SINGAPORE – Releasing Asian movies in Singapore is a tough business. 

Major Hollywood tentpole films such as Barbie and Oppenheimer, which both opened on July 20 and have grossed US$1.18 billion (S$1.6 billion) and US$650 million at the global box office respectively, often dominate the box office the first week they open. But the same cannot always be said for Asian movies.

Mr Lim Teck, managing director of Clover Films, which acquires Asian titles for the local and regional market, tells The Straits Times: “It’s very rare for an Asian movie to open with a big bang the way Hollywood blockbusters do. Audiences will rush out to watch a Hollywood movie the week it opens, but they tend to want to hear word-of-mouth recommendations for Asian movies before they buy a ticket.”

Ms Violet Kwan, founder of regional film distributor Purple Plan which acquired South Korean disaster thriller Concrete Utopia, is hoping the movie can make a big post-Barbenheimer impact here.

Opening in Singapore cinemas on Aug 24, it stars A-listers Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young and is currently sitting pretty atop South Korea’s box office, having raked in US$11.3 million since its Aug 9 release there.

She says of the film’s strengths: “The cast is definitely an appeal, since it’s a very strong ensemble. And while it is a survival tale and disaster story, it’s not just a popcorn movie, but there is also an element of social commentary.”

While little can guarantee a film’s performance at the box office, action-packed K-movies about survival and disaster have struck a chord with local audiences in the past.

According to Mr Lim, zombie survival flick Train To Busan (2016) and its sequel Train To Busan: Peninsula (2020) are the two best-performing South Korean titles in Singapore, with a box-office draw of $5.5 million and $2.9 million respectively. Peninsula, released in July 2020 amid tight Covid-19 social distancing measures, was a runaway pandemic hit.

This past year, certain Asian titles proved to be bright spots too, amid the crowded Hollywood movie slate.

At the local box office in 2023 so far, Japanese animation Suzume posted around $1.5 million, Donnie Yen-led Chinese period epic Sakra hauled in $955,000 and Taiwanese action-comedy Marry My Dead Body grossed $550,000 despite its R21 rating. 

And 2022 titles such as South Korean disaster thriller Emergency Declaration and local drama Ajoomma managed to take in more than $700,000.

While the profitability of films vary according to title, Mr Lim says Asian films that pull in more than $500,000 are usually considered successes.

Film distributors ST spoke to cite Korean disaster, Thai horror and Japanese animation as genres that have consistently done well here.

Ms Joyce Lee, managing director of Encore Films which brought in Suzume, says the performance of Japanese animation is particularly encouraging. The company will release Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron and Spy X Family Code: White later in 2023.

She says: “We are going big on Japanese animation because we see an increase in cinema-going for that. There’s a healthy growth for these movies, both original anime films and those based on existing anime series and manga properties, by about 50 per cent compared with pre-pandemic days.”

For instance, Encore Films released Weathering With You in 2019 and it earned about $1.2 million. Suzume, also written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, made around $1.5 million.

Ms Kwan agrees. “Anime is no longer a niche genre, it is very commercial and mainstream. And most films which build upon an existing anime series, like 2022’s Jujutsu Kaisen: Zero, tend to do very well.”

Fantasy-adventure anime Jujutsu Kaisen: Zero made $1.59 million in 2022.

Distributors and cinema operators alike agree that box office and cinema-going in Singapore have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

According to the Singapore Film Commission, cinema attendance in 2019 reached 18.5 million, while the annual box office was $175.4 million. In 2022, cinema attendance had fallen to 9.5 million and the total box office was $99.5 million.

“We’ve definitely lost audiences to the streaming business, and there are other factors too – people revenge-travelling or spending on live entertainment events such as concerts instead of movies,” says Mr Lim. 

Still, Asian movies have a chance to shine.

Ms Lee says: “I see a trend of Asian movies becoming more important because Hollywood is running out of ideas. We see a lot of remakes, sequels and superhero movies – the same thing over and over. I think audiences are feeling fatigued.

“The ongoing writers and actors strike in Hollywood is also going to affect the release schedule of Hollywood films and cause production delays, which could be a chance for Asian movies to do well. Every crisis is an opportunity.”