‘Mechamato Movie’ earns RM33.8mil at box office; is now no.1 local animated film

As of Tuesday (Jan 3), 'Mechamato Movie' has collected RM33.8mil. Photo: Handout

What an awesome way to end 2022, and begin 2023.

In just 22 days, Mechamato Movie managed to take over as the No.1 Malaysian animated film from the previous champion, Ejen Ali: The Movie (2019).

The film which opened on Dec 8 at cinemas in Malaysia and Brunei had earned RM30.75mil by Dec 30. Ejen Ali: The Movie held the previous record with box office earnings of RM30.05mil.

Mechamato Movie went on to earn an additional RM3mil during the new year weekend. As of Tuesday (Jan 3), it has collected RM33.8mil.

Directed by Nizam Abd Razak from Monsta studio, the film tells the origin story of a boy named Amato who befriends an alien robot with incredible powers. Together they become Mechamato and fight bad alien robots that want to wreak havoc in the city.

According to a press statement from Monsta, Mechamato Movie has done better than Hollywood releases such as Minions 2: The Rise Of Gru (2022), The Incredibles 2 (2018) and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) in terms of earnings in Malaysia.

Only Frozen II (2019) is still at the top of the highest-grossing animated films in Malaysia list having collected RM38.55mil.

Faiz Zainal Abidin, Monsta’s chief of marketing, said: “The success of Mechamato Movie is a good indication that Malaysian audiences will give their full support to a Malaysian film.”

The movie is expected to continue playing at Malaysian cinemas until end of January 2023.