‘GomBurZa’ director Pepe Diokno hopes film industry goes beyond box office in tracking movie’s success

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“GomBurZa” director Pepe Diokno. Image: Facebook/Gomburza

Pepe Diokno, who was named as Best Director at the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2023 Gabi ng Parangal for his work in “GomBurZa,” has urged the film industry to go beyond the box office when it comes to setting a standard for a movie’s success.

During an interview with ANC’s Headstart on Friday, Dec. 29, Diokno said the film industry should rethink its goal of encouraging people to “come back to the cinemas,” which starts with reassessing ticket prices in theaters and going beyond box office sales.

“Honestly, I find ticket prices [to be] a little too high and I think they need to be rethought. I think that as an industry, our goal should be not just to increase box office. I think box office is not a good metric,” he said.

Diokno stressed that “tracking admissions” or taking note of the “number of people” going to theaters are a “better metric” when it comes to assessing if a movie will perform well.

“I think a better metric is to track admissions or the number of people going to the cinemas. And anytime, if we can increase the number of admissions, then it’s a good thing,” he said. “Even if you look at the highest grossing films in the Philippines, and you translate it into admissions, it will still show you that the penetration for cinema can still be improved.”

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While touching on promoting the movie industry, the filmmaker said more “innovative ways to convince people” to return to the theaters should also be considered when it comes to promoting local films.

“We need a bigger segment of the population to come back to the cinemas and watch our films. Anything we can do to increase admissions would be great, such as ticket prices [and] even coming up with innovative ways to convince people to come to the cinemas,” he said.

“We need to foster and love our own cinema so that it grows and grows, and hopefully our industry grows. But we need to start with us,” he added.

Since the festival’s awards night last Dec. 27, “GomBurZa” is currently being screened in 86 theaters nationwide.

The historical film bagged six other awards at the MMFF Gabi ng Parangal aside from Diokno, including Best Actor for Cedrick Juan and Second Best Picture.