A wave of local films set to hit cinemas post-MMFF
After years of effort from the Philippine showbiz industry with its local producers, it seems like 2024 might just be the year for local cinema comeback.
Before the lockdowns and streaming era, we finally saw the theaters in the recent weeks packed because of the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) which broke records by earning more than a billion pesos in gross receipts. We can credit that to the perfect mix of entries at the MMFF and the extra effort of the stars to promote and influence the masses that it is cool to watch in cinemas again.
If you remember, just in the last few years, the industry almost gave up and accepted the streaming fate of many projects. Producers almost believed that the audience would just wait it out until a certain project will just be streaming.
But now, it was just proven that it does not have to be the case. Streaming is not the theater’s enemy. Sure, it is challenging to go up against the luxury and comfort of watching in your own home than to go out of your way in traffic to experience a film, but the recent MMFF proved otherwise.
Theaters are now cool again. Theaters should now be experienced with your loved ones again. Quality films should also be seen in movie theaters and waiting it out on streaming is another beautiful story. With what we have learned from the success of the movie entries, especially how they were promoted, we wish to see the stars of the upcoming local films to be as diligent in spreading the word about their projects are to people.
The stars should go out of their way to guest in shows and be down to promote in different platforms to grab the attention of many sets of audiences and generations. We are closing the second week of January now and as early it is in the year, we are happy to learn that many producers are enticed to continue rolling out local films in the next few months.
Special shoutout to Viva Films for targeting six local movies every month. Last Jan. 10, they opened the post-MMFF cinemas with Kim Molina and Empoy’s My Zombabe. On Jan. 17, girlfriends Carmina Villarroel, Candy Pangilinan, Gelli and Janice De Belen are set to release their film Road Trip. This will be followed by Janno Gibbs’ last film with his late father Ronaldo Valdez, which is the action comedy, Itutumba Ka Ng Tatay Ko.
After GomBurZa and Penduko, MQuest produced another film with the Pangilinan family which is their love letter to the e-sports community. Donny and his mom Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan will be starring in Good Game on Jan. 24.
Now, an unlikely pair will try to make it happen on the big screen as Julia Barretto and Aga Muhlach will release Ikaw Pa Rin Ang Pipiliin Ko this year. Nora Aunor’s Pieta is also slated for this year. Volpi Cup winner John Arcilla’s MavX film with Paolo Contis titled Fuschia Libre is determining its playdate. Besides this, Arcilla told us that his film The Guest with Daniel Padilla is scheduled to be shown this year.
Now, we will also see a collaboration film between a South Korean producer and Viva Films in cinemas this year. Just recently, they held a press conference announcing the production of The Guardian starring Nam Woo Hyun, vocalist of Korean idol group Infinite, together with Steel Rain and Alchemy of Souls actress Park Eun Hye, and Hallyu star Han Jae Seok. Local stars like Yassi Pressman and Wilbert Ross will be joining the film.
Now this is not a local film, but our very own local star Liza Soberano will be releasing her Hollywood film Lisa Frankenstein in the Philippines, which marks her global debut as an actress.
In the last few weeks, we already accumulated this information about what will show in Philippine cinemas. We just hope that by February, this list will double, so on and so forth as the months go by. It is now in the hands of the producers to strike it correctly, while the iron is still hot. Again, see you at the cinemas this year!
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