Movie Carnival made its anticipated comeback in 2007 following the success of the inaugural event at Berjaya Times Square in 2006. Instead of a two-day occasion, Cinema Online together with Mypartners Communications this time extended the carnival to nine days beginning 29 May 2007 at Lower Ground Floor, 1 Utama (New Wing). Scheduled to coincide with the school holiday season, the event attracted even more visitors than the previous year.
As compared to the previous carnival, it saw an increased representation of local content. That was because the organisers worked closely together with the Multimedia Development Corporation of Malaysia (MDeC) to encourage and nurture local filmmakers, as well as to showcase Malaysian movies and their creative work. The showcase included a preview of Malaysia's high profile animated series "Saladin", winners' works from MDeC's IP Challenge Creators Series and Mentorship Programme, Industry Showreels by MSC-status companies and award-winning works by university students. Local movies like "Cicakman 2", "Diva" and "Waris Jari Hantu" were featured at the event, where the actors also made their way in for a meet and greet session with the fans. Chin Vin Sen, director of Cinema Online said: "This is another step for us to get in touch with the local industry. There is no point having a movie carnival where the local movie industry is not involved."
Apart from local appearances, the stars of the Singaporean horror-comedy "Men In White" also joined in to lend their support and promote their film. Those that attended were Ling Lee, Ben Yeung, Xavier Teo, Alice Lim, Benjamin Heng, David Aw, and director, Kelvin Tong. Ben Yeung and Xavier Teo turn the stage upside down with their hip-hop performance with the song "Tough To Be Dead" and followed by David belting one of Andy Lau's classic tunes.
Moviegoers flocked to the mini theatre sponsored by Pensonic to catch exclusive footages of "Men In White", "Alone", "Eye In The Sky", "Namesake", "Ocean's Thirteen", "Shrek 3", "Pirates Of The Carribean: At World's End", "Diva", "Ratatouille", "Vacancy", "Waris Jari Hantu" as well as award-winning short films by director Hikaru Koo. Distributors this year like Golden Screen Cinemas, Buena Vista Columbia Tristar Films, United International Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox went full force displaying their latest and upcoming blockbuster films.
One of the main highlights during the carnival was the 30th Anniversary Celebration of Star Wars, where members of the 501st Malaysia – Brunei Outpost made special appearances. Carnival participants mingled and have their pictures snapped with the characters: Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Tuscan Raider, Imperial Royal Guard and Jedi Master Yupa-Anex. Established in 23 January 2006, 501st Legion is the local chapter of the international Star Wars costuming club and have since been making costume appearances in Malaysia and Brunei. Other character appearances that brought the carnival to live were Shrek, Fantastic Four, Pirates of the Caribbean and Batman.
Other activities at Movie Carnival 2007 include Cosplay competition, movie bazaar, nonstop trailer showcases and movie auctions. Movie merchandises and retails products were featured at the bazaar area. There were also plenty of freebies and opportunities for participants to win exclusive movie premiums and movie screening tickets.
When Movie Carnival 2007 closed, we realised that the success of his fun-filled event warranted an annual affair. We had to make the next carnival even bigger and better – but do you know what happened the following year? Stay tuned to this spot to read about Movie Carnival 2008 next week!