Bong Revilla wants to go 3D
Senator Bong Revilla
Most of the cast and crew who worked on the first part have reunited for the sequel, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. is looking at something new to offer with Mac Alejandre’s “Ang Panday 2,” GMA Films and Imus Productions’ entry to this December’s Metro Manila Film Festival.
“It’s a big challenge,” Revilla told the Inquirer. “Part one won major awards and grossed P180 million at the MMFF last year.” They have their work cut out for them—turn up the special effects—and he vows to do that.
“We had longer preparation time for this one,” he related. “Work started over a year ago. We will have double the effects, compared to last time. In part one, we had only one dragon. This one will have a hundred dragons.”
Revilla is working closely with the same award-winning special-effects team, Riot, in the sequel. And with the help of production designer Richard Somes, the team is pulling out all the stops in key scenes, he said.
His big dream is to come up with a 3D version. “We’re working on that, too. Perhaps next year we can go 3D,” he said. “Then we will need even longer preparation time and double our production schedule from 40 to 80 days.”
Revilla hopes to produce the first Filipino film to premiere in an Imax theater. He knows that during the MMFF, Hollywood films are still shown in local Imax theaters—contrary to the goal of an all-Filipino movie season during the holidays. “That’s because we don’t have local Imax movies.”
He feels it’s important to keep pushing the envelope and constantly provide new offerings to moviegoers. “Imus Productions was established by my father (Ramon Revilla Sr.) and has always been known for fantasy films with the latest special effects,” he said. “My father started it with his ‘Agimat’ movies. We want to be as globally competitive as the action films of Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.”
He supports fellow actor-turned-senator Lito Lapid’s proposal for an all-action film festival. “We want to provide jobs for stuntmen and other movie workers.”
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