‘Heneral Luna’ crosses P140-M mark in 3 weeks

JOHN Arcilla (center) and Joem Bascon play revolutionaries in “Heneral Luna.”

THE CRITICALLY acclaimed film “Heneral Luna” has crossed the P140-million mark over the long weekend, making it a certified hit.

According to producer Eduardo A. Rocha, “The film made over P20 million on Sunday alone. Last Friday and Saturday, it grossed P20 million each day, and so the cumulative box-office take now stands at 140 million pesos.”

“Heneral Luna” opened on Sept. 9 to rave reviews, but its lack of big-name stars and its inherent genre and subject matter made it struggle on its first few days at the box office.

“We were confident that the film had staying power, if only the theater bookers believed in it enough to keep it in cinemas despite its slow start at the gate,” screenwriter-producer Rocha related.

True enough, the film generated positive word-of-mouth, which kept it trending on all social media platforms, and people started contacting theaters to bring back the movie.

Over 100 screens

It opened in 102 screens and lost more than half of it even before its first weekend. However, from down to 40 cinemas, it then went up to 55, then 70, then 85, and now it’s in approximately 120 theaters nationwide.

Executive producer Fernando Ortigas remarked: “The moviegoing public has taken ‘ownership’ of this film. They’ve embraced it and are now protective of it. There’s even an animated version of ‘Heneral Luna’ which is an antipiracy ad. And there are many who are creating artworks or sketches of ‘Heneral Luna’… moviegoers are drawing inspiration from this film, and we’re very proud and humbled at the same time by how this film is touching so many lives in the most positive ways.”

He added: “But of course, while we’re happy with the box-office numbers, we admit it’s still… [long] before we recoup our total investment. We’ll start the official celebration once we hit the P240-million mark, which is P100 million from today.”

The 50-percent discount promo offered to all students upon presentation of their student ID cards or registration forms ends today.