"Hotel Transylvania" welcomes first

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"Hotel Transylvania" welcomes first

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Writer: Elaine Ewe

Dracula and Jonathan are surprised by Malaysia's "Hantu Kapcai".

2 Oct – The box office rebounded substantially last weekend (27 – 30 Sept) for the U.S. thanks to "Hotel Transylvania" and "Looper". The former managed a first place debut with US$42.5 million, which marked its star Adam Sandler's second-highest debut ever behind 2005's "The Longest Yard" at US$47.6 million. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of "Samurai Jack" and "Dexter's Laboratory", the animated comedy tells the story of Dracula, who decides to build Hotel Transylvania after his wife's death in order to provide a refuge for the world's monsters from human civilization, and ultimately, protect his daughter Mavis. On her 118th birthday, Dracula invites some of the most famous monsters, including Frankenstein's monster, Mummy, a Werewolf family, and the Invisible Man, to celebrate, but the hotel is unexpectedly visited by an ordinary young traveller named Jonathan. Now, Dracula must do all he can to stop Mavis from falling in love with him.

Meanwhile, Rian Johnson's time travel film stars Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt in a story about loopers, hired guns paid in silver to kill whoever is sent to them from the future by crime bosses, in order to better dispose of the bodies. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is contented with his life as a looper, despite knowing when and how he will die, which is usually when they send his older version back to be killed by his younger self. However, things go awry when Joe fails to do so, leading to a tragic chain of events. Rounding up the top three is last week's number one, David Ayer's "End of Watch".

"Hantu Kapcai" stars popular local actor Zizan Razak.

On the other hand, in Malaysia, moviegoers have decided to support another type of 'monster' instead of Dracula, which is the ghost in "Hantu Kapcai". Ghaz Abu Bakar directs, with Zizan Razak, Fizz Fairuz, Remy Ishak and Neelofa starring. The film is about a drag racer named Ajib (Zizan Razak) who dies in an illegal drag race, only to become a spirit trapped between the world of the living and the dead. In order to move on, he needs to settle his real world affairs with his family, something that is almost impossible when he is helpless to do anything. That is, until he realises that he can be seen by Ibrahim (Fizz Fairuz). "Hotel Transylvania" opened in second, while "Bait" dipped to third place.

In Singapore, it is not "Looper" but another Joseph Gordon-Levitt film that made its debut, which is "Premium Rush". David Koepp's bicycle action film took first place, followed by the Chinese historical epic, "The Assassins" and "Resident Evil: Retribution". Directed by Zhao Linshan, the film stars veteran actor Chow Yun-fat as the Han Dynasty warlord Cao Cao in a story set between the late 190s and 200s during the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Cao Cao defeated Lü Bu and other rival warlords to gain supremacy in northern China. However, all powerful rulers have conspiracies brewing around them, and this time, it is a pair of assassins who are gunning for his life.

For Malaysia, new movies that opened last week were "Dangerous Liaisons", "Tai Chi 0", "Sofazr The Movie - Jiwa Kacau", "Thandavam", "Looper" and "Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal".

For Singapore, new movies that opened last week were a re-release of "Imperfect", "GF*BF (2D)", "Rain The Best Show (3D)", "The Assassins" and "Dead Mine".

Box office takings for the weekend just gone (27 September - 30 September 2012)
Malaysia 1) Hantu Kapcai 2) Hotel Transylvania 3) Bait 4) Thandavam 5) Dredd 6) Resident Evil: Retribution 7) Looper 8) Tai Chi 0 9) Untuk Tiga Hari 10) Kepong Gangster	Singapore 1) Premium Rush 2) The Assassins 3) Resident Evil: Retribution 4) The Possession 5) Ted 6) Dredd 7) GF*BF 8) Tai Chi 0 9) The Fierce Wife Final Episode 10) To Rome With Love