Customers browse the selection at a DVD rental shop in Yangon’s downtown area.

THERE’S no doubt 2008 was the year of the comedy in Myanmar movies. There was a dramatic shift away from the drama and action titles that proliferated in 2007, which production houses have attributed to changing audience tastes.

“Movie producers turned out more comedy movies in 2008 simply to satisfy audience demand,” said U Tin Aung, from Lucky Place Movie Production.
The cultural behemoth that is Korean drama, with series broadcast nightly on local television networks, has dampened demand for locally-produced drama, he said.

“In my opinion, audiences enjoy watching all kinds of movies, from all genres. But because so many people watch the Korean drama serials every night, they crave locally-made comedies. If the Korean shows on the MRTV and Myawaddy television networks were comedies, people would crave Myanmar drama movies,” he said.

Lucky Place had one of the biggest rental hits of 2008 with the comedy Do Ka Lay (A Little Missile), which starred Min Maw Kun, Khin Lay Nwe and Eaindra Kyaw Zin and was directed by Aung Ba Power.

But U Tin Aung said the production house would continue to produce equal amounts of comedy and drama, because the audience is still not entirely predictable.

Another popular rental movie in 2008 was Naung Jain Pwe (Wrangling), which was produced by Lucky Seven Movie Production.

Lucky Seven’s Ma Aye Aye Win agreed that comedy had replaced drama as the most popular genre among VCD and DVD renters.

“This year [2008], the comedy movies became popular with audiences and so movie producers made an effort to meet the audiences’ demand. As a result the number of comedies made has risen dramatically,” Ma Aye Aye Win said. “Most people watch movies simply to relax – I also want to watch movies that are amusing and funny. Looking forward, I hope that comedies are still in high demand in 2009.”

She said audiences no longer look only to films with a celebrity in the lead role and place more importance on the quality of the scriptwriting and acting.

But not everyone agreed with this sentiment. One producer at Yangon-based company Movie Production said dramas are important because they can convey a strong message to the audience. “The audience seems to prefer funny movies, which have no message or at least not a valuable message, even though many of these films have a pretty flimsy plot.”

And the chairman of the Myanmar Motion Picture Association, U Myint Thein Pe, said the cost of making movies meant producers were held to ransom by audience demand.

“Production costs are higher than ever before and if producers are to cover costs and make any money at all they have to give the audiences what they want,” he said.