New films to look forward to

IAN Veneracion (left) and Jodi Sta Maria

It’s heartening to see that more movies are being produced this year, enabling our film industry to bounce back after a slump that has lingered for more than a decade now.

No sooner did “Just the 3 of Us” and “This Time” open on May 4 that press conferences were held to announce the production of some more stellar showcases for the big screen, “more mature” rom-com topbilling Jodi Sta. Maria, Richard Yap and Ian Veneracion.

The project is deemed promising because it reunites Jodi with two male stars who “partnered” with her in huge hits on TV like “Be Careful with My Heart” (Richard) and “Pangako sa ’Yo” (Ian)

For her part, we’re supporting this particular project due to its “more mature” element.

Most local rom-coms are about young adult or even teen and tween sweethearts, sometimes resulting in predictability and shallowness.

We definitely need adult screen romances for great depth, texture and fairer “representation” on the big screen for a substantial part of our population.

It’ll also be interesting to see Ian and Richard “squaring off” in the “triangular” starrer.

The “friendly competition” will force Richard to play his best thespic game, since Ian is known for his felt and insightful portrayals—not to mention his “still hunky and even yummy” looks!

Of course, Jodi’s fans are already speculating this early about which guy she’s “scripted” to end up with at the new film’s final fade. What do you think?

DEREK Ramsay (left) and Shaina Magdayao

Incidentally, another new Filipino film opened in our cineplexes yesterday—Quark Henares’ “My Candidate,” with Derek Ramsay topbilling. It comes right after the May 9 polls, so viewer voters should be (retroactively) primed to see what it’s all about.

Back to the announced movie productions: Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards will soon shoot a film in Italy, which will be shown in July, right in the nick of time for their TV tandem’s first anniversary.

In December, the reel (and real?) lovebirds did their first film, “My Bebe Love,” for the Metro Manila Film Festival, but they played “support” to bigger stars like Vic Sotto and Ai-Ai delas Alas. So, their yet unnamed Italian film shoot will be their first outing as solo leads.

Their TV tandem isn’t as “phenomenally popular” as it used to be, but we fully expect the “AlDub Nation” to support Maine and Alden’s follow-up movie.

To make it even more of a triumph, we hope that reported director Michael Tuviera will get the best writer(s) to come up with a really exceptional script for this make-or-break cinematic gambit.

If it’s both a commercial and critical success, it could silence the naysayers and propel Alden and Maine to even greater heights! Fingers crossed.