After two years of political turmoil, Thailand started to move forward again in 2011. The wind of change gently shook the Thai film industry, both domestically and internationally. Box office takings flourished. A new cinema audience - urban thirtysomethings - emerged, and romantic comedies appeared to serve this market. Despite the massive floods which hit the country in the last quarter of the year, the film industry quickly got back on its feet - and blossomed. Moreover, for the first time, Thai pop culture, known locally as T-Wind (Thai Wind), was a hit all over Asia, especially in Chinese-speaking territories. This included cinema and television dramas. Thai stars have also become popular in Asia, especially Mario Maurer.
There were 52 official releases in 2011 (excluding some independents whose directors rented a theatre on their own and showed their works for only 2-3 screenings). The two biggest hits were the sequels King Naresuan Part 3 and 4, by Prince Chatreechalerm Yukol. They detailed the history of King Naresuan, who won back Siamese territories from the Burmese occupation during the period 1555 to 1600. The films themselves were far from victorious, and made only €4.95 million and €3.30 million respectively, compared to €6.20 million from Part 1 and 2. This meant they only covered the €8-million national funds which came from the taxpayer. But some profit could come from King Naresuan 5, which will be the last one.
The third-highest grossing film of 2011 was a horror drama, Laddaland, which took €2.85 million. This was the second, much-improved, feature from director Sophon Sakdaphisit (Coming Soon). It was about a scandal in a haunted theme park in the 1980s. This time, the story involved a middle-aged father who only wanted a quiet life for his family. But he was bothered by a ghost. It had a well-craft script and good performances, and won several local awards.
The rest of the top ten were all comedies. There was some slapstick, some action comedy, some teen comedy, and the romantic comedies which flooded out to serve a new target group of urban thirtysomethings. This audience has gained a significant market share and replaced teenagers, who were the target audience a decade ago. Contemporary teenagers are not much interested in going to cinema anymore because they have many other entertainment options. This is affecting other media, like television. Each year the TV ratings for TV series are decreasing.
The rise of this thirtysomething audience reflects the ageing of those teenagers from a decade ago. This tendency first became apparent with the unexpected hit of BTS Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story (Adisorn Tresirikasem, 2009), a romantic comedy about a thirtysomething Chinese-descent salesgirl who tries to find someone to marry. Another indication was when GTH suddenly changed a marketing plan last year. For the teen comedy Suckseed (Chayanop Boonprakob), the box office was only moderate in its first week of release. Then the studio changed its advertising plan by focusing on a cameo appearance of a thirtysomething rock stars in the movie. The ploy worked and Suckseed earned €1.9 million.
The huge success of the romantic comedies A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Puttipong Promsaka na Nakorn, by Wasin Pokpong) and Hello Stranger (by Banjong Pisanthanakul), changed things. Suddenly romantic comedies with thirtysomething leads were bankable. A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (a 2011 Udine selection) drew all ages to theatres with its first-love theme, while Hello Stranger Korean theme attracted K-pop fans and tourists who like Korea.
30+ and Fabulous 30 were two other thirtysomething films. Both featured two thirtysomething women who became separated from their longtime boyfriends. They try to find new lovers as fast as possible because they think it is their last chance for love. Both had famous genre directors: Puttipong Promsaka na Nakorn (A Crazy Little Thing Called Love) for 30+ and Somjing Srisuphab (well known for 1990s teen romances and comedies) for Fabulous 30. They also featured the country's top actresses: Patcharapa Chaichue (in Fabulous 30) and Cherman Boonyasak in 30+. They are the most expensive stars, and are professional rivals. The films were released around the same time, during the October school break - Thailand's peak cinemagoing time. The strategy worked, despite the flood of October and November. Fabulous 30 and 30+ easily climbed up to fifth and sixth in the box-office chart, taking €1.8 million and €1.7 million respectively.
A Crazy Little Thing Called Love also became popular across Asia, boosting the popularity of lead actor Mario Maurer. The film was a hit in the Philippines and some Chinese-speaking territories, too. It was even re-edited and remade for a television series in some countries. Maurer has now signed contracts to star in a Philippine and a Taiwanese movie. Several other Thai stars have shared this success. Performers like Supanat Jittaleela and Sucharat Manaying, from the lesbian teen-love film Yes or No (Sarassawadee Wongsomphet, 2010), and Thai TV actors Pong Nawat and Bee The Star have done well. Unlike other Asian stars, Thai stars can be easily reached by their fans at film premieres, or even on the sets. It was common to see Chinese fans fly to Thailand and meet Thai stars. Locals called this phenomenon as ‘T-Wind,’ standing for ‘Thailand-Wind,’ which means the slow but certain and movement of Thai pop culture across Asia.
Romantic comedy has been very popular with the industry during the last two years, especially films with thirtysomething love affairs. There was a love affair between a high-school student and an older woman in First Kiss (Keerati Nakintanon), three generations of romances in An Ordinary Love Story (Chatwan Witsawabamrungchai), and several love stories in the Sweety series (Rirkchai Puangphet). The year of 2012 is actually called the year of love, as well as being the year of Mario Maurer.
Pure action and horror continued to decline. In 2011, there were only three action flicks: This Girl is Bad-ass (Petchtai Wongkamlao), Bangkok Kungfu (Yuthlert Sippapak), and The Kick (Prachya Pinkaew). Only The Kick was pure action. This Thai-Korean co-production tells the story of a Korean Taekwondo family. A Korean family fight against the Korean mafia in Thailand with the help of Jeeja Yanin and her father. The other two actioners have comedy. Bangkok Kungfu showcases kung fu with five heavyweight stars. Mario Maurer and Arak Amornsupasent play disabled friends who take their revenge against the mafia. This Girl is Bad-ass combined Jeeja Yanin's martial arts with performances by comedians. Pure horror showed-up only twice, in Laddaland, and Poj Arnon's The Unborn Child. The latter was based on a newspaper headline about the discovery of 5,000 aborted corpses in a temple in 2010. Other horrors were tied with comedy, too.
Of the 52 domestic releases in 2011, only half made profits or broke even. (A movie's breakeven status is based on a minimum gross of €244,000). In fact, 40 per cent of the 2011 film releases only earned €120,000, which meant they made a loss. Besides the quality values of the movies, two major incidents affected the outcome - a flood of genre-oriented independent companies into the industry, and the very real floods that hit the country.
Alongside the five major companies (Sahamongkol Film, Phranakorn Film, GTH, M Pictures, and Five Star Productions), more than ten independents appeared. But unlike the art house indies that focus on international distribution and festival circuits, these independents preferred to make genre films with popular themes. Thirty prints are usually released around the country, something which costs a lot. Takings can be as low as €1,941, even smaller than some art house independent films distributed with only one copy, in one theatre with one daily screening.
Then there was the effect of the flood which began during the 2011 monsoon season at the end of July and spread through the provinces of Northern, Northeastern and Central Thailand along the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basin. It was at it worst in September and mid-December. It resulted in a total of 815 deaths (with 3 missing) and 13.6 million people were affected. Sixty-five of Thailand's 77 provinces were declared flood disaster zones.
When the flood reached Bangkok and its outskirts, 23 multiplexes were closed. In some other unaffected theatres, screenings were reduced as a lot of people had to evacuate to the unflooded zone. Many people were also not in the mood to go to watch movies. All shoots were cancelled because the team, even stars, had to protect their home from the flood. About ten movies were postponed for releases. During the flood, most films didn’t take much money, except Fabulous 30 and 30. The Billionaire (by Songyos Sukmakanan) had a projected €2.5 million expectation, but this real-life story of young billionaire who sets up his own seaweed business and helps save his family from bankruptcy, only earned €927,000.
The effects of the flood continued in the first quarter of 2012. A bunch of new films were released, most of which flopped, especially those made by the genre-oriented independents. The lowest gross ever was recorded - €1,940 for the romantic comedy Love Is. But three films simultaneously hit the jackpot, and took upwards of €3.65 million. These were Sweety sequels, romantic comedies based on the love stories of nine people, made by a bankable director, Rirkchai Puangpetch.
2011 was a year with few films to remember. Even the Federation of Thai Film Producers had a hard time finding a suitable film to represent the country for the Academy Award's Foreign Film. Still, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's eigth work Headshot proved one of his most notable. Unlike most of his previous work, it was his second feature being adapted from novels - this time with the work Fon Tok Kuen Fah (Rain Up Into the Sky) of an award-winning writer Win Leuwarin. Headshot was Pen-Ek's return to his earlier style of crime noir on the exploration of a police-turned-hitman's life after waking up from his coma and seeing the upside-down world.
Pen-Ek's fellow new waver Nonzee Nimibutr also returned to the screen after four-year break and some television series work. His seventh work Distortion (Kon Loke Jit) was a psycho-thriller from the 2010 Thailand Script Project. The film explores the inner lives of four characters - a psychologist, a scientist, a high-class businessman, and a student - all of whom are coincidentally involved with a case of serial murders. Another return included Chookiat Sakveerakul (Love of Siam, 2007), who reappeared after five-year break. Home was his 30-year reflection of people from his northern hometown.
Controversial director Thanwarin Sukkhapisit conformed to the censor board's rule with a new transgender-themed It Gets Better. Her previous feature Insects in the Backyard was banned by the Culture Ministry last year, for strong homosexuality. It Gets Better portrays three seemingly unrelated subplots. Featuring a middle-aged transsexual’s homecoming, a young man’s sexual rendezvous with a transvestite showgirl, and an ordained novice’s unrequited love for a fellow monk, the film powerfully converges at the end, like a jigsaw falling into place.
Several 3D projects have been made and are expected to be released in 2012. Five Star Production announced three 3D horrors in a row, beginning with Dark Flight, Tee 3 (3.00 am), and an as yet untitled one. Dark Flight explores the strange encounters of the crew and passengers on a flight. The script was written by Kongkiat Khomsiri and directed by first-time solo director Issara Nadee. He formerly co-directed Art of the Devil 1 and 2. The country's top veteran actress Masha Wattanapanich came back to take the lead role as a flight attendant who is haunted by her past. Other 3D movies already announced include Prachya Pinkaew's Tom Yum Kung, in which Tony Jaa will meet Jeeja Yanin, and the first S3D animation Kantana's Echo Planet.
Anchalee Chaiworaporn