Kelvin Tong

Gasp, Liang Po Po is in a Triad!

No more teasing after showing herself in a trailer, Liang Po Po is set to rock movie-goers here.

MOVIE AUDIENCES LAP UP THE SCENES IN A TRAILER OF THE NEW MOVIE FROM JACK NEO AND WACKY COMPANY

After flirting with movie-goers in a cinema teaser that revealed only her silhouette, Liang Po Po is back, hunch, toothless guffaw, crummy handbag and all.

For a good 190 seconds the full-blown cinema trailer for Liang Po Po- The Movie rocked cinemas island wide last weekend.

The trailer boasts a grand attitude. It flashes title cards like " Big Production" amid scenes of homegrown comedian Jack Neo's popular television alter-ego being inducted unwittingly into a triad.

Such snippets from the $800,000 comedy- drama provoked uproarious laughter from the movie-goers at the Golden Village Yishun.

Liang Po Po running from the cops, actor Mark Lee flashing a skinny body full of gaudy tattoos and a thus touting pornography as high art- the audiences lapped it all up.

Said Miss Vivian Lim, a 17-year-old student: "It looks very funny. My friends were all laughing so hard."

"We will surely catch the movie when it comes."

Thank goodness the laughter flowed easily, for it was hard-won.

Mr Daniel Yun, chief executive officer of the movie's production company, Raintree Pictures, said: " Comedy trailers are very difficult to make. You want audiences to laugh but at the same time, you have to make sure you do not give away the whole joke."

"Also, you have to pitch the trailer at everyone. You do not want audiences to go away thinking that the movie is meant for kids. Neither do you want people to see it's something only adults will understand."

Besides being laced with comedy, the trailer for Liang Po Po- The Movie is also subtitled. Most trailers for films, both home grown, screened here are not subtitled.

Mr Roger Pollock, the managing director of the movie's distributor, United International Pictures, said: " The cinema trailer is the most important marketing tool as far as movie are concerned."

" Whether you manage to get people into the multiplexes to catch that release depends a great deal on the impression that trailer leaves on them."

He added:" Subtitling the trailer was a decision we took in order to send the message that the film is for everyone."

" You do not have to understand Mandarin or dialect to enjoy it."