"Juvana", RM 1.7 mil in 4 days

30 Jan – Local film “Juvana” did surprisingly well over the weekend (24 – 27 January), having opened in second place with a box office collection of RM 1.7 million amid tough competitors such as “Taxi! Taxi!”, “The Last Stand” and “Parker”. Mohamad Faisal bin Ishak directs this award-winning TV drama serial-turned-film, starring Zahiril Adzim in the lead as Daim, a youth who tries to get his life back on track after his release from juvenile prison when he was found not guilty.

Newcomer “Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters” easily claimed the top spot. The film is directed by Tommy Wirkola (“Dead Snow”), and stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the titular Hansel and Gretel respectively. After they are abandoned by their father in the forest and almost cooked by a witch, the duo becomes bounty hunters that hunt witches.

In third place, is another newcomer, “Taxi! Taxi!”, a 2013 Singaporean comedy film based on “Diary Of A Taxi Driver” by Cai Mingjie, about “Singapore’s most well-educated taxi-driver”. The film’s modest start clearly benefited from the casting of veteran comedians Mark Lee and Gurmit Singh in the lead roles and its comedic premise.

In US and Singapore, “Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters” also led the box office, affirming that with well-known leads and a fresh new take on an old tale is enough to get audiences to check it out.

However, in US, last weekend’s winner, Andres Muschietti’s “Mama”, took second place, while in Singapore, it is Kathryn Bigelow’s critically acclaimed historical drama film, “Zero Dark Thirty”. The film is a dramatization of the American operation that killed Osama bin Laden, starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong and Kyle Chandler.

In third place, it is “Zero Dark Thirty” for US and “The Impossible” in Singapore. In light of the awards season, it is no surprise that Oscar-related nominees will do fairly well in box offices.

Other new films that opened over the weekend not in the top three in Malaysia are “Parker” and “Race 2″.

Other new films that opened over the weekend not in the top three in Singapore are “Elles”, “The Tower”, “The Last Supper”, “The Expatriate”, “The Sessions”, “The Master” and “Race 2″.

"Juvana", RM 1.7 mil in 4 days