The cast of the Erik Matti film, “Seklusyon”
EVEN without the usual blockbuster films in its lineup, this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) has reached its target ticket sales on the first day of screening on Christmas Day.
According to a Bandera report, MMFF listed the movies, “Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 2,” “Vince & Kath & James,” “Die Beautiful” and “Seklusyon” as the top-grossing films during the festival’s opening day.
Meanwhile, the MMFF entries “Oro,” “Saving Sally,” “Sunday Beauty Queen” and “Kabisera” reportedly earned a total of P3 million in ticket sales.
In SM City Cebu cinemas, the Star Cinema film, “Vince & Kath & James” topbilled by Joshua Garcia, Julia Barretto and Ronnie Alonte is the most-watched MMFF entry by Cebuanos. The top two spot was taken by the Hollywood film, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” followed by Erik Matti’s “Seklusyon” and Jun Robles Lana’s “Die Beautiful.”
This was according to the operations assistant Virginia Perater of SM City Cebu Cinema. Cebu Daily News tried to get the top four films from Ayala Center Cebu cinemas as well, but they could not yet release the data.
According to Jeanette Japson, corporate communications manager of Cebu Holdings Inc., which owns and operates Ayala Center Cebu, they are in no position to reveal the top-grossing films in their cinemas, as per mandate from the MMFF committee.
In a Facebook post, the MMFF Executive Committee have expressed their gratitude for reaching the target goal on opening day and assured the public that they will “continue promoting and supporting the 8 MMFF entries as they all deserve to be watched and patronized by the Filipino audiences.”
This year’s festival is different from previous years as the committee chose mostly indie films rather than the usual commercial movies.
“We have re-assessed and set a new benchmark for this festival, we nevertheless look at the financial sales for the 1st day as a real bonus as we have already achieved what we started out to in the first place which is the cultural advancement through our Filipino films,” the MMFF executive committee said in a statement on Tuesday.
“You cannot put a price at something which the future generations of Filipinos will find priceless and ageless,” it added.
Last year, the MMFF — which featured films by Vice Ganda and Vic Sotto, among others — earned P1.020 billion during its two-week run from Dec. 25, 2015 to Jan. 7, 2016.