A humble Malaysian film about a coffee shop has just accomplished what local filmmakers have dreamed of for nearly a decade: crossing the elusive RM10 million mark during the crucial Chinese New Year season.
“Close Ur Kopitiam,” anchored by Singaporean screen veteran Mark Lee‘s signature blend of comedy and depth, tells the story of a young inheritor’s unconventional approach to saving his family’s traditional coffee shop.
The last time a Malaysian Chinese film reached such heights was in 2014, when “The Journey” captured audiences’ hearts with its RM16.87 million run.
YouTubers Rewrite Box Office Rules
What’s more remarkable is that this breakthrough comes from DISSY, a YouTube content creator group with 759,000 subscribers, making their ambitious leap from short-form digital content to the silver screen.
Their success story has upended the conventional wisdom about Malaysia’s Chinese New Year box office.
Close Ur Kopitiam outperformed both the star-studded “Money Games” (RM7.57 million) and the effects-heavy Chinese blockbuster “Creation of the Gods II” (RM7.2 million).
The film’s triumph suggests a shifting paradigm in Malaysian Chinese cinema, where authenticity and local flavour might be the secret ingredient that audiences have been craving.
