There were cheers of jubilation and gasps of disbelief as Thai cinema found itself awash with excitement in 2023. This has been the most successful year for mainstream Thai movies in a decade, a box-office triumph far exceeding all expectations. To many, the 2023 coup de theatre calls for celebration. “We are back!” cried optimistic pundits. But also: “Really? Is it just a one-time cinema party and can we keep the ball rolling?”
The darkest horse of the year, leaving Hollywood tentpoles in the dust, is the top-grossing film of 2023. Thiti Srinual’s Sapparer (The Undertaker) scored a whopping nationwide haul of 720 million baht. Set in Isan and made by a group of Isan filmmakers, The Undertaker was supposed to be a regional hit — a film in the Isan dialect about a group of local male idlers confronting the big question of death and worldly attachments — that ended up…
