Malaysia Entertainment Industry

[chenchow]

Yesterday, a new Malaysia box-office was released "Puteri Gunung Ledang" and for the first time in history, all cinemas that simultaneously release this movie on Merdeka Day have sold-out tickets for every screenings in 39 cinemas across the country.

This movie even has its own website
http://www.pglthemovie.com/

And it is going to be screened internationally at many cities.

Any comment on whether Puteri Gunung Ledang could inspire Malaysians to start off its entertainment industry. This movie cost RM15 million to produce. Although it is still far off from the expenses of Hollywood shows, it is a good start in my personal view point.

Hope to hear more ReComers commenting on this.

[gal_flower]

i'm actually quite impressed wif puteri gunung ledang...it sorta shows me tad malaysia not tad bad after all in movie-making..but i havnt watch it yet so i shall not comment further...coz last time i was disappointed by spinning gasing...the first (is it or not) english movie made in malaysia...the cinematography n everything was real good, no question abt tad, but the plot....poor darlings...cant they think of a better plot..or something richer...not so weak la..

hope puteri gunung ledang will not disappoint me!

[kucingbiru]

This movie cost RM15 million to produce. Although it is still far off from the expenses of Hollywood shows, it is a good start in my personal view point.

i dont think the cost always makes a movie better. u-wei shaari makes great movies. but i dont think he spent too much on them.

a lot of big budget films in hollywood suck ass too.

[gal_flower]

agreed! big-budget movies gurantee ntg...

[gatecrasher]

so anyone who's watched pgl can post ur comments here?
as yet, i don't dare to watch a local movie :oops: unless i hear it's good. in fact, i don't think i've seen any except bits of those aired on tv. i suppose everyone knows why.

[pandaboy]

Actually Malaysian made Chinese dramas are not that bad u know. I've watch a few during the holidays. Not bad after all. ;)

[naturesimple]

my friend who went to watch on merdeka day comment that pgl....................................... is good. in wat sense, i dunno.

it is from a malay perspective.

[janewai]

Actually Malaysian made Chinese dramas are not that bad u know. I've watch a few during the holidays. Not bad after all. ;)

yeah.. i agree with you! :)
i feel that the reasons why malaysian can't really accept local made chinese dramas and movies is we all already "get used" to the hong kong movies and dramas. once we watch the local one, automatically we compare it with hong kong's one. can't deny that hong kong makes better movies and dramas compare to malaysia because hong kong started to thier entertainment industry far earlier than malaysia. it is kinda unfair if we compare local one with hong kong one.

[pandaboy]

Sometimes, it's good to compare the malaysian made dramas with the hong kong ones. At least the malaysian producers can learn from them, take them as examples to improve the quality of malaysian made dramas. But dun copycat la...typical malaysian habit..:lol:

[gal_flower]

actually some local dramas r not tad bad....
homecoming on ntv7 has got me hooked...
samarinda on tv3 as well...
kopitiam n table for 2...
of course they're not as good as overseas' productions but hey, it's a good start! remember, we are but only 47 years old...

[gatecrasher]

kopitiam n table for 2...

ecks... :twisted: so phony...
sorry, ur meat happens to be my poison here

[naturesimple]

music industry now r starts to shine

malay we have siti who r not only famous in malaysai but start to teroka overseas

chinese singers like penny, z-cehn,jing ru...... have stepped firmly in the whole chinese music industry. except in hong kong where cantonese r major among them.

[dinna_g]

i'm actually quite impressed wif puteri gunung ledang...it sorta shows me tad malaysia not tad bad after all in movie-making..but i havnt watch it yet so i shall not comment further...coz last time i was disappointed by spinning gasing...the first (is it or not) english movie made in malaysia...the cinematography n everything was real good, no question abt tad, but the plot....poor darlings...cant they think of a better plot..or something richer...not so weak la..

hope puteri gunung ledang will not disappoint me!

i agree with you about spinning gasing. i think it's a more "realistic" movie. as in the dialogues aren't "fake". seriously, if you watch any movie by erra and yusry, do you think malaysians talk that way? err.. i dont think so..

spinning gasing is a good start tho, hopefully, we can go even further from there :)

[phantom]

i think mimpi moon is an excellent movie.

[chenchow]

A local film, Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam, has recently won 3 awards 'Pengarah Terbaik, Sinematografi Terbaik dan Susunan Muzik Terbaik". This movie beats 50 other movies within this genre at Fantasy and Horror Movie Festival in Estepona, Spain.

http://www.bharian.com.my/m/BHarian/Monday/Mukadepan/20040920001859/Article/

it seems to me that this is a good start for our Entertainment Industry, after PGL has been doing great~!

[budakkerek]

maybe you guys should watch the latest, u-Wei movie - Buai Laju Laju...i heard it's quite good

*havent got the time to go see it yet, so busy w ASSgmnts *sigh*

[theT]

i like spinning gasing.

why? coz it really represent what malaysia really is. not all of us live in mansion like in yusof haslam movie. they also explain what khalwat is. Even malay movies seems to forget that khalwat even exists. Besides, they also brief us about syair. Aside from that, it also makes us realize that they are not just malay in Malaysia. I also like the character chantal who is banana chinese; and gay and interracial relationship issues in malaysia.

I cannot find any other malaysian movies that really represent malaysia as much as spinning gasing.

I like some other malaysian movie too like Sayang Salmah and Layar Lara. Havent watch Buli but looking foward to watch it.

[budakkerek]

yeah, i hv to agree w you. It's not that i dont like to watch Malay movies, but stimes, i just feel like they lack a certain sthing - maybe more gripping storyline, sthing that can make us think...some intellectual stuff perhaps.
Spinning Gasing, from Jemapoh to Manchestee..those are pretty good movies. And they're like, indie movies if i'm not mistaken
*Craig Fong is cute heheh :lol: *

Like Perempuan, Isteri dan... remember this one? the one that got banned *the last word in the title - Msian Censorship board :roll: *

Movies w Ida Nerina in it, are also a good watch. That gurl can act. At least, i enjoy watching her works - w good facial expression and all. I guess this has sthing to do w her being in the theatre. Some of our actors n actresses who can't act but just bank their popularity on looks only, can take a note or two from her and other talented, more veteran actors.

Buli is a good watch - a different approach i can say.

[wyeoh]

hahaha... great that the Malaysian entertainment industry is now showing greater prospects. Always thought that us Malaysians ignore the local talents the same reason we think imported goods are of greater quality. Guess Mahathir's Look East policy didn't really have long lasting effects...

anyway, it would definitely be very typical for a Malaysian to ask...
"where can I get a copy of the pirated DVD?" :)

[phantom]

guess what,i HATE HOLLYWOOD.read: hate till i only drag my soles if i have nothing else to do on friday night.

think this way: movies are not made for art alone but to make money.having that in mind,one has to wonder why he have so many "when harry met sally" plots in malaysia.becoz in usa,sex sells.in malaysia,love sells.

some of the artistic malay movies out there flunk at the boxoffice becoz today's youths dont find the reason to sit and watch those slow flowing movies.

well,i love "mimpi moon" so so much.one of the few movies in which i sat and watched from start to the end.


but the movies didn't do well both at the box office and with the critiques.see,ppl are weird.

but then again,well done to Maya Karin,she won the best actress award at the asia pacific movie award this week.

a good start for malaysian entertainment industry.

[wyeoh]

think this way: movies are not made for art alone but to make money.having that in mind,one has to wonder why he have so many "when harry met sally" plots in malaysia.becoz in usa,sex sells.in malaysia,love sells.


I have to disagree with this. I doubt sex sells in US, nor does love sell in Malaysia. It is personally all a matter of target audiences. And the timing of a movie's release. Want to hit the teen crowd, release it in the summer. Want to hit the sentimental chord with a seasonal-happy-ending movie, release it in Christmas. So far, amazing box office hits have always been the summer movies for obvious reasons. Also they would have to target younger audiences to increase the potential pool of audiences. Hence, the material will have to be somewhat simplistic - Shrek 2, Spiderman, etc. Things common teenagers can relate to. A spy thriller or a Russian mob drama might be great movies, but simply cannot do as well for the simple reason that more teenagers watch movies than adults.

As for hits in Malaysia, this I suppose has a more complicated formula to it. No long holidays, censorship board's existance, etc, etc ... I would think that what makes a hit in Malaysia is what people think of it before its release, be it knowledge that it was a hit abroad, or the amount of publicity it received before hand on the web. Our Malaysian movies so far lack in this. It doesn't generate the hype because we cannot depend on patriotism to be the sole driver. We actually cannot depend on patriotism for anything, I suppose. :)

So, in US the content and timing matters, while in Malaysia, it is how much you boast about your movie and how convincing you are that matters. Or so I think. Love to hear other opinions.

[qedx]

if its made by yusuf haslam, i already dont watch it no matter how hard he promotes it...

i dunno why, in malaysia i dont usually feel the urge to watch movies :/. take spiderman 2 or resident evil 2 for instance. if i was in the us i'd mark the date of the premier in a calendar. and actually call up people to tgk movie ramai2. here... well, i barely notice the presence of movies. i wonder why.

Even for PGL, was there a bigh promotion on TV and newspapers? I remember seeing the ads occasionally but not that often. maybe there wasnt much promo budget, which is strange since it is supposed to be a big budget movie. was it good? did it make money? wanna bet how soon they will release the vcd?

i don't quite get how pontianak can win awards. i found the movie boring and the story a bit berterabur, and this is not helped by the excessive application of scissors by our honourable censorship board. maybe they show an uncut version to these awards judges? if so, i'd like to get my hand on a copy.