John Koigi
28 July 2007
opinion
Nairobi — The success of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has underlined the growing popularity of the fantasy sub-genre of movies.
Alongside those on science fiction, fantasy films have grown in popularity in recent years - almost surpassing action, adventure, comedy, crime and gangster, drama, epics, horror, musical, war and western, the other main genres.
Trushna Bhuddev-Patel, the marketing manager of Nu Metro, says science-fiction films (sci-fi) have carved a respectable viewership niche locally, enhanced by Fantastic Four, The Matrix Trilogy, Star Wars and X-Men.
This interest, she says, is in tandem with the global movie trend. Some of the recent record-breaking flicks at the Box Office have either been fantasy of sci-fi.
"Local film viewers keep abreast with the latest releases through the international media and the internet," she explains. "So when these films come up for screening in Kenya, there is already a built-up anticipation."
The general manager of Fox Theatres, Anil Kapila, agrees. He says that youngsters especially have been inured to the genre by playing video games and learning about magic and fantasies through the internet.
"The viewer in Kenya is very much in tune with the rest of the world."
Figures on local movie attendance show that sci-fi and fantasy movies are ahead of the park, with horror at the end of the viewership spectrum.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was watched by 11,000 people across East Africa last weekend after it opened with a corporate screening at Fox Cineplex at Sarit Centre, Nairobi.
It is expected to match - or better - the success of Da Vinci Code and Casino Royale, which garnered 44,000 and 48,000 viewership, respectively, in East Africa over a 10-week period last year. Spiderman 3 enjoyed the best run last year with 50,000 people buying tickets to watch it.
Reuters news agency reports that the new Harry Potter sequel, based on British author J.K Rowling's novel, earned $44.8 million (Sh3 billion) globally last week, a record only rivalled by Spider-Man 2, which made $40.4 million (Sh2.7 billion) on its debut day.
The first four Harry Potter movies - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - generated $3.5 billion (Sh231 billion) in worldwide ticket sales.
While fantasy films toy with the idea of magic and voodoo, which existed even in the traditional African setting, those of sci-fi "emphasise actual... or speculative science and the empirical method... in an attempt to reconcile man with the unknown," according to Vivian Sobchack, a writer and cultural critic.
This attempt at reconciliation may dwell on the past or future, interwoven with a human storyline to explore the "what if".
In other words, science fiction often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind - or redeem it.
Some of the popular sci-fi flicks that popularised the genre locally include Jurassic Park, Lost World (both themed on the extinct dinosaurs), Hulk, Independence Day and Star Wars.
And since the genre was introduced in the 19th century by author H.G. Wells with The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine (1895) and The Invisible Man (1897), it has enjoyed a healthy run at the Box Office. Stanley Kubrick's runaway success - 2001: A Space Odyssey, (a narrative starts in 3,000,000 BC with a group of apes using tools) suddenly saw the genre being taken seriously.
In a December, 2006, a compilation by Forbes on the most successful film adaptations from books to films, Harry Potter and Jurassic Park topped the list.
Others were the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Jurassic Park series, The Chronicles of Narnia, Jaws and The Exorcist. The latter includes elements of mysticism, occult and magic, and epitomises science fiction horror films alongside Frankenstein and Alien.
"But some of the sci-fi movies only appeal to a certain age bracket, say over 16 years, mostly because of the complexity in their theme," says Trushna.
One such movie is The Matrix, with sequels The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Reloaded, which have a difficult storyline.
Movie lover Sonia Gakuru says that when she watched The Matrix for the first time, she had to repeatedly hit the pause-and-rewind button to grasp the story. The film describes a future in which the world we know is a simulated reality created by machines.
It draws a variety of content from religion and philosophy.
Other notable sci-fi films include Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, Alien, Solaris, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, The Matrix and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which were recently polled by Britain's The Independent newspaper as the top 10 sci-fi films in that order.
With the resurgence in enthusiasm for local films, accentuated by the like of George Nyanja's Malooned, isn't it high time local producers experimented with the two types of movies (sci-fi and fantasy) that have proved their success?
Kapila says that for this to take place, local producers "must take local stories and present them in a matter emotionally timed with people of this country."
He says that such productions must be simple, the same category as Gods Must Be Crazy, a Jamie Uys production whose storyline revolves around the Bushman of southern Africa.
"In the local context, if the corruption and greed by some individuals if presented well, can be a runaway success, without necessarily limiting oneself to a specific film genre," says Kapila.
Although the average 46,000 annual viewership of blockbusters might seem like a cause to celebrate, it is still a drop in the ocean of the untapped potential.
The three East African countries have a combined population of about 90 million. "In total, only about 560,000 among them watch the films at cinema halls annually," he adds. "And this number includes repeat ticket sales."
Based on the fact that about 1 million people have the ticket buy power, "the 46,000 is really disproportionate."
But the fortunes of these theatre companies are also influenced by the types of film released every year. Last year was one of the best in recent times.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
