MMFF 2017 3-day ticket sales surpass last year’s overall earnings, says exec

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The three-day ticket sales of the films for the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) this year have already exceeded its previous year’s earnings, an official said.

“In just three days MMFF 2017 has surpassed MMFF 2016 in terms of national gross sales,” MMFF executive chair Tim Orbos said at the sidelines of the MMFF awards night on Wednesday.

“We are very thankful for the overwhelming show of support by our Filipino moviegoers for this year’s MMFF,” said Orbos, also the general manager of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Orbos said they could not disclose this year’s biggest film grosser until its last day on Jan. 7.

But for context, MMFF 2016 — composed mainly of independent films — earned only P373.3 million. Its top grosser was Star Cinema’s “Vince, Kath and James” a romance-comedy  starring teen stars Julia Barretto, Joshua Garcia and Ronnie Alonte, with a whopping P105 million.

MMFF 2016, however, ran only from Dec. 25 to Jan. 3, or four days shorter than usual.

MMFF officials admitted the dip in the earnings could be attributed to the exclusion of box office drawers Vice Ganda and Vic Sotto. Their films that year “Super Parental Guardians” and “Enteng Kabisote 10 and the Abangers” did not make it pass the festival’s selection committee.

Both has returned to this year’s MMFF with “Gandarrapiddo: The Revenger Squad” and “Meant to Beh.”

Last year’s earnings pale in comparison with the 2014 and 2015 MMFF earnings breaching the P1-billion mark. /jpv