The Malaysian Film Industry

In 1955, a former clapper boy and assistant cameraman at a studio at No. 8 Jalan Ampas, Singapore, sat in the director’s chair for the first time at the age of 26. The film was Penarek Becha. His name was P. Ramlee. The story of the Malaysian film industry begins not in Kuala Lumpur, but in a Singapore studio owned by two brothers from Shanghai — and it has not stopped moving since.

Where did it all begin?

The golden age of Malay cinema was centred on a single place: Shaw’s Malay Film Productions (MFP) studio at No. 8 Jalan Ampas. According to Shaw Organisation records, the studio reopened in 1947 to produce Malay films, and became the main engine of the era later dubbed the “Golden Age of Malay Cinema”.

Into that studio, on 9 August 1948, walked a 19-year-old from Penang as a playback singer for the film Chinta. According to BiblioAsia, published by the National Library Board of Singapore, P. Ramlee started out merely as a musician, but his talent spread to songwriting, acting, screenwriting and eventually directing. Over roughly 16 years in Singapore, he acted in 42 films and directed 17 films.

Among his milestones: Bakti (1950), the first time he sang in his own voice; Penarek Becha (1955), his directorial debut; and Hang Tuah (1956), which according to BiblioAsia was the first Malay film shot entirely in colour (Eastmancolor). The Bujang Lapok comedy series began in 1957.

Why did the industry move to Kuala Lumpur — and how was FINAS born?

The Jalan Ampas era did not last. According to BiblioAsia, P. Ramlee left Singapore in April 1964 to join Merdeka Film Productions in Kuala Lumpur, and the studio held a farewell for him. Shaw Organisation records note that the studio ceased operations around the 1960s as the industry’s centre of gravity shifted to the mainland.

That move marked a major shift: an industry born in Singapore was now centred in Malaysia — but without a state institution to support it. That changed in the 1980s.

Today, the regulatory backbone of the industry is FINAS (the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia), which operates under the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia Act 1981. According to Malay Mail reports, the 1981 Act is now regulated by the Ministry of Communications, and Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has cited amending the Act, together with the welfare of film industry workers, as among the ministry’s top priorities.

A brief timeline

Year	Event
1947	Shaw reopens the Malay Film Productions studio at No. 8 Jalan Ampas, Singapore
1948	P. Ramlee joins the studio (9 August) as a playback singer
1955	Penarek Becha — P. Ramlee’s directorial debut
1964	P. Ramlee moves to Kuala Lumpur (April) to join Merdeka Film Productions
1981	National Film Development Corporation Malaysia Act 1981 — the basis of FINAS
2004	Da Huang Pictures founded — the hub of the independent cinema wave
2022	Mat Kilau becomes the highest-grossing Malaysian film of all time
2023	Tiger Stripes wins the Grand Prix of the Semaine de la Critique at Cannes

Do local films sell tickets?

For a long stretch, the answer was doubtful. Then came Syamsul Yusof.

His historical epic Mat Kilau: Kebangkitan Pahlawan was released in late June 2022 and broke records almost immediately. According to NME, the film collected RM23.3 million in its opening week alone — surpassing major Hollywood films such as Minions: The Rise of Gru, Jurassic World: Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick at local cinemas. In 13 days, its takings reached RM51.8 million, making it the highest-grossing Malaysian film of all time.

The record it broke also belonged to Syamsul Yusof himself: the horror film Munafik 2 (2018), which took in RM48 million. In other words, the country’s two highest box office records at the time were directed by the same person.

That success reveals something important about the Malaysian market: when a local film connects, it can outperform international blockbusters on their own turf. But it does not represent the whole industry either — behind a handful of top-grossing films, most local films compete for a far smaller audience.

Where is independent and multilingual cinema?

Alongside the mainstream exists a quieter but internationally recognised stream: independent cinema.

It is often called the “Malaysian New Wave”, a wave of independent filmmakers that emerged in the early 2000s. One of its hubs is Da Huang Pictures, which according to Asian Movie Pulse was founded in 2004 by Tan Chui Mui, Amir Muhammad, James Lee and Liew Seng Tat. Tan’s debut film, Love Conquers All, won the New Currents Award and the FIPRESCI Award at the 2006 Busan International Film Festival, as well as the Tiger Award at the 36th Rotterdam International Film Festival. Her later film, Barbarian Invasion, won the Jury Award at the Shanghai Film Festival.

This movement brought multilingual and multi-ethnic voices to the screen — something hard to find in the mainstream. Its high point so far came in 2023: Tiger Stripes, directed by Amanda Nell Eu, a Malay-language body horror film about a 12-year-old girl who discovers her body changing in frightening ways. According to Free Malaysia Today, the film won the Grand Prix of the Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week) at Cannes on 26 May 2023 — the first Malaysian film, and the first Southeast Asian film, to win the top award in that section.

How big is the industry now?

The industry today is not only about local films — it is also a regional production hub.

According to a Malay Mail report citing Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching:

• Through the Film in Malaysia Incentive (FIMI), the industry attracted around RM2.75 billion in foreign investment between 2013 and 2025, creating roughly 31,050 job opportunities — mostly involving technical crew, animators and post-production staff.
• The main sources of investment came from the United States, China, India and Australia.
• Box office takings were cited as reaching RM180.7 million in 2023 and RM244 million in 2024.

Among the local films that gained international attention referenced are Abang Adik, Mechamato and Ejen Ali The Movie 2, while foreign productions such as the Transformers series also filmed scenes in Malaysia.

Three industries in one

What emerges from all this is not one industry, but three that overlap within the same space:

• Malay-language mainstream — box office-driven, with winners like Mat Kilau and Munafik 2.
• Independent and festival cinema — small-budget but resonant abroad, from Da Huang Pictures to Tiger Stripes.
• Production services — foreign investment and technical work supporting the global industry.

All three share a single regulator (FINAS) and a single heritage (the Jalan Ampas era), but very different economics and audiences.

What’s next

• Refer to the FINAS website and the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia Act 1981 for the official regulatory structure, the Compulsory Screening Scheme (Skim Wajib Tayang) and the latest box office data.
• Read Bahasa Melayu to understand the language at the core of most of the country’s mainstream films.
• See Mak Yong for an example of a traditional performing art that also shaped the Malay narrative imagination on screen.
• Follow the careers of filmmakers such as Amanda Nell Eu and Tan Chui Mui to understand the next direction of Malaysian independent cinema.