last year surged to RM170.4 million, a 194% increase from the RM57.92 million recorded in 2017.

He was responding to Senator Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah’s query on what is needed to be done in order to improve the quality of the country’s film industry which has been gaining less traction.

This surge was driven by an increase in viewership to 13.21 million compared to 4.55 million viewers in 2017.

“The ministry — through Finas — has always been providing support to the production of quality local films. Among the initiatives are the Feature Film Screening Incentive, Mandatory Screening Scheme, Movie Publishing Incentives in Malaysia, Marketing Development Fund and Digital Content Fund.

“Finas has also acted as a facilitator for local filmmakers to enter the international market through participation in MIPCOM Cannes, Hong Kong Filmart, European Film Market, Marche Du Film Cannes, American Film Market and ATF Singapore,” he said.

Eddin Syazlee added that last year, a total of RM109.81 million was generated through exports of local creative content.

“Among the local films that hit international film festivals were Redha, Shuttle Life, Subbulaksmi Husband, Fly By Night and One Two Jaga for the movie category; Mudhal Padayal, Ninavau, Thiruvin Manggai, Tapir Village and Highway for the short film category; and Upin & Ipin and The Cliff House for the animated film category.

“Film festivals that the local films ventured into include the Norway Tamil Film Festival, Busan International Short Film Festival, the Vancouver Web Fest, the Asian Youth Indie Film Festival, the Montreal International Film Festival Animation and more,” he added.

Eddin Syazlee said local producers’ tendency to produce local films can also be measured by the increasing number of multi-format movie productions based on the application of a Certificate of Production.

“There were 905 titles with the total production cost of RM482.5 million last year compared to 836 titles with the production costs of RM383.5 million for 2017,” he noted.