KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — The cinematic appetite for South-east Asian (SEA) fare has been on the rise over the last few years.

While Hollywood blockbusters still dominate (side-eyes MCU), more regional films have been breaking records post-pandemic — from raking it in at the domestic box-office numbers to grabbing a bigger share in global takings.

Here are just some of the films across SEA that offer a glimpse of just what the future of SEA cinema holds..

The phenomenon of Thailand’s ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’

For Vietnam, this year’s Mai directed by comedian Tran Thanh collected a whopping VND500 billion (RM88.1 million) at the local box-office

Mai takes over as highest-grossing Vietnamese movie from 2023’s Nha Ba Nu (The House of No Man) which was also directed by Thanh.

And don't count Malaysia out

It's been a healthy period for Malaysian cinema post-pandemic, with 2023’s Abang Adik directed by Jin Ong being the first Malaysian film to break the Taiwan box office by collecting NT$90 million (RM13.5 million).

The award-winning family drama film had also raked in RM5.2 million at the local box office after 24 days of screening.

The highest grossing Malaysian film of all time is still being held by Syamsul Yusof’s Mat Kilau (2022) with a total gross of RM97 million which surpassed the total takings of of MCU’s Avengers:Endgame at the local box office of RM87.12 million .

Over the last couple of years however, the numbers in second and third spots have changed with Syafiq Yusof’s Sheriff: Narko Integriti (2024) now in second place with RM60 million collected while his Polis Evo 3 (2023) comes in third with the film's total gross at RM50.1 million.