Ah Boys to Men

Ah Boys to Men is a Singaporean satirical military comedy film series that began in 2012 with the film Ah Boys to Men. Presented By J Team Production Mm2 Entertainment, produced by Jack Neo, Lim Teck and Leonard Lai. Jack Neo directed all four films. The movie has received a popular cult-following in recent years, in spite of low critic reviews. Development Ah Boys to Men is Jack Neo's first military-themed film, as well as his "most ambitious project so far" according to himself. Neo had wanted to shoot a military-themed film since his recruit days after being influenced by Taiwanese army films, but could not find the right opportunity. Neo was originally approached by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) to edit footages from the 2010 documentary Every Singaporean Son into a film. After much deliberation, Neo decided to not use the footages and instead write a brand new script. The production received the full support from MINDEF to shoot the film; they were provided access to vehicles, equipment and weapons as well as on-site consultants. Neo did not accept financial funding from MINDEF as he wanted to retain full control of the creative process. The film was funded under the Media Development Authority’s Production Assistance grant, and by investors and sponsors, some of which included Toast Box, Bee Cheng Hiang and KPMG. Research for the film alone took around two and a half months. Neo said the decision to break the film into two parts was made after the distributors told him to keep the films 100 minutes in length, as any longer and it would have been more expensive and difficult to schedule. With a budget of S$3 million, Ah Boys to Men is Singapore's most expensive film. Films