Arnada excels in digital flicks<\/p>\n
Tony Ryanto, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
If life begins at 40, Erwin Arnada, 39, feels secure in welcoming
\nit because he has built a spectacular career for himself, being
\nthe executive producer of Jelangkung (Indonesian equivalent to
\nthe Ouija board), one of three Indonesian films each of which has
\nbeen viewed by more than one million people.<\/p>\n
The sequel, Tusuk Jelangkung (Pierce the Jelangkung), now
\nshowing in more than 20 movie theaters in Jakarta, Bandung and
\nSurabaya, is fast becoming a cult movie among youngsters, notably
\nhigh school and university students.<\/p>\n
Chances are that Tusuk will go the way Jelangkung has gone --
\nhaving a total number of viewers in excess of one million. From
\nMarch 29 to April 6, 2003, the film was seen by 220,000 people.
\nThis is fantastic by local standards because normally it is
\ndifficult for a film even to get 100,000 viewers in its entire
\nrun.<\/p>\n
Back in 1989, Arnada was a young journalist at a weekly news
\nmagazine Editor. Then in 1990 he joined Monitor, a weekly TV
\ntabloid led by Arswendo Atmowiloto, who is also a scriptwriter.
\nThe periodical was banned in 1991 for publishing the results of
\nan opinion poll that ranked Prophet Muhammad lower in popularity
\nthan Arswendo -- something that angered Muslims. Arswendo was put
\nin jail and Arnada joined Bintang Indonesia, also a weekly TV
\ntabloid.<\/p>\n
After leaving Bintang Indonesia to embark on Bintang Millenia,
\nArnada, who has been cooperating closely with MTV Indonesia for
\nyears, was invited to see a digitally processed movie titled
\nJelangkung.<\/p>\n
Originally, Trans TV commissioned Rexinema, headed by Jose
\nPoernomo, to make the film. Jelangkung was about to be telecast
\nwhen Arnada suggested that it could be exhibited in movie
\ntheaters.<\/p>\n
He contacted the 21 Group of cinemas and had the horror
\npicture previewed. The digital film projector was so bulky it had
\nto be installed at the entrance of the 12-seat screening room.<\/p>\n
With the exception of Arnada, all who saw the film were of the
\nview that Jelangkung was a mediocre film. Since it is a digital
\nfilm, it could be shown in only one screen.<\/p>\n
Says Arnada: \"On the first day of screening, there were only
\n30 moviegoers. But on the third day, all tickets to the smallest
\nof Pondok Indah's six cineplexes were sold out. A week after,
\ncrowds of queuing people broke a door pane and a girl sustained
\ninjuries after she fell down in the crush.\"<\/p>\n
Ordinarily, tickets are sold 30 to 45 minutes before a film is
\nscreened but in the case of Jelangkung, exceptions were made. The
\nbox-office opened in the morning, at about 10 a.m. and tickets to
\nall four shows were sold out before 1 p.m.<\/p>\n
A second digital film was screened at Blok M Plaza. Still
\nunable to accommodate the stream of moviegoers, the producers
\nwent to a Singapore lab and blew up Jelangkung to 35 mm film
\nformat. They ordered 14 prints. In the end, total viewers came to
\na mind-boggling 1.3 million people.<\/p>\n
Jelangkung had the power to stay on at Pondok Indah for six
\nmonths and during the first four months, Arnada was never absent
\ndistributing questionnaires, asking audiences whether they wanted
\nto have a sequel. And if they did, what the story should be
\nabout.<\/p>\n
Jose Poernomo and Rizal Mantovani, directors of Jelangkung,
\nwere invited to the U.S. and both have been asked by Michael Bay,
\ndirector of Pearl Harbor, Armageddon and The Rock, to make a
\ndigital film (at a cost of US$10 million) in Bali, called The
\nWell, a horror flick about an American backpacker's adventure on
\nthe holiday island, for his company, Platinum Dunes in
\ncooperation with Roy Lee's (a South Korean American) Vertigo
\nEntertainment.<\/p>\n
Poernomo and Mantovani welcomed the proposal and the project
\nfinanced by the U.S.-based Radar Pictures, which will also
\narrange the film's worldwide distribution, is currently under
\nway.<\/p>\n
So when Arnada asked the two to do a sequel, they were not
\nprepared. But both did not object to Arnada using Jelangkung in
\nthe title. And so it was that Arnada found Dimas Djayadiningrat,
\nan old MTV friend and a seasoned video clip director, willing to
\nproduce the sequel.<\/p>\n
Arnada and Djayadiningrat wrote the story and the screenplay
\nwas written by Upi Avianto. While Jelangkung took Rp 350 million
\nto make, Tusuk absorbed more than Rp 2 billion. There were 14
\nghost sightings in the first film and 26 in the sequel.<\/p>\n
\"I am confident that during its entire run, which I think will
\ntake about four months, Tusuk will be capable of drawing more
\nthan one million moviegoers. More than 50 multiplexes are still
\nwaiting to screen it. And mind you, most youngsters see the film
\nat least twice,\" Arnada says.<\/p>\n
Looking happy but exhausted, the boyish-looking Arnada says he
\nsleeps at 3 a.m. and goes to work at 9 a.m.. Like other hard-
\nworking executives, Arnada often skips meals.<\/p>\n
Arnada says he was told the following anecdote: Producer Mira
\nLesmana is said to be the DreamWorks (major film company set up
\nby Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen) of
\nIndonesia, whereas I am the local Miramax (independent film
\ncompany in the U.S., headed by the Weinstein brothers Bob and
\nHarvey).<\/p>\n
If Tusuk gathers more than one million viewers, it will be the
\nfourth Indonesian picture to do so, the other two being Sherina
\nand Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (What's up with Cinta?), both produced
\nby Mira Lesmana. So the score is even, or two-two.<\/p>",
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