“Ah Boys to Men 2″ makes Singapore Top 10 highest-grossing films list
By Han Wei Chou |
Posted: 26 February 2013 2025 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore director Jack Neo’s “Ah Boys to Men 2″ made its way into the list of Top 10 highest grossing films of all time in Singapore on Monday.
The film, about the adventures of a group of young men as they undergo Basic Military Training (BMT) in the army, raked in some S$7.08 million at the box office, in just 26 days since its release.
“Ah Boys to Men 2″ managed to secure the tenth spot on the list, behind “Spiderman 3″ (S$7.83 million) in ninth spot and “Harry Potter the Deadly Hallows Part II” (S$7.86 million) in eighth spot.
The three highest-grossing films of all time in Singapore are “The Avengers” (S$13.73 million), “Avatar” (S$11.65 million) and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (S$11.04 million).
“Ah Boys to Men 2″ had previously surpassed “Ah Boys to Men” in box office takings on Wednesday last week to become the highest-grossing locally-produced film of all time in Singapore.
Neo, who spent eight years serving in the army before going into showbiz, attributed the film’s success to a combination of factors.
“People are curious about the army and want to find out more. While there have been films about the army before, ‘Ah Boys to Men 2′ is like the ‘latest update’.
“The film captures the military, BMT ‘mood’ and atmosphere. The cast also managed to portray their characters really well,” said Neo, describing the film’s success as “a gift from heaven”.
Jack Neo’s big comeback
Back in 2010, few believed that Neo could recover from his dramatic fall from grace.
At the time, Neo was struggling with the fallout from his tryst with a starlet, and there was talk that he’ll never have a hit film again.
Today, Neo is riding high, with “Ah Boys to Men” and “Ah Boys to Men 2″ pulling in a combined total of over S$13.2 million at the box office so far.
“I really want to thank the audience for giving me a chance,” Neo told channelnewsasia.com on Tuesday, adding that he would “continue to create good films to repay them”.
While both “Ah Boys to Men” and “Ah Boys to Men 2″ have done exceptionally well at the box office, Neo says he is not sure how much he’ll actually earn from them.
“I spent my entire director’s fee for both films to make sure everything looked professional, as we were already over the budget (the two films had a total budget of S$3 million).
“I knew we went over budget, but didn’t know we went over by that much!” said Neo with a laugh.
“Luckily, I’ll still get a little bit of the profits.”
The director said he hopes that the films’ investors can give the cast of mainly newcomers a “bonus red packet” as well, in light of the films’ success.
So what’s next?
Neo revealed that he plans to shoot “Ah Boys to Men 3″, but ruled out shooting it this year.
“I have been really reluctant to tell people that I’ll be working on a third film, because I know people’s expectations will only get higher after the first two,” said Neo with a chuckle.
Neo added that he intends to retain the core cast members of the first two films, but is still thinking about what kind of story he wants to tell.
“We need to have a brand new story angle. We need a bit of time to do research,” said Neo.
“People think it’s easy, but it’s not.”
-CNA/ha
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"Ah Boys to Men 2" makes Singapore Top 10 highest-grossing films list
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