Blockbusters a shot in the arm for Thai film industry
Thailand has seen several local blockbusters over the past nine months, with some films bringing in as much as Bt100 million.
The latest release, “Nakee 2”, made a phenomenal Bt50 million on its first day of release, even though it was a weekday, becoming the highest-grossing premiere in history. The expansion of Major Cineplex theatres in the capital and other cities in Thailand, as well as in neighbouring countries, has also contributed significantly to the success of local films.
Leading distributor and production house, M Pictures also plans to launch 13 original titles next year.
Pornchai Wongsriudomporn, chief operations officer for M Pictures’ local and international films unit, said that as of September four local titles had earned more than Bt100 million. They were GDH’s “Brother of The Year”, M39’s “Bikeman”, Sahamongkol Film’s “Khun Pan 2” and M Pictures’ “9 Satra”. Last year, only three films proved to be blockbusters – M Pictures’ “Som Pak Sian”, GDH’s “Bad Genius” and Transformation Film’s “Mr Hurt”.
The last quarter of this year appears to be prime time for the local film industry, with 11 titles set to be released, starting with “Nakee 2”, which hit the big screens with a blast on October 18. This Thursday will see the release of GDH’s “Homestay” and M Pictures’ “Norah”, followed by “Thai-Baan the Series 2.2” on November 22, “Singsu” and “Gravity of Love” on November 29, “Khun Banlue” and Guru Film’s “Hor-Taw-Tak: Hak-Tor-Mai-Ror-Laew-Na” on December 27.
It is predicted that the industry will rake in more profits with these titles.
