Debunking the Myth: Is The Malaysian Film Market Too Small For Local Films To Survive?
In a conference titled Cashing in on Films in Malaysia: Investment and Opportunity back in March, National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) director-general Datuk Kamil Othman said that the government has invested as much as RM800 million in the film industry according to the ninth and tenth Malaysian Plan, but has not seen encouraging progress.
The worrying state of our local film industry is mainly reflected in the amount invested in films with no healthy return – local box office collection rarely ever help films break even.
Positing Size As The Issue
A popular belief is that our domestic market is too small — local films must compete with output from countries whose languages also cater to our audiences, for example India, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. However, a recent research done by the Film Directors’ Association of Malaysia (FDAM) proves otherwise.
Established in 1991, FDAM initiated a research and development series to investigate the decline of our local films at the box office. The series comprises five research fields, namely market research and box office collection; genre, appeal and element of interest; the production to exhibition process; storytelling; and ASEAN films in the international market.
Each field has three phases. Firstly, findings from the research is revealed to the public. Then, FDAM collaborates with Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) to conduct further research and studies in the field. Lastly, all this information will be put into a book for future references.
Dubbed FDAM Research Series 0.1, some of the key findings obtained from the research was shared during a press conference at Flamingo Hotel on 23 November.
Graph 1: Malaysia has the potential to be listed in the Top 20 world markets.
Let’s Play The Numbers Game
Excluding North America and Canada, eight Australasian countries make the top 20 when it comes to yearly box office ticket sales worldwide.
China takes the highest spot with USD$4.8 billion, followed by Japan with USD$2 billion. South Korea meanwhile sits at #6 spot with USD$1.6 billion while Indonesia hangs at number 20 with USD$200 million.
Observing Graph 1, Malaysia is just USD$7 million short of Indonesia’s box office collection in 2014, indicating that Malaysia has potential to be among the bigger players in the world market. Given our population, this also proves that Malaysians are active cinema-goers.
Graph 2: Malaysians has almost similar purchasing power of South Koreans.
According to data from FINAS, Malaysia has a population of 30 million people and in 2014 alone, 61 million tickets were sold. On average, Malaysians buy two tickets per person in a year.
According to Graph 2, only 32% of China’s population and 20% of Indonesian citizens buy tickets, making us on par with South Korean purchasing power at the cinemas.
PK‘s Pecah Panggung Performance
One of the questions posed by the research was if a film must be big-budgeted, with worldwide promotion, high star value, and advanced CGI to dominate the market.
FDAM findings revealed that in India, nine local films made it into the country’s year-end top 10 last year. At number one is PK, which also set the record as India’s highest-grossing film of all-time with over USD$110 million worldwide.
Starring Aamir Khan in the title role, PK tells the story of an Alien who lands in Earth for a research mission, but ends up befriending a television journalist and then begins questioning religious dogmas and superstitions.
PK may have cost USD$13 million but its performance in India outshone films double its budget such as Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Hobbit, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hunger Games, and Captain America.
Graph 3: Although box office collection increases yearly. the performance of local films saw a decrease since year 2011.
Although there is an upward trend in the growth of Malaysian cinemas and cinema-goers from 2006 to 2014, box office collection for local movies hasn’t moved in parallel. Unlike our neighbours, we would still rather watch international releases in the cinemas.
In conclusion, Malaysia has huge domestic market with a huge potential, but our films have not reached a standard where it can compete with international releases domestically, let alone internationally.
Therefore, the problem is definitely not our market size since Malaysians do go to the cinemas. It’s the quality of our films.
FDAM research facts are obtained from Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), film agencies of ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines, the International Movie Data Base, Variety, World Bank, Industry Monetary Fund (IMF), and FINAS.
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