SINGAPORE — 2015 was a banner year for Singapore film, with film-makers churning out a total of 20 films in celebration of our nation’s 50th birthday. Now, with Mr Unbelievable — the movie spin-off from the music video that went viral — closing out the year, what can we expect for 2016?

According to director of Singapore Film Commission, Joachim Ng, we are looking at 15 new films that will run the gamut of genres.

“Over the past two years, we have seen about 10 to 15 Singapore films released, including a bumper crop of Singapore-centric stories in 2015 such as Ah Boys To Men 3: Frogmen, 1965 and 7 Letters,” Ng said.

“In 2016, we are expecting about 15 Singapore films, ranging from period dramas such as Long Long Time Ago to sci-fi and horror thrillers such as Equals and The Faith Of Anna Waters. Local film-makers are also making improvements in storytelling and production values.”

2016 will also see Singapore movie production company mm2 Asia leading the charge.

A big player in the industry now, the company is best known for co-producing the extremely popular Ah Boys To Men series; as well as distributing titles such as Malaysia’s The Journey and Taiwan’s Cafe.Waiting.Love.

Last year, mm2 Asia made its debut on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited, the first Singapore movie production company to achieve this.

On top of two Singapore films (Jack Neo’s Long Long Time Ago and the film anthology, 4Love), and one Singapore-Hong Kong co-production (The Moment) scheduled for next year, mm2 Asia announced today (Dec 2) that it will partner FOX International Channels’ (FIC) flagship Chinese movies channel, SCM, to launch the second edition of Movie Makers Short Film Competition (MMSFC) next year.

An initiative to discover and groom new talents in the film industry, the MMSFC encourages short films from all genres with commercial appeal. On the back of its successful first edition that saw young film-maker Sean Ng take first prize, mm2 Asia will be conducting a regional edition that will be launched in another Asian city.

mm2 Asia is also collaborating with FIC to bring three Singaporean directors to Hong Kong to direct three feature films. There, the Singaporean directors will shoot their feature films entirely in Hong Kong with a Hong Kong production crew and teams.

The aim? To develop Singaporean directors in regional territories by letting them collaborate with industry professionals of a different film industry, thus gaining exposure to different market demands and fresh experience of a new work culture.

“Hong Kong has traditionally been seen as a bedrock of the Asian film industry,” said Melvin Ang, executive director and CEO of mm2 Asia. “Its practitioners have consistently set high industry standards and made iconic movies that are fondly remembered across Asia and beyond. The Singapore directors will definitely learn a lot by working with these professionals in their home ground.”

“We are excited to be the one introducing foreign talents to Hong Kong and we are confident that this project will travel well in Asia,” added Cora Yim, senior vice president of Chinese Entertainment and Territory Head of Hong Kong

The names of the three Singapore directors will be announced on a later date, with their completed movies targeted to be released in 2017 and 2018.

“mm2 has been, and will continue to be, a strong supporter of the local film industry,” added Ang. “Our initiative to bring the Singapore directors to HK will not affect the industry work volume as we will continue to work on increasing the number of local movies made in Singapore every year.

“Furthermore, these valuable lessons learnt would then be brought back by the directors to share with industry practitioners back home to help increase the commercial value and overall quality of our movies.”

Ang also said that mm2 would be more than happy to also collaborate with other Singapore production houses. “We are not the only movie studio in Singapore. There are others that have the potential to make good movies, and we will work with them on commercially viable projects to further the growth of the local film industry.”

Meanwhile, celebrated director Jack Neo will also be having a busy 2016. Aside from his much talked about period film Long Long Time Ago (which revolves around the trials and tribulations of a Chinese family living in a Singapore kampong in the 1960s and ’70s), his production company jTeam will be working together with mm2 on two new productions.

First up is the fourth instalment of Ah Boys To Men. Neo revealed today that the movie is officially set to happen and that he will begin open auditions for fresh new faces to star in the movie.

“Following the overwhelming response to Ah Boys To Men 3: Frogmen, fans have been looking forward to the fourth instalment of the franchise,” shared Neo. “This instalment will focus on NSmen, as 2017 is the 50th anniversary of our Singapore National Service. So we are now in talks with the Ministry Of Defence to determine Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) service to work with.”

He continued: “You can rest assured that the story will not be similar to the past three movies. My creative team and I have already started researching and developing the story. Our main concern is creating a strong story.

“On top of an open audition for new actors, we will also approach Taiwanese actor Darren Wang Da Lu (Our Times). If Darren Wang Da Lu is not available, we will explore other Taiwanese actors!”

Apart from Ah Boys, Neo will also begin pre-production on his next feature, That Girl, based on Neo’s short film contribution in the SG50 anthology 7 Letters. It will be slated for a 2017 Chinese New Year release in Singapore.

Actress Irene Ang’s Fly Entertainment will also be releasing their film, My Love, Sinema next year. Joining stars Tosh Zhang (Ah Boys To Men) and Mata Mata star Cheryl Wee in the film are screen legend Nora Miao, actress Cherry Ngan, veteran Malaysian actor, Ye Qingfang and MediaCorp artistes Richard Low, Dennis Chew and Tay Ping Hui.

Filming for the period romance drama began in Ipoh last month and filming will continue in Kuala Lumpur.

So with next year’s slate fairly filled, what are the box office expectations of 2016 looking to be?

“It is premature for us to predict box office sales at this point,” said Ng. “However, I hope that Singaporeans will support our local film makers and talent by catching the films at the theatres.”