Image courtesy of www.rappler.com
Source: www.rappler.com
Following the release of the 8 Metro Manila Film Festival entries on Friday, December 25, some films have already been pulled out of cinemas, according to Nilalang director Pedring Lopez and co-producer Wesley Villarica.
On Saturday, December 26, Rappler spoke to Lopez and Villarica about the issue through Facebook chat.
"In less than a day [of screening] we started getting pulled out of a few cinemas, and when today's screening started, from 36 theaters in Manila and 7 provincial theatres we were down to less than 20 [in total]," said Villarica.
He added that the MMFF committee has not explained why their movies were being pulled out, and the same happened to Honor Thy Father: "As far as we all know, it was Honor Thy Father and Nilalang who got the most theaters canceled."
On Facebook, Honor Thy Father writer Michiko Yamamoto said that the movie was pulled out of 10 theaters after the first day of the festival.
Lopez and Villarica said that most theaters were filled with two of the bigger productions among the 8 entries: My Bebe Love and Beauty and the Bestie.
Later in the interview, Lopez said, "We expected the two big movies to really dominate the box-office but all our cinemas [are screening] either [the] AlDub or Vice [Ganda] movie. Even direk (director) Erik Matti's movie has the same problem, and now disqualified pa [sila] (it's disqualified too)."
My Bebe Love stars the popular tandem of Alden Richards and Maine "Yaya Dub" Mendoza, also known as AlDub. Among the film's producers are Antonio P Tuviera Entertainment and GMA Films, a subsidiary of GMA Network.
On the other hand, Beauty and the Bestie stars Coco Martin and Vice Ganda, was produced by ABS-CBN Films, and distributed by its subsidiary, Star Cinema. Both are under ABS-CBN Corporation.
Both GMA and ABS-CBN are the biggest media companies in the Philippines.
"My friends and I were supposed to book the whole director's club [cinema] today in SM Aura to watch the film but when I woke up today it was already replaced by AlDub," shared Villarica.
Lopez said his friends were supposed to watch on December 26 as well, but they found that the film was already pulled out. "I feel lang [that] the MMFF should at least protect the small indie [productions]," he added.
Villarica also said that their film should have at least gotten 3 days of screening, especially given that the bigger productions were being screened at more cinemas.
"[Because] we were given nga only 40 plus cinemas compared to the big studios who got more than 60 to 70, then this morning Vice's movie is already [at] 150 plus. Its crazy. Not everybody wants to go out on Christmas day and line up for a movie," said Villarica.
Lopez also said that you don't get to choose which cinemas your movies will screen at – they had to draw lots. "Some cinemas, I was told, we were only given 2 screenings, nung gabi pinalitan na kami (at night, we got switched out)."
When asked what they had to say to the MMFF committee in light of the issue, Villarica responded, "We would like to appeal to the MMFF committee to help support local cinema by ensuring that all entries get ample screening time, and that we believe that we can offer the viewing public an alternative movie that can honestly be at par with international productions. One day is not a gauge of how many people would want to see the movie."
Disqualified
Meanwhile, on December 26, the MMFF executive committee disqualified Honor Thy Father from the Best Picture category in the festival's awards.
In a statement, producer Dondon Monteverde said that they were disqualified because the committee claimed that they were not informed that the movie was screened at the Cinema One (C1) Originals Film Festival in November.
Monteverde fought back, saying that both his production company, Reality Entertainment, and C1 Originals sent letters informing the MMFF that about the private, non-commercial screening.
The MMFF has yet to release a statement regarding both both issues.
oh pati yung ke lloydi...grabe cla,quaity film pa naman yon
ReplyDeletealdub fan ako,pero papanoorin ku rin ke john lloyd 'am a john lloyd fan now and always
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad!!support films like HTF
ReplyDeleteAkala ko b movie lang ni nora aunor ang npuoull out? Pti pala john lloyd and action star cesar montano pull out pull out pag may time...
ReplyDeleteIf it's not making money, they are pulled out by the cinema owners to give way to more box-office worthy movies like My Bene Live and Beastie... Pera pera lang yan!
DeleteYUP TOTOO ITO. MAGANDA PA NMAN SANA ANG htF.
ReplyDeleteover-hyped kamo. read the posts on industry veterans.
DeleteNkklungkot.. the essence of mmff is to showcase filipino movies in general.. nasisira dahil lang sa mga fandoms who are trying to prove their power to break a record or whatever. Hndi ikauunlad ng showbiz industry yan, that's crab mentality at it's finest.. let's give all that's part of mmff a chance.
ReplyDeletebilang Aldub fan, we're not trying to prove anything... palage kasi dinadown ng iba ang kakayahan ng Aldub kaya napoprovoke ang Aldub Nation...
Delete8:30 - Agreed! Quality over quantity sana. Kadiri iyong mga walang sense na entries.
Deleteeh ano ba kasi gusto nyong patunayan? bat ba dna lang kayo mag-idolo ng matiwasay. aminin d naman kagandahan both my bebe love and beauty and the bestie. nakakairita na yang beast mode beast mode, provoke provoke na yan. pare pareho lang kayong mga war freak. do you think your idol cares for you???
Delete12:13 wow ha nahiya naman kami sayo. Bat snsi nyo sa fandom? Kung si direk matti wala daw knlman ang mga fans. Manood ka muna bago mo ijudge ung mga movie. Feeling critic lang?
Deleteanon 12:13 of course their idols care about them. ka-ching ka-ching!!!
DeleteStop acting persecuted, ADN. have more sense than the teenaged fans, please. Nagpapaprovoke kayo sa mga teenagers, is that a reason to take your cheap fanwars to a film festival? Tanggap ko kung ang reason ng panonood nyo is to be happy, but the way you're acting shows that your agenda is to show the power of ADN. As if people care.
DeleteWow ha. Eh d mo naman mapipilit ung tao kung ayaw manuod. Dapat kasi makipag sabayan sa mmff. Tulad nang heneral luna kumita un diba.
DeleteNag basa ba kayo? Bakit isinisisi nyo sa Aldub eh hindi naman sila ung nagpa pull out ng movies sa cinemas? Isisi nyo sa mga cinema owners dahil they knew na dadagsain ang MBL which means mas maraming revenue so they wanted more cinemas to have it shown. Oo sad na napull out 2 good quality films pero wag naman isisi sa walang kinalaman. Saka beast mode beast mode? Provoke provoke? Sa dami ng problema sa Pinas masisisi nyo ba ang karamihan just to watch light, "senseless" comedies instead of patayan, barilan etc? Lalo na ung mga senior citizens?
Delete@8:30pm ikauunlad po ng movie industry pag kumikita ang pelikula. kung ipipilit nyo ang film na feeling nyo over sa quality pero di nmn bet panoorin ng mga tao, eh ikalulugi lng ng movie industry yan. pag may kumikitang pelikula cyempre may trabaho ang mga artista, direktor, extra at iba pang bahagi ng pelikula.. at fandoms din po ang isa sa bumubuhay sa showbiz industry.
Deletekaw ang di nagbasa, 411. Explicitly stated na nga na we were talking about motives, eh. Yung mga beast mode over records, mga gumagawa ng issue- sila ang tinutukoy ni 830 pm, not the senior citizens and kids and innocent watchers who only watch for fun. Obviously, the way you react shows you belong to the former. READ BEFORE REACTING
Delete^yup, pansin ko nga. Kesyo di kaya punoin phil. Arena.kesyo wala pang napatunayan..di aabot ng 40 milyon ang movie... Kahit naman sigurong fan masasaktan.pareho parehong Filipino dapat nagkakaisa.
ReplyDeletebulok talaga system, nagpapauto o kelangan sumunod sa majority. kawawang mga indie film.
ReplyDeleteHay..sana ang election di matulad sa mmff... Ung senseless ang wagi... Ung honor thy father parang otj..super worth panoorin peri nilangaw..#cheapinoy
ReplyDeleteEh kung ako mga cinemas eh ganoon talaga mangayayari... BUSINESS yata ito at kung saan ako kikita yon ilalabas ko....mahirap man tanggapin pero ganoon talaga kapitalismo
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame mmff and cinemas. They'd rather show movies na may demand, at the end of the day, it's all about the money. And people que up for hours because they want to watch those movies. That's a fact.
ReplyDeleteMay naniniwala pa ba sa panahon ngayon sa MMFF? from envelope switching before, and now sa pag disqualify ng isang dekalidad na pelikula? At the same time, para naman sa mga may ari ng malls, perahan na lang din naman ang labanan nila db. Sana next year, magbago naman. For example, bata pa lang ako may shake, rattle and roll na. Hanggang ngayon pa rin ba? I mean, bigyan din naman ng chance sana yung iba. Sila sila na lang din kasi.
ReplyDeleteStar Wars na lng kasi panuorin nyu, hindi yang mga baduy Filipino made,tse!
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I understand cinemas who want to keep making money by making more room for better selling films.
ReplyDeletePero on the other hand, it's hardly fair nga naman na i-pullout ang ibang movies before people have had the chance to watch them. I plan to watch these two films pa naman sana after watching MBL and WF kaya sana don't pull them out yet.
Sana MMFF would level up at wag ng i allow yung mga nonsense movies na parang two weeks lang ginawa. While I'm not against sa mga feel good fun movies na yan, sana man lang may depth kasi parang lalong bumababa ang kaledad ng MMFF movies through the years. At yung mga iilang movies na may saysay ang minumurder just because they don't make money. Sigh!
ReplyDelete