Singapore, April 2015 – Going to the movies are a favourite past time for many, especially youngsters nowadays. For most, it is a jot to see the characters in the silver screen. Although most would watch movies in the comfort of their home (albeit it being most probably illegally downloaded), some still choose to go to the cinema to catch up with the latest release of movies. These are most often foreign movies. An example is the latest release – Fast and Furious 7, The Divergent Series: Insurgent and Cinderella, to name a few. All of these are a hit among the viewers, especially Fast and Furious 7.
This creates a question about the local movie scene. The old Singapore cinema showcases Malay movies, started by the Cathay Keris and Shaw Brothers. As the Malay movies face decline, they stopped producing it at all. However there are efforts to preserve them. One such is the National Museum of Singapore that will be doing an exhibition in May 2015 to pay a tribute to Sir Run Run Shaw of the Shaw Brothers for his significance in the development of the film industry in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The latest popular movie made by a local production was Ah Boys to Men 3: Frogmen that was released during the recent Chinese New Year. It is the latest instalment of the Ah Boys to Men franchise. With at least almost half of the year is passing by, more local movies are set to be released on the later half and at least two to commemorate the nation’s fifty years of independence. It is a year of a bumper crop of movies for Singapore.
The nation’s movie industry is rather actively participated by the masses, as an example, Grid Synergy launched a kick-starter campaign to produce the nation’s first full length action comedy film regarding martial arts. The film is named I’mpossible and starred by a veteran star. Movie production companies need to be creative in gaining the money needed to produce films as films are rather expensive to produce and not many investors are interested in producing films unless they know it will be able to sell well when it is launched in cinemas.
Although money is one of the major thing movie production companies worry about, it is not the only thing that make them shiver. The audience themselves play a large role in ensuring that Singapore film industries stay alive. If the audience are more interested in watching foreign film but not local ones, then movie production companies may stop producing movies.
It will be a sad day for Singapore should it comes true. So, let us all be fair and watch all the local films as well!
ABOUT GRID_SYNERGY
Grid_Synergy is a creative content provider that offers creative content across multiple media platforms. They can be contacted via phone at +65 6779 1815 or mail at 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #07-19/20/21, Singapore 139951. Their website is http://gridsynergy.sg/
