After years of continuous expansion, the Malaysian film sector underwent a substantial downturn in 2019. This was probably due to market saturation, which was accompanied by a discernible shift in taste towards domestic productions. The year also marked the triumph of animated films aimed at family audiences.
The unprecedented rise of animated productions was the striking thing about the Malaysian film industry in 2019. Three animated features took their place on the podium for successful domestic productions: Ejen Ali the Movie by Usamah Zaid Yasin, Boboiboy Movie 2 by Mohd Nizam Abd Razak, and Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal by Adam Amiruddin, Ahmad Razuri Roseli and Syed Nurfaiz. All three films registered sky-high grosses within national borders: Ejen Ali earned 30.1 million ringgit (US$6.9 million), Boboiboy 2 earned 29.6 million ringgit (US$6.8 million) and Upin & Ipin 26.2 million ringgit (US$6 million).
On their own, these three films accounted for almost 60% of all box-office receipts from the 45 domestic films released in 2019 (down from 50 in 2018). However, this is not a surprise, as local animation has experienced considerable growth at local and international level for several years now, with good sales figures for TV series. It is precisely the fact that these characters are familiar to children thanks to television that has led to their success. Family entertainment for Malaysian-speaking audiences has offered a valid alternative to the tired formulas offered by most locally produced feature films.
Malaysian cinemas remain closed due to Covid-19, and the already short two-week window dividing the theatrical release of local films from screening on the on-demand channel Astro First has become even shorter. Mamat Khalid, the king of local comedy, has thrown in the towel, and given up on the theatrical release of his latest film, Manap Karaoke. It’s the first local title originally intended for cinemas to be made available directly on the small screen.
As for the box office, according to annual figures published by the Society for the Development and Promotion of National Cinema (FINAS), films sold 77.8 million tickets, compared to 77.3 in 2018. In percentage terms, this is growth of just over half a point, the lowest since FINAS began collecting data. In terms of box-office takings, the overall total stood at 1.08 billion ringgit (US$247.7 million) against 1.04 million ringgit in 2018 (US$238.7 million). The percentage growth in this sector is higher, at almost 4%, but, as usual, it is mainly down to ticket price hikes.
According to the data published by FINAS, which divides the different productions by language, the domination of the Malaysian film market remains firmly under the control of English-speaking productions. These have attracted as many as 52 million spectators, for a market share of 66.9%. Compared to the 51.7 million in 2018, there is a percentage drop of -0.07%, a trifling figure if we consider that these percentages are nevertheless more than two thirds of the total market. In revenues, this domination translates into 737 million ringgit (US$169 million), versus 707 million ringgit (US$162 million) in 2018.
On the other hand, domestic productions suffered a drop in market share of -2.16 on an annual basis, from 13 million spectators, or 17% of the total from 2018, to 11.6, or 14.9% of the total 2019 market. Revenues for local productions therefore fell from 170 million ringgit (US$39 million) for 2018 productions to 144.7 million ringgit (US$33 million) for 2019 productions. For domestic films, however, these are the second-best results of all time, according to FINAS statistics, after 2018.
There was also marginal growth for Chinese language productions, which rose from 5.3 million spectators in 2018 to 6.7 million in 2019, with takings of 93.7 million ringgit (US$21.5 million) compared to 72.8 million ringgit (US$16.5 million) in 2018. Indian-language productions rose from 4.45 million spectators in 2018 to 4.82 million in 2019, with takings of 65.5 million ringgit (US$15 million) compared to 60.7 million ringgit (US$13.9 million) in 2018. Indonesian films went from 0.8 million tickets in 2018 to 1.1 million in 2019, with takings of 13.6 million ringgit (US$3.1 million) against 2018’s 10.2 million ringgit (US$2.3 million).
In terms of market share, with regard to the number of actual viewers, the figures for Chinese language films translate into 8.58% of the total (+1.67% compared to 2018), for Indian language films into 6.2% of the total (+0.44% compared to 2018) and for Indonesian films into 1.41% of the total (+0.35% compared to 2018).
Paolo Bertolin