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By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, July 21: ‘Sumpahan Jerunei’, which has a budget of RM5 million is aiming to generate at least RM30 million from 114 Malaysian theaters in the first two weeks of its screening.
Produced by Produksi Seni Duapuluh-Duapuluh Sdn Bhd, the horror film based on ancient Melanau tradition will be released at GSC cinemas nationwide on July 27.
The producers Datin Dr Wendy Wong and Dato Nancie Foo said they have high hopes for the film to reach the RM30 million target following the positive response during Asean International Film Festival and Awards (AIFFA) 2023 Opening Movie Premiere last night (July 20).
“For us, the first four days is very important. If nobody watches your movie in the first four days, the cinema will take down your movie.
“We have to make sure that we achieve (pull through) the first four days and then we carry on for two weeks. So in between the two weeks, that is the target (RM30 million) we try to achieve,” Dr Wong said during an interview at Imperial Hotel here today.
Dr Wong also mentioned National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) has initially allocated 75 cinemas for the film’s screening but following the success of the film’s trailer release and promotion, many distributors have come forward, making the total number of cinemas scheduled to release the movie so far to 114.
On international film screening, she said ‘Sumpahan Jerunei’ will be shown at the American Film Festival in November this year and Berlin Film Festival in February 2024.
Meanwhile, Foo said the film will be released in Cambodian cinemas starting Sept 11.
She also said three Indonesian distributors have shown interest to screen the film in their cinemas after watching the trailer.
“They saw ‘Sumpahan Jerunei’ just based on the trailer and they said the film might have high potential in the Indonesian market.
“However, we are very conservative because we know the Indonesian audience really loves gruesome horror, similar to Thailand’s audience, but ours (Sumpahan Jerunei) is just a very mild horror.
“So we are still thinking about it whether the negotiation and the terms and conditions are viable for us, then we might screen in Indonesia next month,” she explained.
The ‘Sumpahan Jerunei’ cast features the talents of Bront Palarae, Uqasha Senrose, Syafie Naswip, Amerul Affendi, Daiyan Trisha, Tony Eusoff, Ruminah Sidek and Yuyun Hikmah. — DayakDaily
