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The films of the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF). Image: FILE PHOTOS
The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) committee is denying an art card circulating on social media about the initial box office tally of participating films in the festival’s first day.
An art card posted by the Facebook page Pinoy History claimed that the MMFF entries “Rewind” (P110 million), “Mallari” (P31 million), and “Penduko” (P25 million) are the three films that generated the most ticket sales last Dec. 25, the first day of the film showing.
Meanwhile, the films that supposedly followed were “A Family of Two” (P12.5 million), “Firefly” (P11.1 million), “When I Met You in Tokyo” (P10.1 million), “K(ampon)” (P5 million), “Becky & Badette” (P3.3 million), “GomBurZa” (P1.4 million), and “Broken Heart’s Trip” (P680,000).
An alleged screenshot who made the claim on the MMFF’s first day box office sales. Image: Facebook/Pinoy History
MMFF spokesperson Noel Ferrer, in a text message to INQUIRER.net, likewise denied the figures shown in the alleged box office rankings, where he stressed that it’s “not true at all.”
“Not true at all. It has been the MMFF Execom’s practice not to release any unofficial gross sales of individual films and rankings. Let all the films flourish and enjoy the support of as many Filipino audience as possible without the misleading numbers,” he said.
Ferrer also asserted that it’s not the practice of the MMFF committee to release the “official gross report” of box office sales on social media, especially when it comes to its “individual films [and] rankings.”
“Huwag ho tayong padadala sa kung anu-anong box office results at rankings. Hindi po gawi ng MMFF Execom na maglabas ng official gross report ng individual films at rankings (Let’s not believe certain claims of box office results and rankings. It’s not the practice of the MMFF Execom to release the official gross report of individual films and rankings),” he said.
“Hayaan po nating tangkilikin ang mga pelikula based on their merits and audience preference at hindi dahil sa trend at mind conditioning ng mga pinalalabas na ranking na hindi po official (lalo pa’t magkakalapit ang mga numero ng maraming pelikula). Ituloy po natin ang pagsuporta sa pelikulang Filipino at sa Metro Manila Film Festival,” he further added.
(Let’s support all films based on their merits and audience preference, and not because of the trends and mind conditioning tactics made by unofficial claims especially that the box office results of each film are close.)
This year’s MMFF runs from Dec. 25 to Jan. 7, 2024.