The documentary revolves around the stories of four women from Myanmar: Shamima, a volunteer counsellor working with rape survivors in the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh; Dil Kayas, a teenage survivor and San Lung and Lu Ra, the sister and mother of two Kachin school teachers brutally raped and killed in 2015. Powerful testimonies from survivors, witnesses and activists explore the farreaching impact of sexual violence and trauma upon women and affected families and communities, and call for justice and an end to impunity.

Produced by Kirana Films in 2018, the documentary recently toured the US and will be have its premiere in Thailand on January 10 at FCCT. After the screening, there will be an informal Q & A session with the director, Jeanne Marie Hallacy and human rights defender Debbie Stothard.

Hallacy is a filmmaker and photographer producing stories about human rights and social justice issues in Southeast Asia. Her film credits include: “Sittwe” (2017) on interfaith relations among young people in Rakhine; “This Kind of Love” profiling Burmese LGBT rights activist Aung Myo Min (2015), “Into the Current: Burma’s Political Prisoners”, chronicling the history of nonviolent resistance in Burma (2012), “Mercy” (meddah) about a Thai girl who lost her family to AIDS (2002) and “Burma Diary”, a fouryear journal of a refugee family displaced by war (1997).

For information and reservation, please email southeastasiajunction@gmail.com or call (097) 002 4140.

If there’s one outstanding lesson to be learned from a review of Thailand’s film industry in 2018, it’s that audiences are increasingly turning their attention to stories coming out of the Northeast region or Isaan as it is known locally.

Evidence can be found in the success of “Thi Baan The Series”, which earned Bt120 million at the box office and stayed in cinemas a tad longer than many of their contemporaries.

That success has been noted by major studios with the result that a whole lot of films with an Isaan theme will be hitting theatres over the next 12 months.

Last year Pranakorn Films company enjoyed a quiet triumph with “Huk Phaeng”, which brought together luk thung (Thai country-folk) singers from past and present in a romantic comedy. This year Sahamongkol Films is focusing on another Isaan genre – mor lam – for its January 24 release “Morlam Mania”, which boasts an all-Isaan cast and crew including director Nantawut Phoophasuk from Kalasin and stars morlam singer Jirayu Sootchai as the protagonist.

The TV comedy series hit “Diaries of Tootsies” is being brought to the big screen by GDH with the same cast (in picture) and director.

It will be interesting to see how filmgoers react to the film. Since 1997, when “2499 Antapan Krong Muang” (“Dang Bireley’s and Young Gangsters”) gave an ailing Thai film industry a welcome shot in the arm, local movies have tended to centre on life in Bangkok. Those that did portray life in the countryside –Bin Bunluerit’s “Panya Renu” series and Petchtai Wongkamlao’s “Yam Yasothon”, for example, were slammed for not painting a realistic portrait of Isaan life.

That all changed with the release of “Phoo Bao Thai Baan Isaan Indy”, a simple tale in the local dialect, and the launch of “Thi Baan the Series” in 2017 with two parts released in 2018 alone.

The producers of “Thi Baan The Series” aim to create their own universe and so this year they are planning three projects, the first of which, “Sapparer”, is a kind of horror film centred on the local belief in spirits and ghosts. That will be followed by “The Pong”, which will focus on the much-loved character of the same name and his ambitious project of running Sukcheva’s vegetable store project after he returns from studying in Bangkok. The third and last project for 2019 will be “Thi Baan The Series 3”, for which the producers plan to bring Bangkok’s urban pop idol group BNK48 to experience life in the countryside.

Other Isaan films in the 2019 line-up include “Huk Na Dong Thab” (“”Hug-Dong-Tabe”), “Na Haan”, “Huk Khong Hao Sam Nee Ka Phor” (“The Sound of the E-San Mandolin”) and “Onson De”.

Mainstream Thai studios also have plenty of projects planned for this year particularly Major group, which runs the multiplex chain Major Cineplex and production houses M Pictures and Transformation Films. Genres run the gamut from horror to romantic comedy, action thriller and biopic with “Saeng Krasue”, “Rak Mai Pen Phasa”, “Sator Jim Jaew”, “Khuen Yutitham” and “Pro May”, which takes a look at leading woman golfer Ariya “May” Jutanugarn, amongst the titles already announced.

GDH has confirmed three films for 2019 and will also produce more TV dramas for its parent company GMM.

The first outing in 2019 from GDH will be the romantic comedy “Friend Zone” by Chayanop Boonprakob of “May Who?” fame. The year will also see the return to the mainstream of popular director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit after a spell working independently on “Die Tomorrow” and on a well-received documentary about BNK48. Another promising project from GDH is the big screen adaptation of the hit TV series “Diary Tootsies the Series” starring the original cast of Ratthanant Janyajirawong, Thongchai “Ping Pong” Thongkanthom, Paopetch Charoensook and helmed by director Kittiphak Thong-aum.

After releasing two movies late in 2018, both of which earned critical acclaim but failed to rake in the cash, TMoment is staying mum for the moment on the direction it will be taking in 2019.

Chinavut Indracusin stars in a horror comedy about three men planning to ordain at a remote temple where all nak are being murdered by a furious spirit

Five Star Entertainment will underline its strength in the horror comedy genre with “Phee Nak” staring Chinawut Indracusin as a man who goes to be ordained at a temple that’s housing a ghost who likes to kill nak as men going through the ordination ceremony are known.

Sahamongkol Films will follow up “Morlam Mania” with “Khun Phan 3” and Prachya Pinkaew’s latest project “Sisters”, which offers a new take on the krasue ghost. The story focuses on the bond between sisters who are separated at a very young age. The older of the two dedicates her whole life to being trained as a demon hunter so she can protect her younger sister who is weaker. Shooting was completed on the film, which stars Ployyukol Rojanakatanyoo and Nantapat “Munich BNK48” Lertnamchertsakul, a while ago but no date has yet been set for the release.

Independent filmmaker Kongdej Jaturanrasmee is now working on his next project called “Where We Belong” after winning the CJ Entertainment award of $10,000 (Bt330,000) at the Busan International Film Festival that comes with a first-look option for production, investment, sales and distribution.

Kongdej returns to Chantaburi, which featured in his last film “Snap”, and this time turns the camera on two young women: Sue who is going to study aboard and her friend Belle, who is helping her finish all the items on her checklist before she leaves. The friends compare their lives – one who will soon leave to continue on her journey, and the other who will stay and live in their small town just like she always has.

Sue realises that, no matter whether she gets through all the things on her checklist or not, there will be things which she has to let go. The two protagonists are played by BNK48 members Jennis Oprasert and Praewa “Music BNK 48” Stuhampong.

Other indie films set to screen in local cinemas but for which no release date has been yet are “Kraben Rahu” (“Manta Ray”), the first Thai film to win an award from the Venice International Film Festival’s Orizzonti (Horizons) section and “Nakhon Sawan”, which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival.

Nirut Sirijanya on the set of upcoming movie Nang Non (“The Cave”), which tells the true story of the rescue of 12 young footballers and their coach./photo De Warrenefacebook 

One of the likely highlights this year is “Nang Non” (“The Cave”), which should be the first movie to chronicle the story of the 12 Thai boys and their football coach who were trapped in the Tham Luang Cave in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai last July. Directed by Thai-Irish director Tom Waller, the film opts to follow the rescue operation through the eyes of Irish diver Jim Warny, who will play himself in the film. According to the DeWarrene Facebook page, shooting is now complete and a release date has been set for July to mark the first anniversary of the rescue.

Palme d’Or winning filmmaker Apitchatpong Weerasethakul also has a new project though whether it will suffer the same fate as his last – 2015’s “Cemetery of Splendor” – and never be screened in Thailand remains to be seen.

“Memoria” will set a new milestone for Apichatpong as the film is set in Colombia. Starring Tilda Swinton, it’s his first feature shot outside of Thailand.

So all in all, it should be an exciting year for Thai cinema and this could well be reflected in the new system for box office records currently under development. Unlike South Korea and other countries, which have a clear procedure to measure audience attendance records, the keeping of a coherent record here has been severely limited by the system of distribution. For decades, movies were sold solely to distributors in each region rather than using the normal practice of profit sharing with film companies, thus making it impossible to check the actual audience for each movie.

While this system still exists in some places, the boom in multiplexes is allowing a count to be made. Official box office records have been kept for Bangkok and Chiang Mai and last year Major Cineplex started to show “countrywide” records that took account of all income from their own multiplexes as well as their rival SF Cinema and the distributors.

Last year, the top grossing film was “Nakhee 2” with Bt417.55 million, Bt146.66 million of which came from Bangkok and Chiang Mai, which shows that the film did better outside those two urban centres. The second top grossing Thai film from GDH “Nong Phee Teerak” (“Brother of The Year”), went the other way, bringing in Bt244.77 million with Bt146.86 million coming from Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

The new nationwide box office figures will take this a step further and truly reflect audience behaviour, thus giving the country’s filmmakers the chance to see how to ensure their products reach out to their target audiences.

However she decides to run away with Charlie when she finds that Charlie could be in harm. They set out the journey across South African savanna in search of another land where Charlie can live out his life in freedom. Actress Villiers recently talked about how she worked with the lion.

How was this project unique?

Villiers: It’s a story of love that’s never been told before. And nobody had ever worked with lions the way we did.

Kevin Richardson, the lion expert, played a key role in this project.

Yes. He set up his own wildlife sanctuary. He’s incredible. He has a special relationship with these lions.

How did it feel to move to Johannesburg?

I felt like I was jumping into the unknown, forcing my whole family to move to Johannesburg just for this project! But we all saw the potential in this unusual movie.

Why were you chosen to play Mia?

We all went to see the lions and cubs, and Kevin was there observing us. It was the first time I had ever touched a lion, and Kevin must have seen something happen.

What was it like to work with Melanie Laurent and Langley Kirkwood?

Langley plays my dad, and he taught me to keep my head on my shoulders. And Melanie is amazing, she’s a fantastic actor and such a good person. Just watching her, I learned so much about how she gets under her character’s skin. Both of them taught me a lot.

Was filming a movie with a lion difficult?

When he was a baby, there were so many people around him that he’d get really distracted. And then as he grew older, everybody moved into cages, which made it easier! Thor is really smart, because he’s been used to filming from a very young age, and that’s how we prepared: by working with him since he was a baby.

What kind of director is Gilles de Maistre?

He has such a big heart, and I love his style of filming: very natural, very raw, as if the situations were real.

What is the message behind the movie?

Thor taught me just how magnificent lions are, how they’re so much more than their reputation.

What does the future hold for your wonderful friendship with Thor?

Kevin said I can come and visit him whenever I want, because it’s really hard to just move on to something else. I don’t know what I’ll do next year, I’m trying to live in the present.

The story of a young girl uprooted from her life in London when her family decides to emigrate to manage a lion farm in Africa, “Mia and the White Lion” is a touching tale that will almost certainly please adults as much as children.

The film, which opens today at cinemas across Thailand, is directed by Gilles de Maistre. In a recent interview, he talked about his inspiration, his love for wildlife and the acting talent of his star, Thor the lion.

Where did the idea for the story come from?

It goes back years. I shot a series about children around the world who have deep bonds with wild animals for a French television documentary. My research took me to South Africa, where I filmed a child whose parents had a lionbreeding farm. They bred lions for conservation purposes – or so they claimed. The end goal was to sell them on to zoos and wildlife parks, to celebrate the king of animals in all its glory, and sometimes even to rewild them. There was a 10-year-old boy there who was in love with the lions. Once we finished filming and I left the farm, I found out that the lions were being bred for hunting.

This movie is about an 11-year-old girl called Mia, whose parents breed lions and she develops a bond with a white lion cub. The parents are witnesses to this deep friendship and start worrying about what will happen when the cub grows up. So they decide to sell him to hunters. And when Mia realises the truth, she decides to save the lion and help him escape the farm to a reserve where he might live out his days in peace. But the journey to get to this safe haven is complicated, to say the least.

It’s a family movie rather than a documentary, although there was a real-life friendship that inspired the relationship between the young girl and the lion we witness in the movie. It draws on a completely new and unusual way of working. We met over 300 kids in South Africa to find just the right actor. And we came across this little girl, Daniah. The first time she came head to head with a lion cub, she didn’t use her hands as we saw most of the children do, but her head. Our lion expert, Kevin Richardson, was convinced it needed to be her. Today, Daniah has grown up, and she’s now 14. The lion is no longer a cub, but a 250-kilo giant, and yet the two are still friends. I think it’s the first time anything like this has been attempted: telling the tale of a love story between a wild animal and apex predator, and a little girl, with no special effects.

How did you meet Kevin Richardson?

Once I’d had the idea for “Mia and the White Lion”, my next question was: how can I make this happen? I’d already worked on a documentary about Kevin Richardson, called “The Lion Whisperer”. The man is just incredible, an international star who’s worked with over 100 lions over the past 20 years, dissolving the boundaries between human-kind and the animal kingdom to create authentic relationships between the two. When I spoke to him about “Mia and the White Lion”, he said: “This is going to be complicated, unless you’re prepared to film the movie over three years, using a very young lion cub. You’ll need to build a bond between the two and shoot the movie using the same lion throughout. But that’s impossible, you won’t have the time.”

And I replied: “Let’s do it anyway!”. Studio-canal and Galatee Films were excited and on board, and so that’s what we did!

They say that directing children and animals is hard for a director. And you had to do both, at the same time…

They also say that two negatives make a positive! But all joking aside, that saying is a little inaccurate. Regarding working with children, I met some truly exceptional kids on set: polite, sweet, smart, hardworking, brave… I was lucky.

And when it came to the animals, we developed a working method that’s completely different from how we tend to do things in the industry, approaching the lion as an actual actor rather than an animal we needed to tame. We built a relationship with the lion (Thor) from the moment he was born. Of course, the team kept more of a distance and by the end of the process needed to be in cages, but all the same, the lion became used to the cameras and mics. The younger actors worked with the lions on a daily basis.

It was more about creating an intimate relationship, fostering love, than training. And that gave our lion the confidence he needed to feel comfortable on set with our actors!

Was this the first time anything like this had been attempted?

Yes. It was about immersion and creating habit and routine. The lion spent time with our actor every day, wandering around the set even when we weren’t filming.

And he was a real character! Kevin Richardson had never seen a lion as talented as our Thor. It might have been down to the time it took us to make the film and the atmosphere we had on set, but when we had to redo some takes, he was able to recreate the exact same thing, like a real actor.

The event kicks on this Friday and Saturday (December 28-29) with “Le Grand Mechant Renard et Autres Contes (“The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales”), a 2017 French animated anthology comedy directed by Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert; and “Tamara”, a 2016 teen comedy film directed by Alexandre Castagnetti.

On January 25 and 26, screenings continue with Jean-Paul Rouve’s “Les Souvenirs” (“Memories”), a touching 2014 fiction about a grandmother, who escapes from a nursing home and her young grandson; and “Chante Ton Bac D’Abord” (“We Did It On A Song”), a 2014 musical docudrama directed by David Andre.

Hubert Charuel’s “Petit Paysan” (“Bloody Milk”), a 2017 film with the French countryside as backdrop and “Ridicule”, a 1996 classic period fiction taking place at the Versailles court directed by Patrice Leconte, will be screened on February 22 and 23.

Showtime stars at 6pm with complimentary popcorn served. Customers can also enjoy a 10-per-cent discount on food and drinks at the hotel’s iconic Box Office Bar, which serves colourful and creative cocktails and mocktails some of them named after classic Hollywood blockbusters.

Check out the programme at http://www.PrinceHeritage.com.

No signups are only applicable for Android users for the moment as iflix continues to work on this being available too for iOS devices.

All iflix-FREE movies and television shows, along with many of iflix’s most popular features, are available on iflix Mobile Web without signup. Like the app, you have the option to create an account, upgrade to iflix-VIP and receive a 30-day VIP free trial.

“More than one billion people access the Internet in the Asia-Pacific region. We’re talking about more than 46 per cent of the total online users in the world. iflix Mobile Web delivers great experiences for any device in any connectivity. This is enormously valuable to customers in emerging markets like Thailand which are mobile-first but can face challenges when it comes to consistent and reliable internet access,” says Artima Suraphongchai, country manager for iflix Thailand.

Now available to over one billion consumers throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, iflix has established itself as the clear market leader in video streaming. Offering consumers a vast library of top Hollywood, regional, and local TV shows and movies, including many first run exclusives and awardwinning programmes, and now news, each subscription allows users to access the service on up to five devices, including phones, laptops, tablets, and even television.

Playing out in three separate time periods, the third season tells the story of a macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks, and a mystery that deepens over decades. Ali (Oscar winner for “Moonlight”) stars as state police detective Wayne Hays, with Stephen Dorff (“Somewhere”) as Roland West, the detective who investigated the case with Hays, and Carmen Ejogo (“Selma”) as schoolteacher and writer Amelia Reardon.

In 2015, retired detective Wayne Hays, his memory failing, looks back at the disappearance of 12yearold Will and 10yearold Julie Purcell, recalling the days and weeks immediately following the 1980 crime, as well as developments in 1990, when he and his former partner, Roland West, were subpoenaed after a major break in the case.

Filmed at locations throughout northwest Arkansas, the new season of “True Detective” was written by series creator Nic Pizzolatto, except for the fourth episode, which he wrote with David Milch (HBO’s “Deadwood”), and the sixth episode, which he wrote with Graham Gordy. Pizzolatto is also making his directorial debut with two episodes. Other directors are Jeremy Saulnier (“Hold the Dark”) and Daniel Sackheim (HBO’s “Game of Thrones”).

ONE OF the best-loved cartoonists among Thai manga fans of yesteryear is Shotaro Ishinomori, creator of Kamen Rider, “Cyborg 009” and the famous “Robocon”, which aired in Thailand 40 years ago.

What many Thais may not know, however, is that he has an entire museum dedicated to his memory in Ishinomaki, the second-largest city in Miyagi Prefecture in Japan’s northeast, which is well worth a visit.

Like its home, the Ishinomaki Mangattan Museum or Ishinomori Mangattan Museum as it is sometimes called, which is situated on Nakaze island in the Kyu-Kitakima River, was badly damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2011 but underwent considerable restoration and finally re-opened in March 2013.

It gets the name “Mangattan” because Nakaze looks familiar to Manhattan, New York when observed from above. An egg-shaped building that resembles a UFO, it rises proudly from the river and is one of the city landmarks. And it’s dedicated to Shotaro, a son of present day Ishinomaki City, and who was recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records for the “Most Comics Written by One Author”.

The museum offers a fascinating journey into the history of the Kamen Riders and their inventive vehicles, though while English leaflets are available for foreign visitors, most of the exhibits are described in Japanese. That won’t stop Thai comic fans from sighing over “Cyborg 009”, the cute “Robocon” which was on aired on Channel 5 and those motorcycle-riding superheroes.

The museum is a short 10-minute walk from Ishinomaki JR train station. But it’s not all there is to see in this town, which has miraculously risen from the dead and now boasts museums and centres that chronicle the residents’ lives through the tragic incident. One place foreign visitors shouldn’t miss is the Ishinomaki Community & Info Centre, about 200 metres before the manga museum.

From the outside, it looks like an office but the interior is like a gallery offering a first-hand glimpse of city life through an exhibition, photographs, and descriptions of the damage wrought by the tsunami. There’s even a white board where you are invited to write your impressions.

The cities hit by the disaster all have information centres similar to this but this one is special, as the director is a British citizen Richard Halberstadt who has lived in Ishinomaki for 22 years. He’s on hand to share in English how the local people experienced the tsunami.

“Ishinomaki was one of the municipalities hardest hit by the tsunami of March 2011. Just under 4,000 people were killed and that’s the most in any single city or town in the disaster area and the damage here was bigger than in all of Iwate Prefecture. That gives you an idea of the level of destruction in Ishinomaki,” says Halberstadt

Halberstadt, who was an English lecturer at Ishinomaki Senshu University, was in his classroom when the earthquake hit. He was safe from the flooding but remained trapped at the university for two nights and three days. When he started back towards his home in the city centre, he found it impossible to reach and stayed at a hotel that was serving as a temporary shelter.

“The water from the big wave was massive and higher than in other places because we were so near the epicentre of the quake. Also the coastline is really jagged here and the area fronting the town is really narrow. As the water gushed through that narrow space it became higher and higher because the energy had nowhere else to go,” Halberstadt explains.

“Ishinomaki’s population before the tsunami was about 163,000 now it’s about 145,000. The decrease includes those who lost their lives but since then people have been moving away. Some people were scared to live here after the tsunami while others needed to find jobs. This population decrease is one of the major problems that Ishinomaki is currently facing and both the government and local government are trying to implement policies to stop the bleeding but it’s still going on.”

Two years after the tsunami Halberstadt quit his job. “I wanted to do something different and it was about that time that City Hall contacted me about working in this centre and I said okay. I speak English and Japanese and I was here at the time of the earthquake and tsunami so I can talk about it very easily. My experience of standing in front of a classroom has also helped me communicate with the tourists. Most are Japanese but we also get a lot of visitors from Hong Kong, America, Europe and New Zealand.”

A few Thais have come to the town, he adds, but they have never heard of the ICIC.

“We have many tsunami information centres all over the area but because I can talk in English, this has become a popular stop for groups of international students,” he says, adding that the surprised and horrified reaction to his story of a wave 20 metres high is the same whether the visitors are Japanese or foreign.

The ICIC was established in 2015 to inform and educate visitors from near and far about the tsunami and the progress of post-disaster reconstruction through literature, exhibits, as well as to share important lessons in emergency preparedness.

A local market Ishinomaki Genki Ichiba is just across the street and its second floor is home to the restaurant Genki Shokudo from where diners can enjoy a good view of the island and the museum.

Asked if he is intending to add other exhibits to the centre, Halberstadt says what he really needs is more space as the current premises are only temporary.

“Maybe we’ll be here until the Tokyo Olympics. After that, I think the city is planning something more permanent but I don’t know where. But this place is really good because it’s in the centre, close to the station people can walk here. If we move, I’ll really miss this place,” he says.

IF YOU GO

– For more information about the Ishinomaki Mangattan Museum, visit http://www.mangattan.jp/manga/en/about/.

– For enquiries or make an appointment to visit the Ishinomaki Community & Info Centre and meet Richard Halberstadt, call (+81) 225 98 4425.

The loving nanny will bring her magic and exciting adventures to Thai theatres on Tuesday (December 25).

The new sequel to the musical fantasy film based on PL Travers’ globally popular series of children books, “Mary Poppins Returns” received four nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, namely for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Original Score. Acclaimed director Rob Marshall, who directed “Chicago” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and is currently working on Disney’s live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid”, was at the helm of the new production to bring Mary Poppins back to life on the silver screen.

Starring veteran actress Emily Blunt (“The Girl on the Train” and “Into the Woods”) as Mary Poppins, the new instalment has everything set for the magical nanny to reoccupy her space in people’s hearts again after sending Julie Andrews to stardom and won her Academy and Golden Globe Awards for her leading role as the eponymous character in the original 1964 film.

Emily Blunt grew up watching the original Mary Poppins. As a child, she found Mary Poppins to be a superhero. “Something struck me about [Mary Poppins] coming in, so capable and so magical, and just sweeping it all up and making it right. I think the film is one of those films that’s seared into people’s memories as an emblem of their nostalgia in many ways,” Blunt suggested, remembering her childhood fondness of the original film.

Stepping into a role as iconic as Mary Poppins is exciting, but it does not come without nerves. Blunt elaborated on how she went about diving into the role in Mary Poppins Returns: “I just try to approach her as I would with any other character and not be caught up in the white noise of, ‘Oh my god, you’re Mary Poppins!’ I think that’s been my main focus—to approach her calmly how I would play her with what I’m given on the page.”

Although singing and dancing were not something that came naturally to Blunt, director Rob Marshall helped her gain confidence. “He just has this way of making you feel like you can do anything. You do feel in such safe hands with him, and in the same way he approaches me as an actor, he approaches me as a dancer now. He just wants it to feel like a confident, exciting experience,” Blunt says of her convincing, characterful portrayal of Mary Poppins.

In addition to Blunt, “Mary Poppins Returns” features Hollywood’s A-list cast including Academy Award winners Meryl Streep and Colin Firth, as well as actor and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda who co-wrote the songs for Disney animated film Moana and composed the music and lyrics for critically acclaimed Broadway musical “Hamilton”.

Throughout this year, the Walt Disney studio has achieved record high grossing of more than Bt900 million from nine titles released since the beginning of the year with all film franchises of the studio combined. To commemorate Marvel Studios’ 10th anniversary, the “Year of Marvel” celebration started off with the release of “Black Panther” followed by “Avengers: Infinity War” that surged to top four of the world’s highest-grossing films of all time with worldwide box-office gross of over US$2 billion (Bt35 billion) and enthroned itself as the highest-grossing Hollywood movie of all time in Thailand.

Other Thai releases from Marvel Studios were “Ant-Man and the Wasp”. Lucasfilm delighted Star Wars fans with “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, a spin-off film centring on Star Wars character Han Solo and his adventure before coming across Chewbacca and Millennium Falcon. Disney Pixar brought back the popular family of superheroes in “Incredibles 2”, an animated sequel nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globe Awards. Disney Animation Studios continues to see the box office momentum strong in “Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2” after grossing more than Bt50 million on its opening weekend.