Why mainstream movies are currently ‘for women mostly’

BIGGEST HITS OF 2011 Vice Ganda in “Praybeyt Benjamin” (left) and Anne Curtis, Derek Ramsay and Cristine Reyes in “No Other Woman”

What do “No Other Woman’’ and “Praybeyt Benjamin’’ have in common? They were the two biggest hits of 2011. Anything else? They both starred Derek Ramsay.

Next question: If Derek is such a big hit-maker, why hasn’t he been crowned King of Philippine Movies? More to the point, why hasn’t a producer looked at all of those hot and glowing box-office grosses and hastened to top-bill the buff and obviously popular male lead in his own solo starrer? Therein lies an instructive show biz tale.

Secondary role

First realization: Derek may have been the male romantic lead in those two local flicks, but the truth of the matter is, he didn’t “carry” either one of them. Yes, he was the hunk whom Anne Curtis and Cristine Reyes were fighting over in “No Other Woman,’’ but the film’s focus was principally on the two women and their sultry seductiveness.

And in “Benjamin,’’ it was Vice Ganda who was the “male’’ lead, while Derek was cast in the secondary role of his fantasy boy toy.

This segues quite neatly into our second big realization: In local movies these days, it’s the leading ladies who call the shots and get most of the attention and mileage. True, Vic Sotto had a solid hit in “Enteng,’’ but he shared top stellar billing with Ai Ai de las Alas. And Bong Revilla’s “Panday 2” was a relative disappointment at the MMFF box office, ending up in only the third slot, behind “Enteng” and the much less expensive “Segunda Mano.”

Speaking of that movie, it was clearly a “woman’s film,” with Kris Aquino’s character getting most of its attention. Dingdong Dantes was the male lead, but he wasn’t the movie’s protagonist, it was Kris’ character, while Dingdong in fact turned out to be the antagonist.

Even in “My Househusband,” while the title stresses the “husband” part, it was the “My” element that principally held sway – because, let’s face it, Judy Ann Santos is a bigger draw than Ryan Agoncillo. The movie was billed as an equal costarrer for the two of them, since they’re a real-life couple, but it really was more of a woman’s film because its scenes and major moments of character change were canted in the wife’s favor.

‘Sexy’ element

Our third and final realization: Local mainstream movies are now generally intended for female viewers – as a direct result of the death of action films, which were obviously “for men mostly.” The only way that male viewers can be lured back to movie theaters these days is if the film being shown has a strong adventure or “sexy’’ element—which was the case with “No Other Woman.”

Another major reason why local movies have become “for women mostly” is the huge popularity of TV teleseryes, which also thrive on female patronage. Yes, they’re billed as family fare, but the long tradition of local drama series, harking back to their early days on the radio, strongly cants TV drama series in favor of the female viewer, specifically the “queen” of the home, who at teleserye-viewing time, holds the “scepter’’ that is the TV remote.

And that, dear Derek, is our circuitous way of explaining why you are not (yet) the King of Philippine Movies, despite your great success on the big screen last year. But we trust that your time will come.