In 2017, Abang Long Fadil 2 by Syafiq Yusof became the highest-grossing locally produced Malaysian film ever, taking over 18 million ringgit (almost €3.76 million or US$4.67 million). It is the sequel to an action-thriller from 2014, which was in turn a spin-off from a former box-office record holder, KL Gangster (2011). The movie overtook the previous champion Polis EVO, which in 2015 earned 17.47 million ringgit (€3.65 million or US$4.53 million). As with Polis EVO in 2015, the takings for Abang Long Fadil 2 made up around a third of the overall earnings for the entire Malaysian film industry’s productions.
Let’s start our analysis of the data for 2017 published by FINAS, the national corporation for the development of the film industry, from the beginning. Last year also saw the number of film theatres in Malaysia increase, rising from 144 to 151 (up 4.86 per cent), equal to 1,094 screens (up 10.39 per cent) and 185,997 seats (up 8.08 per cent). The increase in tickets sales was not proportional, a mere 1.69 per cent increase, for a total of 72.84 million tickets sold, compared to the 71.63 million in 2016. A price hike for tickets contributed to an all-round increase in takings, which were up 7.47 per cent, for 983.64 million ringgit (€205 million or US$255 million) compared to 915.30 million (€191 million or US$237 million) in 2016.
Despite the overall growth of the market, local films took only 57.57 million ringgit (€12 million or US$14.90 million), compared to 84.48 million (€17.64 million or US$21.89 million) in 2016, an annual decrease of almost 32 per cent. In terms of percentages, local films were only responsible for 5.85 per cent of total earnings, compared to the 9.22 per cent of 2016 and 6.10 per cent in 2015, which on these very pages we defined as an annus horribilis for the Malaysian film industry. Data published by FINAS on the total number of spectators, which does not take into account the ticket price hike, is even more worrying. Local productions were only viewed by 4.52 million spectators, the lowest figure since the start of the decade. Noting that 18.15 per cent of the above-mentioned 57 million ringgit were taken by a single film, the situation looks even more precarious.
A meagre consolation could come from the fact that, compared to 2015, the estimates for takings and numbers of cinemagoers have, per average film, improved. This is because in 2015 there were 80 releases claiming their share of the cake, while in 2017 there were only 59. But if you consider that in 2016, this figure dropped to 46, with takings up by almost a third, it becomes clear why 2017’s figures are considered to be the second worst of the decade. Following encouraging results from last year, the production bubble has begun to expand again, with a lowering of quality and of profit margins. We should bear in mind that for the majority of these ‘fast food’ productions, profits are not expected to be made in film theatres, but in the sales of cable TV rights – in this case, to the local company Astro, which screens most of the titles a couple of weeks after their big-screen debut.
The runaway success of Abang Long Fadil 2, driven by the accomplishment of its predecessors, from its notable production values, its music video aesthetic, its hip hop soundtrack, and its costly advertising campaign, not to mention the wider-than-usual release for a local film (130 copies), bear witness to the fact that the Malaysian film system is becoming more aligned to Hollywood practices of serialisation and the creation of ‘film events’ which monopolise the entire market. This has the undesired consequence that a single film event risks devouring the entire national market.
Indeed, while in 2016 three films earned more than 10 million ringgit at the box office, in 2017 behind Abang Long Fadil 2, the second highest earner, the adventure film Tombiruo: Penunggu Rimba, took less than 8 million ringgit. Included in the list of titles that broke through the million ringgit barrier, (€209,000 or US$259,000), one that stands out is You Mean the World to Me by Saw Teong Hin which, having easily recouped its initial investment, met with a dignified success for a drama in a context which is somewhat adverse to auteur cinema.
To conclude, we must unfortunately report that, despite the encouraging diversification seen in 2016, the Malaysian film industry suffered a huge setback in 2017, with Hollywood products reaching never before seen heights. With takings of 739.99 million ringgit (€154.53 million or US$191.70 million), English-language films took up a 75.23 per cent slice of the Malaysian market in 2017. Chinese- and Indian-language films also nosedived, the former taking 89.3 million ringgit (€18.65 million US$23.14 million) compared to 2016’s 100.35 (€20.96 million or US$26 million) which was down 11 per cent, and the latter 65.02 million ringgit (€13.58 million or US$16.84 million) compared to 71.44 (€14.92 million or US$18.51 million) in 2016 (down 9 per cent). But they still did better than films in the local language.
Films in other languages also saw a downturn in takings: 19.88 million ringgit (€4.15 million or US$5.15 million) compared to a mighty 35.11 (€7.33 million or US$9.09 million) in 2016 (down 43 per cent). But that was still the second-best year in the decade for this sector. Indonesian films, which grew by 6.59 million ringgit (€1.38 million or $1.71 million) to 11.88 (€2.48 million or $3.08 million), a rise of 80 per cent, boosted this take. This was mainly down to the blockbusting 6 million ringgit take of Satan’s Slaves (Pengabdi Setan) by Joko Anwar, which became the highest-grossing Indonesian film in Malaysian history.
Paolo Bertolin