Jack Lim alleges smear campaign against his film

SINGAPORE – Malaysian actor Jack Lim has alleged that there is a social media smear campaign being waged against his Chinese New Year comedy film Liang Po Po Vs Ah Beng.

Singaporean film-maker Jack Neo and Lim play the titular characters respectively.

In an Instagram reel posted on Feb 25, Lim, 51, says: “I usually choose to ignore these haters, but this time, I want to show everyone their true colours.”

On Feb 24, a Malaysian Facebook user posted screenshots of the seat maps showing low sales at a cinema at MyTown Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The user commented: “Every screening is completely empty – no one is buying tickets. I’m scared of ghosts, it’s scary to watch alone. Better not watch.”

The user inserted the hashtag “#dominating – ghosts watching?”, a veiled reference to the film’s reportedly healthy box-office numbers.

Lim refuted that claim with live seat maps showing that Chinese New Year films with major stars – such as the wuxia epic Blades Of The Guardians, starring Chinese actor Wu Jing and Hong Kong’s Nicholas Tse, and Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe, a comedy starring Hong Kong icon Jackie Chan – had similar low sales.

“It’s not just my film having no viewers. All the screenings have no viewers. Why was Liang Po Po Vs Ah Beng being singled out?” he asks in Cantonese.

He went on to say that the critic’s posting history shows that they actively support another Chinese New Year comedy film Im Not Gangster, produced mainly by Malaysian YouTube humour content creator group Dissy. Singaporean actor Mark Lee stars in it and is also a producer.

Lim says the cinema seat maps showed weekday morning and afternoon screenings on Feb 24, typically a slow period for ticket sales. What is more, the Chinese New Year holiday period had ended and Malaysians had returned to work.

Lim adds: “You’re smart, but we’re not stupid. I don’t get these haters. Who sent you?”

Liang Po Po Vs Ah Beng is the top-grossing Chinese New Year theatrical release in Malaysia, having earned over RM8.13 million (S$2.64 million) as at Feb 22, the sixth day of the festive season.

It crossed the $1 million mark at the Singapore box office on Feb 24.

In the film, Lim plays Ah Beng, a security guard character he has popularised in various projects in Malaysia. After his adopted daughter is kidnapped by an organ-trafficking ring, he teams up with Liang Po Po, a feisty elderly woman Neo has portrayed in local films and television over the decades.

It marks the first time that both characters, beloved in their home countries, have united in one film project.