From box-office to bombs: Here are the best and worst of Malaysian films in 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 — It”s been a good year for Malaysian cinema.
As the curtains come down on 2023, a total of 54 Malaysian films under the compulsory screening scheme (Skim Wajib Tayang) have managed to rake in RM98.8 million in overall gross up to November, according to the Malaysian Film Development Corporation (Finas).
While it pales in comparison to 2022’s overall gross collection of RM196.4 million (which remains the highest yearly takings for local films of all time), the RM97 million difference however saw some reason to celebrate.
Here are the top five box-office Malaysian films of the year, and the biggest bombs 2023 had to offer.
The Top 5
Coming on top of the list for highest-grossing Malaysian films in 2023 is Syafiq Yusof’s Polis Evo 3 which collected a whopping RM50.1 million, making it the second highest grossing Malaysian film of all time — second only to his brother Shamsul Yusof’s Mat Kilau: Kebangkitan Pahlawan which in 2022 broke records with its staggering RM97 million collection.
The third instalment of the Polis Evo franchise, produced by Astro Shaw in collaboration with Skop Productions, managed to woo an audience of over two million.
Malaysian animation was not to be left out, represented by Warnakala Studios’ Didi and Friends the Movie which had the second highest grossing collection for a Malaysian film with RM8.1 million collection.
The film was the big screen debut for the popular local animated title.
Coming in third and surprising many is romantic sci-fi film Imaginur, which grossed RM6.03 million, despite director Nik Amir Mustapha’s own expectations of merely breaking the million-ringgit mark.
Dominating social media conversations, not only for its poignant theme but also its haunting original theme song, Hasrat by Amir Jahari that will compete in Anugerah Juara Lagu 38 as one of the top 12 songs of the year — Imaginur, produced by Lumatic Films, also trended on social media platforms from its release in February with many couples attempting to recreate the film’s iconic poster.
The remake of 1987 horror flick Rahsia starring actress Nabila Huda meanwhile collected RM5.3 million while Malaysia-Singapore action comedy film What! The Heist managed to place fifth with RM5.2 million.
The romantic sci-fi film Imaginur directed by Nik Amir Mustapha. — Picture courtesy of Lumatic Films.
The bottom three of the year meanwhile, is led by A.R Badul’s Vik2ria Secret that elicited mockery from Malaysian social media for its dated approach for everything from its script to its poster.
Needless to say, it was no surprise that the film only managed one of the worst takings of all time with a paltry sum of RM5,058.90.
The RM1.05 million budget film which had questionably been awarded a grant of RM500,000 from the Digital Content Fund (DKD), managed to only pull in 346 people to actually pay to watch the biggest flop of the year.
Placing second worst by a hair is Sazali Meor Coco which managed a sum of RM5,330.35.
Sazali Meor Coco which was released on November 16 and produced under Aquila Emas Sdn Bhd is the directorial debut of actor Zizan Nin.
Completing the bottom three of the lowest grossing local films this year is Kaaval The Movie by One Merge Sdn Bhd that only took in RM5,645.10.
The crime thriller based on RTM's TV2 series of the same name aired all four of its seasons from 2014 to 2021.
