KUALA LUMPUR: Action-comedy Polis Evo produced by Astro Shaw and Tayangan Unggul, and directed by Ghaz Bakar, has become the country's highest-grossing movie, raking in RM17.3 million at the box office within 42 days.
Screened in 83 cinemas around Malaysia and Brunei, the buddy cop adventure, which co-stars award-winning actors Shaheizy Sam and Zizan Razak, is co-written by Joel Soh, Kyle Goonting and Anwari Ashraf.
The country's last highest-grossing movie was The Journey, another Astro Shaw production, which collected RM17.28 million at the box office last year.
Screened since Sept 17, Polis Evo tells the story of tough police inspectors Khai (Shaheizy) and Sani (Zizan) who have different personalities, yet successfully work together to bust a major drug-processing and smuggling syndicate operating out of Sani's hometown Kuala Terengganu.
Astro Shaw vice president and head Najwa Abu Bakar said: "While the local film industry has of late been facing low ticket sales, we're delighted that Polis Evo has had strong support from moviegoers. We'd like to thank them and the media for giving this action-packed adventure film their full support, which has led to this wonderful achievement."
She said the company is delighted that Polis Evo has become a benchmark for the local film industry and shows that Malaysians are capable of giving their full support to quality productions.
"Next year, Astro Shaw will be coming up with more exciting movies with strong scripts and storylines, and we hope moviegoers will continue to support our productions."
In January 2016, Astro Shaw will screen Langit Cinta. It is expected to open in cinemas on Jan 7. Other movies coming next year include Ola Bola, Aliff Dalam 7 Dimensi, Dukun Doktor Dani and Hantu Rumah Sakit Jiwa.