HOW SAD to know that most local films shown recently didn’t do as well as expected at the box office. This includes “The Trial”, “Dilim”, “Beauty in a Bottle”, “Moron 5.2”, “Relaks, It’s Pag-ibig” and the entries in FDCP Horror Plus Filmfest, QC Filmfest and Cinema One Originals.
“Lahat naman, mahina,” says our source. “Hindi lang naman local films. Kahit yung Hollywood films, mahina rin. Puro palugi. It seems people are not in the mood to watch movies. Baka busy ang mga tao saving up for their Christmas shopping or baka hinihintay na lang nila ang Metro Manila Filmfest sa kapaskuhan.”
We thought “The Trial” would be an exception, but it seems viewers prefer John Lloyd Cruz in a rom-com than playing a “kulang kulang”. Let’s see if the next local film that will open, “Past Tense”, will suffer the same fate. We’d like to think it has more chances since it combines the forces of Ai Ai de las Alas with the Kim Chiu-Xian Lim loveteam who are all hitmakers.
But really, times have changed. Moviegoing has ceased to be the favorite pasttime of the masa. It gets a lot competition from TV (both cable and free TV), pirated DVDs, downloaded movies and social media (folks prefer to text or surf the internet than watch movies in theaters). Also, the fact that only one screening is allowed per ticket deters moviegoers who are used to the old way of just going inside the theater anytime they please and just wait until they get to the part where they came in. We've seen many moviegoers trying to get tickets only to be told by the ticket-seller: "Ay, nag-start na po." And they would say: "Umuwi na lang tayo."
“Lahat naman, mahina,” says our source. “Hindi lang naman local films. Kahit yung Hollywood films, mahina rin. Puro palugi. It seems people are not in the mood to watch movies. Baka busy ang mga tao saving up for their Christmas shopping or baka hinihintay na lang nila ang Metro Manila Filmfest sa kapaskuhan.”
We thought “The Trial” would be an exception, but it seems viewers prefer John Lloyd Cruz in a rom-com than playing a “kulang kulang”. Let’s see if the next local film that will open, “Past Tense”, will suffer the same fate. We’d like to think it has more chances since it combines the forces of Ai Ai de las Alas with the Kim Chiu-Xian Lim loveteam who are all hitmakers.
But really, times have changed. Moviegoing has ceased to be the favorite pasttime of the masa. It gets a lot competition from TV (both cable and free TV), pirated DVDs, downloaded movies and social media (folks prefer to text or surf the internet than watch movies in theaters). Also, the fact that only one screening is allowed per ticket deters moviegoers who are used to the old way of just going inside the theater anytime they please and just wait until they get to the part where they came in. We've seen many moviegoers trying to get tickets only to be told by the ticket-seller: "Ay, nag-start na po." And they would say: "Umuwi na lang tayo."
