ENTERTAINMENT
Highest Grossing Malaysian Films from 2005 – 2015
Have you ever watched a locally-produced movie? Did it exceed your expectations or totally sucked? Well, if you've been out of the loop, our film industry is currently booming. In 2013, the film and TV industry directly contributed a whopping RM2.9 billion to the Malaysian economy! Are you surprised? Well you shouldn't be. The emergence of new film makers, animators as well as the aid of new technology has helped propelled the quality and level of our local films. We've even gone on and won some awards at the prestigious Cannes Festival! It doesn't stop there; a visual effects company from Malaysia was involved in the digital animation of the movie, Life of Pi which bagged an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
So, how well did our local movies fare in terms of ticket sales in Malaysia? We look back at the top grossing movies in our country from 2005 to 2015.
Before we start, here's an infographic to refresh your memory:
2005 – 2007
Image: KRU Studios
During this period, it’s safe to say that Malay movies still ruled the top grossing list for local movies. Rosyam Nor’s Gangster earned RM2.97 million in 2005, KRU’s state of the art CGI movie, Cicakman raked RM 5.15 million in 2006, and Jangan Pandang Belakang preceded both movies with RM5.78 million the following year. 2008 – 2010
Image: Les' Copaque
In 2008, the film industry saw a decrease in ticket sales but Duyung managed to be the top grossing movie with RM4.68 million. The following year on the other hand, was the birth of a new era. It was the first time in Malaysian history that a fully animated movie became the top movie for the year. Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula was a spin-off of the hit children’s TV series, Upin Ipin. The movie made a cool RM6.2 million. Due to its success, it was translated into Hindi and showcased at over 400 cinemas in India.Ngangkung is another success story. It broke records in 2010 with RM8.18 million in ticket sales. The success of this movie may be attributed to actor, Shaheizy’s Sam rising popularity as well as the premise of the story, which is based on the act of worshiping spirits and supernatural forces in order to win the lottery. 
2011 – 2013
Image: Skop Production
2011 was the rise of gangster-themed movies. Thanks to the brainchild of film director and actor, Syamsul Yusof, KL Gangster was born. RM1.51 million was spent in making the movie but it was all smiles in the end as the movie profited more than seven times of the initial cost with RM11.74 million. It became the first movie in history to reach the RM10 million mark. The movie was so popular that it inspired a lot of gangster themed movies the following years. Malaysians who enjoyed the movie have also created numerous parodies of the film including this one which has over 1,000,000 views:
The following year was quite a ‘dry’ year as a lot of producers were making movies via the gangster-themed route. A rempit-themed movie took the throne in 2012. Adnan Sempit 2, the sequel to Adnan Sempit, garnered RM6.82 million in ticket sales.
Naturally, the success of KL Gangster would mean that a sequel would be coming soon. KL Gangster 2 was released in 2013 but it failed to recreate the success it had in 2011 with only RM4.96 million. The movie tailed behind Husin, Mon & Jin Pakai Toncit, a horror-comedy sequel to the infamous Hantu Kak Limah directed by Mamat Khalid.
2014 – 2016
Image: Astro Shaw
If you think KL Gangster’s record was unbeatable, think again. Director Chiu Keng Guan stole the hearts of Malaysians with The Journey. The film industry was certainly in for a surprise as it became the first Chinese language movie to ever grace the top spot of the blockbuster chart. The movie made big bucks with RM17.17 million in 2014. However, it did not stay at the top for long. A year later, Polis Evo smashed the cinemas with RM17.47 million in sales. Lead actors Zizan Razak and Shaheizy Sam’s on-screen chemistry appealed to Malaysians including this guy who watched the movie 11 times in the cinema. Now this is what you call a true, die-hard fan. Kudos to you for supporting our local scene!Image: Skop Production
So, what about 2016? At this moment, horror flick, Munafik is doing very well at the cinemas with a spine-chilling RM17.04 million followed by another locally animated movie, BoBoiBoy the Movie with RM15.73 million in ticket sales. Perhaps Syamsul Yusof can relive his success in 2011 via a different movie? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.The last few years have been an exceptionally great year for our local movie industry. More production companies are willing to invest more to create high quality movies. We can’t wait to see what’s in store this year and for the years to come. Who knows, we might win an Oscar for Best Picture one day? We’re pretty confident it’ll happen one day. Malaysia Boleh!
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