Flat growth likely this year for Thai film industry

GMM Tai Hub (GTH) chief executive officer Visute Poolvoralaks estimates the 50 Thai titles launched this year are worth Bt1.2 billion, comparable to last year's Bt1.7 billion if one excludes the two-part "Naresuan", which took Bt500 million at the box office.

"'Naresuan' wasn't mainstream, so to include it would be a miscalculation," he said.

Last year saw 44 titles.

This year's films took an average of Bt20 million each, against last year's Bt22 million.

"Ong Bak II" passed the Bt100-million mark on Thursday.

Thai films may not be growing, but foreign films in Thailand saw their takings down 30 per cent, with only "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" taking Bt110 million.

"Thai audiences tightened their belts in mid-year with the economic downtrend and political uncertainty," Visute said.

If the trend continues he sees stability or a drop next year, despite blockbusters like "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", "Terminator IV", "Transformer II" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", plus local products "Naresuan III" and "Ong Bak III".

"With political stability and economic growth, we think the market will grow given next year's programme, but audience spending is an imponderable," Visute said.

Still, GTH expects its own sales to grow 10-15 per cent next year compared with this year, which saw total revenue of Bt450 million from the five films it launched.

Visute said it planned five next year too, with an investment budget between Bt35 million and Bt45 million per title, Bt20 million to Bt30 million on production and the rest on marketing.

Three will be romantic, one horror and one a comedy.

"We believe sales will meet target, because we stress quality and customise our product," he said.

It will also do a TV series after the success of its sitcom "Soulmate Next Door" on Modernine this year.

"We may set up a new company for TV if the deal goes through," Visute said.