| Cinema of Thailand | |
|---|---|
 | |
| No. of screens | 757 (2010)[1] |
| • Per capita | 1.2 per 100,000 (2010)[1] |
| Main distributors | GDH 559/GTH Sahamongkol Film International Five Star Production [2] |
| Produced feature films (2005-2009)[3] | |
| Total | 45 (average) |
| Number of admissions (2010)[4] | |
| Total | 28,300,000 |
| Gross box office (2012)[5] | |
| Total | $142 million |
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by François-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited. This sparked more interest in film by the Thai Royal Family and local businessmen, who brought in filmmaking equipment and started to exhibit foreign films. By the 1920s, a local film industry had started and in the 1930s, the Thai film industry had its first "golden age", with a number of studios producing films.
The years after the Second World War saw a resurgence of the industry, which used 16 mm film to produce hundreds of films, many of them hard-driving action films. The most notable action filmmaker in the 1970s was Chalong Pakdivijit. Known internationally as P. Chalong or Philip Chalong, Chalong became the first Thai director who could successfully break into the international market and made a profit with his 1973 action-packed film called 'GOLD' (S.T.A.B.).[6]
Competition from Hollywood brought the Thai industry to a low point in the 1980s and 1990s, but by the end of the 1990s, Thailand had its "new wave", with such directors as Nonzee Nimibutr, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, as well as action hero Tony Jaa, being celebrated at film festivals around the world.
- ^ a b "Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure - Capacity". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Table 6: Share of Top 3 distributors (Excel)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Average national film production". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Table 11: Exhibition - Admissions & Gross Box Office (GBO)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "International Box Office: 13 Hot Emerging Markets". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ Antithawat, Suthakorn. "The Wild Bunch: A Brief Overview Of Thai Action Films". www.fareastfilm.com (in Italian). Retrieved 24 December 2020.