A summary of Kenyan box office performance in 2012

An edited version of this article first appeared on Saturday Nation on the 5th of January 2013 under the title 'Thriller, action movies top the local box office'.

 Kenyans love action and thriller but strongly dislike horror movies. At least if cinema attendance at Century Cinemax Junction, Starflix Cinemas prestige plaza and IMAX Mama Ngina is anything to go by. The Dark Knight Rises, Avengers, Skyfall and Men in Black 3 topped the most watched list for all three theaters in the past year.

“The best performer for 2012 in terms of attendance for us was The Dark knight rises” Nich Mwole in charge of customer care at Starflix Cinemas in prestige plaza tells me. “The worst performing was Prometheus a science fiction. People do not like horror movies and movies with too much science fiction. They want to see heroes but generally want a movie that’s believable. ” he adds.”This is however different for animations because of children. Our biggest customers are families and most parents will watch what their children want to watch so movies like Ice age 4 and Madagascar 3 also did quite well.”

The dark knight rises

It is no surprise that the Dark Knight Rises directed by Christopher Nolan and released on July 16^th 2012 topped the local charts in cinema attendance. The movie, the final installment in the Batman film trilogy was a worldwide success raising over a billion dollars in the box office alone. The Dark Knight Rises became the second highest grossing superhero film of all time, second highest grossing film of 2012 and the seventh highest grossing film of all time.

The avengers which came second in the local theatres attendance is also no surprise as it topped the 2012 list for highest grossing film in the world, managing to pull in over 1.5 billion at the box office. The film directed by Joss Whedon and distributed by Walt Disney studios boasts of a star studded cast of among others, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. The film premiered in April 2012 and brought back previously popular super heroes Iron man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor to form a team that in the movie, must stop Thor’ evil brother Loki from subjugating earth.

“Skyfall had a huge attendance for us, for the four weeks it ran it attracted over 5,000 people each week.” Charity Wakini the sales manager at IMAX on mama Ngina Street tells me. Skyfall released in October 2012 is the twenty third installment in the James Bond series of films. Skyfall was the first of the James bond movies to cross the 1 billion mark globally and is currently the highest grossing film in the UK as well as the 14^th highest grossing film of all time.

 “Out of the many movies released annually, we select the ones best suited for the Kenyan market and those are mostly action movies” Says Charity. Just like at Century cinemax and Starflix, Dark knight rises and Avengers also topped the list for the most watched movies at IMAX “Other than those, the Hobbit also did well because it’s a family movie and it started showing in December when most people were home.”

Overall, IMAX attracted the most crowds in terms of attendance for the last year owing to the higher quality image in picture “We use 70mm film unlike the standard 35mm used in normal theatres” adds Charity “we also use a silver screen which means our images are sharper and bigger. We sell not so much the movie but the experience which is why movies that are in 3d attract a bigger crowd because you feel like you are part of the movie.”

IMAX too agrees that horror movies and anything not action does not attract people “Our worst performer last year was Under the Sea, a documentary about the environment. Prometheus, Dark shadows and Bourne legacy also did not appeal to the masses for some reason” adds Charity.

In the local film industry, 2012 was also a remarkable year. Nairobi Half Life directed by Tosh Gitonga and starring Joseph Wairimu, broke records to become the most successful theatrical release for a Kenyan film. “In our theatre alone we have had over 10,000 people come to watch the movie” Jayesh Patel the general manger of Century Cinemax at the junction, Ngong road tells me. “At some points we even had to add chairs in the cinema halls to accommodate the crowds.”

The main cast for Nairobi Half life

 

The film which has won several awards locally and internationally has raised over 82,000 dollars in cinema attendance alone according to its distributors. “We have had people of all cultures and walks of life come to watch this movie. I never thought I would ever see a Kenyan film do this well.” Mr.Patel continues. Nairobi Half life which premiered at the start of August 2012 is still showing in the New Year at the Junction. “It still attracts a good crowd and we will continue to show it for as long as there is demand” adds Mr.Patel.

Jayesh Patel brightens up when he speaks of the movies expected to take theatres by storm in 2013 “This year will be good for film, not only will we add a 3D screen here at Cinemax, but there’ll also be great movies to show on it. Iron Man 3 is undoubtedly the most anticipated movie and there’s Hitchcock, Gangster squad, the new J.I.Joe, X men, Django Unchained, Hangover 3, Robocop, Oblivion and of course the return of Superman and Die Hard” he concludes.

“For IMAX the movies we are anticipating are Iron man 3, Jack the giant slayer, OZ the great and powerful and A Good Day to Die Hard” says Charity wakini.

2012 was a great year for film and 2013 promises to be better. Grab your pop corn, a comfy seat and brace yourself for the show.