The year 2006 marked many exciting events such as the opening of Malaysia's first budget air terminal, the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, the widely publicised wedding-of-the-year between pop singer Siti Nurhaliza and Datuk Khalid Mohd Jiwa broadcasted live on television, Malaysian superhero flick "Cicakman" debuted as the highest record earning for a local movie during that year, and the unfortunate controversial murder case of Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaaribuu.

That aside, Malaysia also had another amazing event – its first ever Movie Carnival!

Movie Carnival 06' @ Berjaya Times Square

The heavy crowd at MC06'

Launched in April 2006 at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur, the two-day all-movie event was co-organised by Mypartners Communications and Cinema Online. Since then, it has been an annual affair aimed at bringing moviegoers closer to one of Malaysia's favourite pastime – watching movies! Being the first Movie Carnival, there was a lot of excitement running abuzz to gather together the largest congregation of movie lovers and rewarding them with the experience of "everything and anything movies.

The first performance for the day saw a group of professional Australian gymnasts, who gave a stunning and energetic performance with their routine.

Australia gymnasts flown all the way to perform for Movie Carnival!

Showcasing many of the year's biggest blockbuster movies, it brought in movie characters from "Ice Age 2", "Star Wars", "X-Men", "Alien Vs Predator", "Lord Of The Rings", "Star Trek", "Harry Potter", "Batman", "Pirates Of The Carribean" and "V For Vendetta". All the characters even had their time on stage to strut their stuff and win the audiences heart with their lovable trademarks. The carnival also featured a movie bazaar that offered movie themed e-gaming stations, photo stations, movie merchandise, collectibles & memorabilia for moviegoers to enjoy and bring home a souvenir or two.

Movie goers got their opportunity to get up close and personal with Sharifah Amani, Juliana Ibrahim and Alan Yun, the stars of "Gubra" and Sepet".

A special movie forum was taken to the stage to discuss on the latest issues relating to Malaysian cinemas and movies. While apart from that, the audience actively took part in the stage games and activities organised such as 'Take The Lead' dancing contest, 'Mission: Impossible III Ultimate Mission', 'Superman Returns – Man of Steel Challenge', 'Pirates of the Caribbean Treasure Hunt' and children's colouring contest where tonnes of cool prizes were given away. The audience was also treated to a special Kung Fu performance in the 'Dragon Tiger Gate' demonstration.

Movie forum

What's more fun than feeding your partner popcorn using chopsticks!

Tension runs high for our 'Mission: Impossible III Ultimate Mission' contestant

Kung Fu master trying to be Bruce Lee?

Here are a few comments from our visitors:

Faridul Anwar: "Movie Carnival 2006 is good as it features and exhibits collectibles and memorabilia from upcoming blockbusters. I hope it will be bigger next year with more participants and more goodies given away."

Ronnie (left): "This is something very new in Malaysia. However, I hope there will be more participants and organisers to make it even bigger next year."

Tracy: "The carnival is a good concept but I feel the place is too small to realise its full potential. A very big hall is needed to exhibit everything there is to offer in the movie world."

The first Movie Carnival was an exciting one bringing together a huge group of moviegoers and delivering the best movie experience where no money can buy. Taking in the comments from our visitors, find out next week at what happened during the following Movie Carnival in 2007 and what were the activities installed to make it a bigger and better event than before. So stay tuned!