Note: There isn’t an official website (that I know of) that keeps track of the highest grossing movies in Malaysia. Hence, I went through all the highest grossing movies in Malaysia according to each individual year (2008-2018) as charted in Box Office Mojo and compiled the data. If you find any inconsistencies, do tweet me @dashtalksmovies. Yes, I know there’s a Wikipedia page on the highest grossing movies in Malaysia, but said page does not seem to be accurate nor updated.
As of this writing, Avengers: Infinity War has grossed over US$ 17.3 million (RM 69.6 mil) in Malaysia, making it the highest grossing movie of all time in the country. Comparatively, Infinity War is the 4th highest grossing movie of all time in the US (US$ 669 million) as well as globally (US$ 2.03 billion).
Just like the rest of the world, we Malaysians love our comic book movies, specifically the ones under the Marvel Cinematic Universe umbrella. Including Infinity War, four out of the 10 highest grossing movies of all time in the country are a part of the MCU — Iron Man Three (US$ 13.9 mil), Age of Ultron (US$ 13.4 mil), The Avengers (US$ 10.9 mil).
Almost equal to comic book movies, in the hearts of Malaysians, is the behemoth that is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (especially when he teams up with Dominic Toretto and the rest of the Fast & Furious family). Two out of the top three highest grossing movies in Malaysia feature Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Leading the charge is Furious 7, raking in approximately US$ 15.9 million, with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle following closely behind with US$ 14.1 million. We also have The Fate of the Furious (US$ 12.1 million) and Fast & Furious 6 (US$ 9.8 mil) amongst the top 15.
In fact, our love for The Rock is borderline ridiculous. As seen from the table above, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is ranked 40 in the world, but in Malaysia, it is the 3rd highest grossing movie of all time. The same can be said about Fast & Furious 6, which ranks 77 in the world, but 13 in Malaysia.
Here’s another interesting fact. The 15 highest grossing movies in Malaysia can be divided into four categories: Comic book (seven movies) The Rock (four movies), Transformers (two movies) and Jurassic (two movies). Now some of y’all might be quick to say, “Oh God! Malaysians only like BIG movies with explosions and shit!” Let me stop you right there. While that statement isn’t entirely untrue, it doesn’t just apply to Malaysia, but the rest of the world too. Even on a global scale, the highest grossing movies are all big budgeted event films.
What’s interesting is the absence of certain event films on the Malaysian box office list. The most obvious being Star Wars. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the highest grossing movie of all time in the US (US$ 936 mil) and the third highest grossing movie of all time globally (US$ 2.06 billion). The Last Jedi (US$ 1.3 billion) is the 11th highest grossing movie of all time worldwide. However, Malaysia, just like China doesn’t seem to really give two shits about Star Wars movies (AKA some of the best pieces of art ever conceived).
To put things into perspective. Raking slightly over US$ 6.6 million, The Force Awakens was only the 6th highest grossing movie of 2015 in Malaysia — it made less money than Ant-Man (US$ 6.7 million). The Last Jedi on the other hand, was the 14th highest grossing movie in Malaysia in 2017, making only slightly over US$ 3.7 million. It raked in less than Despicable Me 3 (what), Tom Cruise’s The Mummy (No, it’s not a joke) and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (Holy f*cking shit!!). Rogue One, which is the 25th highest grossing movie of all time worldwide, made about US$ 300k less than From Vegas to Macau 3, in Malaysia. And Solo? Nevermind. Nobody cares about Solo regardless of geographical location.
The other two notable absentees are James Cameron’s Avatar, which is the highest grossing movie of all time worldwide, raking in a staggering US$ 2.7 billion and the second highest grossing movie of all time, Titanic (US$ 2.18 billion). In Malaysia, Titanic, which hit the big screens 21 years ago, grossed US$ 2.7 million. Even if we take inflation into account, this giant ship’s still about US$ 5 million short of breaking into the top 15. Avatar grossed US$ 7.7 million in Malaysia. When adjusted to inflation, Avatar comes really close to clinching the 15th spot, with US$ 9.03 million.
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