Malaysian cinematic taste

Good morning to the readers across the globe.

Today, I am going to have a talk about the cinematic taste about our Malaysians.

Malaysia has more than 32 million population, while more than 50% is Malays and about 60% of Malaysian populations are Muslims.

Being a multiracial country, there are various cinematic taste among Malaysian regardless of race, language and religion, and also different sexual orientation.

Days ago, I had watched some of movies, and then I realized there is something unique on Malaysian cinematic taste.

Two weeks ago, I had watched both A Quiet Place and My Surprise Girl, then I realized that A Quiet Place has made its’ wide release successfully in the nation, being a high-ranking horror film by Platinum Dunes and Paramount Pictures. The film enjoys box office success along with Dukun by Astro Shaw and stars Umie Aida, being P13 rated, that the latter was granted release after some leaks among Dukun that happened on February 2018.

Compared to the A Quiet Place and Dukun, My Surprise Girl, that stars JC Chee and Jeana Ho the sexy Hong Kong lead, along with child actor Debbie Loo, was selected for limited release while being an 18+ comedy drama film. This 18+ comedy drama family film is known for something, particularly sexy bikini scenes featured, while also depicts the extraordinary father-daughter relationship, and also the value of life.

Some people would think that why My Surprise Girl is rated 18+. Actually, not to the bikini scenes, but because of father sleeping with daughter scene that maybe has bad intention. But actually, more than this film, films like Badang and Amazing Titanman must be rated 18+ compared to this comedy family film, henceforth kids would never think about watching this movie on theatre that may possess negative aura to kids, particularly Jaguar Lim one that he is highly dismissed for his acting skills, and poor CGI.

For now, we will talk about the cinematic taste among Malaysians:

• Action thriller-Malaysians are fans of action thriller movies, from independence in 1957. For action thriller, Malaysians are prone to Western action thriller like James Bond series, The Fast and the Furious series, and also Ton Cruise action movies like Mission Impossible series, and also Jack Reacher series by Skydance. Not only Western action thriller, Malaysians are also fans of Asian action thriller particularly Malaysian Chinese, for example, Hard Boiled and The Killer, and also A Better Tomorrow series. While they also love post-1997 action thriller, most prominently from Media Asia Group, a leading Hong Kong entertainment company. Being action thriller, Malaysia often have various successful and high ranking one, including Syamsul Yusof’s action thriller like LK Gangster series and KL Special Force.

• Science fiction and superhero films-Being Malaysians, they are prone to various science fiction and superhero films, while these films enjoy box office success in Malaysia. There are various successful sci-fi and superhero films that enjoys hot reception among Malaysians, including Star Wars series and it’s prequel spin-off, while Malaysians are fans of Marvel Cinematic Universe, a crossover film and television collection created by Marvel Studios. More than My Surprise Girl the 18+ accurate theme film, Malaysian are awaiting Avengers: Infinity War that brings ultimate excitement to viewers, while being a P13 movie. Thanks to Malaysians role of being hardcore MCU fans, Marvel Studios had arranged a release for Black Panther on 15 February, symbolized the first Lunar New Year MCU film, that enjoyed box office success and the highest grossing LNY film for Malaysians. The P13-rated film is enough to send the living daylights out of Badang and Amazing Titanman these lousy LNY movie that is highly booed by Malaysian citizens for poor quality and questionable acting skills. But, you cannot put My Surprise Girl for Chinese New Year release, though the film can send the living daylights out of Badang and Amazing Titanman, believing My Surprise Girl would have box-office turbulence, while the film is a limited release and it’s a sad movie compared to Black Panther that brings excitement on Chinese New Year, literally.

• Fantasy-Malaysians are fans of Harry Potter series, for being a highly successful fantast film series by J.K. Rowling. Fantasy films are common taste for Malaysians, ranging from animation like Frozen, to live action like Harry Potter. For fantasy, Malaysians are fans of The Shape of Water, an award-winning fantasy romance film by Guillermo Del Toro and released by Fox Movies for GSC International Screen. Although it’s 18+ and GSC International Screen exclusive, this film enjoys success when this film was released on March 22, 2018.

• Horror-As Malaysians, there are various horror movies that can be their fans, from local to overseas. As Malaysians are horror fans, there are various successful horror movies, including Munafik by Syamsul Yusof, A Haunted Hotel, and various. When Dukun was released after 11 years of frozen, the film started to enjoy success in box office, and is a potent competitor to A Quiet Place. The Shape of Water is also a horror film, according to the Internet Movie Database, by Amazon.com. Horror films are common in Malaysia, including Get Out, a high ranking Blumhouse horror movie by Jordan Peele as his directorial debut and stars Daniel Kalluya as Chris Washington the photographer, while he also stars himself as W’Kabi, an extremist Wakandan Border Tribe leader and an ally of Erik “Killmonger” Stevens aka N’Jadaka. Train to Busan is a successful Korean horror movie released widely in Malaysia, that the lead is played by Gong Yoo, who also casts himself in Goblin as the lead, whom the lead himself screams out loud when he sees this with his girlfriend, depicted in Episode 7. Another successful Korean horror movie that will be released in Malaysia is Gonjiam: Haunted Hospital, by Showbox, that this film has obtained distribution rights by GSC Movies and given a wide release in Malaysia, from 19th April.

These are some simple description for Malaysian cinematic taste. Thanks for enjoying this article and I hope all of you happy to read it. This is Manuel Smith, a Malaysian movie fan, signing off.