Malaysia's first monster film, "Mawas", sold to China

Conceptual art of the movie.

29 Aug – Malaysian filmmaker Jeffrey Chiang has sold off his horror film, "Mawas" to China which will be produced with an estimated budget of RM90 million.

"Mawas" has been in production for four years, and is touted as Malaysia's very first monster movie.

The filmmaker announced the good news on his Facebook page yesterday, revealing that international actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh is also onboard, and James Wan of "The Conjuring" fame to possibly direct the movie.

Chiang is also the executive producer of Malaysia's Iceberg Design.

"Thanks all for the kind words, despite having worked on Mawas for four years already, it is still a long road ahead," said Chiang in his Facebook post.

"But a gem of a takeaway from this journey is that this first big Mawas step was borne out of 'love found, love lost' and yet, we survive...we persist," the post continued.

'Mawas' is a Malaysia's hominid cryptid similar to America's Bigfoot which was reportedly sighted in Johor, Malaysia. There have been speculations that the creature may be a surviving Gigantopithecus, the largest known apes that ever lived.

Concept artwork of Mawas by Jarold Sng.

Jeffrey Chiang is best known for his work, "Dilarang Masuk" which was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress at Anugerah Skrin 2011, and also the animated movie, "SeeFood".

(Photo source: Jeffrey Chiang's Facebook)