Star Cinema keeping up with the times

MANILA, Philippines - With the fast changing times, Star Cinema continues to search for fresh content that will suit the preference of audience regardless of age and gender. The goal of reaching a broader audience bracket and at the same time continuously offering quality entertainment has led the ABS-CBN film outfit to grab the opportunity of dealing with international production companies in order to distribute locally a number of foreign films with themes that are remarkable and attractive.

According to Star Cinema AdProm head Mico del Rosario, it is essential to acquire more film materials to sustain the need of the growing number of platforms that cater to Pinoy movie junkies. “Star Cinema now, aside from its intention of going global, di ba kasi we are now exporting our movies and we’re trying to penetrate the world market in a non-ethnic, kasi syempre ’pag sa abroad ang tingin sa atin ethnic kasi ethnic ‘yung material so we are trying to go there by continuously exporting our products but in the same manner the tonnage requirement of ABS-CN is so vast already because we have many platforms — the (free) TV, the digital channel which has so many channels on its own that cater to different markets. That’s why, we have to acquire more materials because the company cannot produce enough as of now and so part of those efforts is to acquire films with potential box-office revenue and, at the same time, eventually pupunta doon sa iba’t-ibang platforms na ‘yun.”

One such material is Reset, a film produced by Jackie Chan, that will open in cinemas on June 28. Topbilled by Asia’s biggest stars Yang Mi and Wallace Huo, the sci-fi action thriller will capture the interest of male and female audiences for its high octane scenes and heart-wrenching narrative of a mother’s determination to save and protect her child.

It is not the first time for Star Cinema to distribute foreign movies in local cinemas. Thai movies like Pee Mak, starring Mario Maurer, was shown several years ago. This year, the Jackie Chan starrer Kung Fu Yoga opened in theaters followed by The Last Word with Amanda Seyfried and Shirley MacLaine as lead stars. “Reset is our third release for this year and you’ll notice that we will continue to import (movies),” Mico added.

Selection process for the film is quite rigorous since it requires a number of teams — one of them is led by Enrico Santos — to search for movie material according to budget “because we can’t afford the big ones so along the way, we would find gems like Reset.”

Mico revealed that the film production acquired Reset before its script turned into a movie. Its story fits to the core market that Star Cinema is known for — women power with a dash of masculinity for its high octane material. “Fortunately, we hit the jackpot since it had its screening at Cannes Film Festival so nag-create na ng ingay doon. It had good reviews.”

Set in the distant future 2025, Reset is centered on Xia Tien (Yang Mi), a single mother who works as a key researcher in developing a method of time travel using black holes. When Choi I-hoo (Wallace) abducts her son and demands her to hand over the new technology, Xia Tien uses the unfinished time machine to go back to an hour earlier in the hope of saving her son.

Star Cinema Business Development & Synergy head Karen Almeida-Pedrealba shared that over a hundred movies were considered before they decided on acquiring Reset through its international distributor Golden Network.

“The creative team must look into a number of considerations before arriving at a decision like the movie’s genre, its appeal to viewers and the relatability of the story,” said Karen.

Reset is among the many movies that Star Cinema will be releasing in the coming days. “There will be horror, Korean and many more. Iba-iba kasi we go to different film markets.”

Mico also announced that they are set to release five or six foreign movies this year.

(Reset, helmed by South Korean director and screenwriter Chang, also stars Hummer Zhang and Jin Shijie.)