Highlights of an eventful show biz year
“A SECOND CHANCE.” Biggest-grossing Filipino film ever.
LOOKING BACK on 2015, we have concluded that it was generally a positive year for local show biz and the performing arts, with more hits than misses, stoking hopes that this coming season will build on those gains and turn out to be even better. High-flying and high-fiving highlights:
“A Second Chance” first established a new record as the biggest-grossing Filipino film outside of the Metro Manila Film Festival.
Then, just before 2015 ended, it moved up one notch higher and has now been hailed as the local film industry’s top grosser ever—without any “outside of” reservations.
The icing on the cake is the fact that, unlike some top-grossers, “A Second Chance” didn’t have to go the slap-happy, schlocky route to fame and fortune, and was a good movie.
This gives us reason to hope that other producers will come up with good and popular movies this season, discrediting the hoary notion that quality productions are “poison” at the box office.
Also worth celebrating is the exceptional and unexpected success of the historical film, “Heneral Luna,” which became the most popular local period production ever made and screened.
The plus point in this instance is that its Artikulo Uno production company is coming up with a follow-up historical movie, this time on Gen. Gregorio H. del Pilar.
Acclaim
The indie film scene was thriving and came up with some notable productions, among them “Taklub,” “The Dog Show,” “Imbisibol,” “Patintero” and “Honor Thy Father,” which reaped acclaim in some festivals abroad.
However, their collective success is still a work in progress, because they have limited access to mainstream cinema circuits and other screening venues.
So, the focus this year should be on addressing that lack, so that more Filipinos will find it easier to support our still fledgling and struggling indie film movement.
In Philippine theater, the big hit was Peta’s “Rak of Aegis,” which had numerous performances and delighted thousands of stage buffs.
We hope that other exceptional, accessible and popular plays and musicals will excite theatergoers this year, and that big stars will agree to perform in them, so that more productions will turn out to be hits.
Fervent wish
Corollary to this is the fervent wish that sponsors will get over their colonial mentality and support homegrown productions, instead of the foreign works they currently favor.
On television, the biggest waves were made by the “AlDub” phenomenon on “Eat Bulaga,” which started a new craze, created instant faves in Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards, and extended its clout to make their MMFF entry, “My Bebe Love,” a top hit.
In addition, many new teleseryes were launched, resulting in a current glut—that we hope will sort itself out before this year ends!
