For the first time since the start of the pandemic in late-2019, the Thai film industry has gained momentum. Around 50 titles were released, the usual amount in the years before the outbreak. In rounding up the significant post-Covid changes in the Thai film industry, the diversity of film investment, film genres, and “content” platforms are emerging phenomena.
Around 40 companies were involved in investment and productions in 2022. Only a few studios can afford to make more than one movie these days, including M Pictures, GDH and Neramitnung Film. Even old-time studios like Five Star Productions and Sahamongkol Film International only made a few titles, and a large number of independent film companies collapsed. Among these three moguls, M Pictures produced around 10 titles, as well as distributing smaller or new companies that emerged right after the pandemic. Half of the Top 10 blockbusters last year were made by M Pictures and its affiliate M Thirty-Nine.
Face of Anne was a surprise hit, mixing broken narratives into a fantasy of psychological horror in which several women named Anne fight to be the real Anne. Crafted by well-known scriptwriter-cum-director Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, the film takes the audience into an impossible situation faced by all the Annes. The film also harbours some concealed references to the political situations of a young contemporary audience battling the government and royal family.
Nevertheless, it was GDH that became the most accomplished studio, due to its long-time star-making and branding skills. Three out of their four releases were listed in the Top 10 list, with Love Destiny: The Movie taking the number one spot. Love Destiny: The Movie is the sequel to the hottest television series of 2018. It was such a big hit that a sequel followed another novel and a film – the same formula that television operator Channel 3 has used when its television series became hits. To everyone’s surprise, this time it was GDH who used this strategy. GDH usually makes modern middle-class-targeted stories and had never produced a historical movie before.
Love Destiny: The Movie hit the jackpot as expected, grossing more than €10.85 million. It depicted the rebirth of the lead duo in the Rattanakosin era when the country was modernised, and encountered many historical Westerners. To name a few, Dan Beach Bradley, an American Protestant missionary to Siam from 1835 until his death, is credited with numerous firsts, including bringing the first Thai-script printing press to Siam, publishing the first Thai newspaper and monolingual Thai dictionary, performing the first surgery in Siam, and introducing Western medicine and technology.
GDH also distributed Baz Poonpiriya’s One for the Road, which was produced by Wong Kar-wai, and was partly adapted from the director’s personal experience in New York and Thailand. It’s about a man who starts a journey to say goodbye to all of his ex-girlfriends. This slow relationship story finally took more than €1.94 million. Another romantic comedy OMG! Oh My Girl, the debut by Thitipong Kerdtongtawee, gained almost one third of One for the Road’s figure, exploring a love affair between friends. Surprisingly, when the film was streamed on Netflix, it attracted more recognition than the theatrical release. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s Fast and Feel Love (2022) failed to win any victories this time, detailing the crisis encountered by a young husband as he tries to keep a balance between his love life and his favourite games.
GDH started the first quarter of the year with films that might be considered two of the best. Directed by the first twin Thai directors, Wanwaew and Waewwan Hongvivatana, and produced by top genre film director Banjong Pisanthanakun (The Medium, One Day, Pee Mak, Shutter), You & Me & Me is a sweet family drama about twins who fall in love with the same guy. The twin directors have previously made a popular documentary about their trip from England where they graduated to their home in Bangkok, and they also wrote several popular books together. The film shares their direct experience of living together as twins.
GDH’s senior director Sophon Sakdaphisit also broke the studio’s image by offering a family horror for his fifth feature Home for Rent, about a small family who rent out their house to a retired doctor and her middle-aged daughter. The two tenants practice the dark arts. Sakdaphisit is experienced in mixing ritual mystery and family drama in a movie. Both of GDH’s films conquered the Thai film industry via great casting in both You & Me & Me and Home for Rent. First-time actress Thitiya Jirapornsilp might be nominated as one of the best actresses in all awards playing as twin sisters in conflict in You & Me & Me, while veteran actor Sukollawat Kanarot does his best work as a father who suffers from the loss of his daughter and tries his best to connect with her in Home for Rent.
Sahamongkol Film International and Five Star Productions kept things to a minimum by releasing one horror each – both of which easily climbed into the Top 10 box-office list. Pee Nak 3 was Five Star Production’s attempt to invest in a blockbuster – in this case, deciding that a sequel is the best guarantee of success. Pee Nak 3 (Phontharis Chotkijsadarsopon, 2022) tells a story of a group of friends who have to break a curse from an ancient spirit by having a friend ordained as a monk. This year, the director got serious with a pure horror about the rituals of belief, and a sacred terrifying object Hoon Payon (“Payon Doll”), in a remote village.
Sahamongkol Film also made another omnibus sequel, Haunted Universities 2nd Semester (Jatuphong Rungruengdechapat, Pataraporn Weerasakwong, Ekapon Sethasuk), which details three ghosts faced by university students in different places. Sahamongkol Film International tried another sequel with Kongkiat Khomsiri’s Khun Phan 3. This time, the policeman-cum-necromancer has to fight between friendship, duties and family. Co-produced by HBO Go, who own all international rights, Khun Phan 3 was the best of the sequels, having high production values, and a great yang and yin chemistry encountered by the protagonist and his friends-turned-enemies.
Newcomer Neramitnung Film became more active, but had less luck, last year after its surprise debut hit 4 Kings in 2021. Its monster films Leio (2022) and The 100 (Pakpoom Wongjinda, 2022) failed to attract local audiences despite the top special effects technology. Neramitnung will release its fourth production The Last Breath, another sequel about the love between a couple, one of whom turns into a ferocious monster during night-time. This time the sequel was written and directed by a newcomer, Papahangkorn Punchantarak, and focuses on a father who tries to protect his daughter from becoming a monster. With a well-crafted script, good special effects, and excellent acting performances, the film may cause another sensation at local venues.
Some other companies decided to end their endeavours after some bad performances. After five movies, CJ Major Entertainment, a joint venture between Thailand’s biggest multiplexing operator Major Cineplex and South Korea’s top content producer CJ Entertainment, ceased. Cracked (Suraphong Ploensaeng, 2022) was its final product, and so far it only travelled to the Far East Film Festival last year.
There was a full bloom of diversity in the form and themes of these 50 movies, which ranged from genre products to arthouse cinema, as well as in-between categories. Although horror might have drawn a lot of interest last year, all kinds of comedies – romantic comedy, slapstick, ghost comedy and so on – took the lead. There were also some other interesting genres that became hits, such as drama (One for the Road), and thrillers (Face of Anne). Several arthouse works that travelled to film festival circuits the year before were also released last year, from veterans like Jakkrawal Nilthamrong’s Anatomy of Time, a portrayal of historical documentation of a turbulent time in Thailand that suffered from military dictatorship, terrorism from Communist guerrillas, and violent confrontations between the parties, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, an encounter of memory, history and politics, and Anocha Suwichakornpong’s Come Here (2021), an encounter between memory and death told via the gathering of four friends on the well-known Death Railway.
There was also Uruphong Raksasad’s Worship (2021), a documentary that explores Buddhist rites, animist rituals, and shamanistic divinations across Thailand; Blue Again (Thapanee Loosuwan, 2022), about finding the balance between life and art through living with others; and Scala (Ananta Thitanat, 2022), a documentary about dismantling the last standalone movie theatre in Bangkok.
The majority of local productions are now calculated to appeal to particular audiences, with a few exceptions which are geared to everyone. Arthouse cinema is not only aimed at sophisticated audiences. In addition to horror, some movies are targeted at those who live in the northeastern region of Thailand, in the same way as the B-grade movies in the 1990s were. Unlike the previous northern movies that focused on action and horror, the present ones use northeastern dialect and comedy. Last year, nine titles fell into this category, with another one, The Perfect Couple (Rames Ruangprathum), using both the northern and southern dialects to tell of a romance between a northern woman and a southern man.
Last but not least is the diverse content platforms that are used to show the movies today. The pandemic boosted the streaming business in Thailand, resulting in several new content providers, and new competition to buy product. Several movies were shown for a short time in theatres and then quickly went to streaming, although the exact streaming windows are still flexible. Furthermore, the streaming providers themselves also produce some original content, resulting into the shortage of film directors. Many streaming rights are international, meaning films can break even or even profit, despite their box-office performances.
The film industry today is growing, expanding to new platforms such as streaming, which is boosting business beyond one territory, and investment and genres are diversifying too. Things are certainly blooming.
Top 10 Box Office Results in 2022
1. Love Destiny: The Movie, €10.85m
2. Bua Pun Fun Yub, €2.27m
3. Daeng Phrakanong, €1.97m
4. One for the Road, €1.95m
5. Pee Nak 3, €1.92m
6. Haunted University 2, €1.12m
7. OMG! Oh My Girl, €0.68m
8. Face of Anne, €0.60m
9. Monrak Wua Chon, €0.43m
10. Happy Ending, €0.43m
Anchalee Chaiworaporn