Independence Day 2024. Wednesday.
Three movies opened in cinemas all over the country. There were two local productions and a monolith sequel of an animated franchise. And, yes, there was still that Thai movie that opened two weeks earlier which people were still talking about.
On its first day of showing, Inside Out 2 grossed approximately 90M in the local box office. Hesusmaryosep! These are numbers which audiences delivered in the pre-pandemic age: ever since COVID19 became very much a part of our lives, moviegoing never fully recovered to render such digits on a single day. Not even the hottest ticket in the most recent Metro Manila Film Fest harvested an audience that came close to that feat.
What was even more surprising was that How To Make Millions Before Granny Dies was already on a limited run, entering its third week. And yet on that same day, the movie still made 2M in the box office even if it had but a handful of cinemas screening and with some on a sliding programming, meaning it was only showing for two slots on a single day.
How did the two local films do?
To call it dismal is an understatement. The better performing of the two Filipino movies allegedly earned P350K nationwide. The other film hit about a hundred thousand less.
Upon hearing these numbers, the stakeholders of the local film industry had to reckon with more than just broken hearts --- but more so with broken spirits.
Yes, it is easy to concede that a local film was going on a kamikaze mode going head on against a Pixar franchise. That was expected but not that much. What was even more disturbing was that How To Make Millions ... on its third week, requiring the art of speed reading subtitles ... scored so much higher than the two Filipino movies' combined box office return.
At this point it is not helpful to merely mope and shake one's head and marinate in self-pity: industry cannot move on if we merely see the results and not look far deeper into the real root of the problem. The elders and leaders of the film industry cannot be paralyzed by such dismaying results without going into action and trying to find out why and then sort out what can be done.
We Had It Coming
The signs were already there even before the pandemic hit us and kept us in our homes for almost three years.
Even before anyone knew (or cared ) about Yuan, the status of watching movies in cinemas was already waning. There was the threat of the streaming platforms and other possible engagements for entertainment in the internet. What cable channels failed to neutralize, streaming giants like Netflix succeeded in slicing a substantial chunk from the TV viewing public and, yes, even the moviegoing audiences.
The pandemic only hastened what was already being seen as slow but sure changes in the ecosystem of entertainment. Streaming services offered the option for audiences to watch the films and even tv series that they want to consume at their own time, place and pace. Cable channels were still locked in with their daily programming but not streaming platforms. You can binge watch an entire tv series in a day or two without having to wait for a specific time or day.
Moreover, the migration to screen to stream makes movie watching less practical and more expensive. For instance, if a streaming platform charges a little over P500 for a month why would anyone spend anything within the vicinity of P250 to P400 to watch a movie in a cinema. Aside from indulging your viewing pleasure in the comfort of your home, catching your movie in a more practical source exempts you from having to dress up, brave the legendary Manila traffic and spend for other incidentals just because you want to see a movie on the big screen.
But these are all givens. We knew that Netflix, Viu, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus and even Vivamax are slowly but sure drawing our viewing audiences away from cinemas. Moreover, these same platforms acquire movies for their own broadcasting license with a window of forty-five (45) days --- yes, only a month and a half before a movie showing in the cinema will eventually filter into the tv screen or computer or even one's cellphone at one's time and convenience.
No one questions that the pandemic has changed the way we live, the way we conduct our business --- and the manner by which we entertain ourselves. After almost three years of being locked up in our homes, even when it was deemed safe to go back to the cinema --- it still took time before people really felt assured that they are safe in that confined space, immersed in darkness just to watch a movie. Even when cinema doors were finally reopened, audiences still felt uncomfortable because --- let us face it --- watching a movie wearing a mask seems to take away the fun --- especially when one cannot consume popcorn or gulp down a drink while watching a movie.
So even when we all went back to the way of the normal --- it was not normal any more to make cinema viewership as part of the way we lived. We have found other ways of getting our entertainment --- whether through the platforms or even YouTube.
So What's the Problem?
There are so many theories as to why our cinema is dying. Everyone has something to say. Any one from the industry has a thing or two to say as to why Filipinos are no longer watching local movies.
The first complaint is what many feel as the exorbitant cost of movie tickets.
At P350 to P400, the average moviegoer finds this pricing as beyond one's reach. In simple mathematics, a minimum wage earner who takes home about P600 a day will not spend nearly two-thirds of his salary just to buy a movie ticket.
Moreover, even those who can afford the price range offered has also limited the amount of business he will give cinemas. Return business or watching the same movie twice or even thrice has ceased to be an option. Instead, if one is enthralled by a film, there is always the little bit of wait before it streams. Or if one feels that he cannot afford to watch a movie in the cinema --- the month and a half wait is not all that bad.
Worse is the choice of succumbing to the temptation of watching the film on a pirated channel --- or in links sold or freely distributed in social media. This new form of rampant piracy using popular social media sites has become more practical than the peddled DVDs of the past.
Do we then accept that the primary reason why audiences are not watching Filipino movies is because of the price of tickets?
There was a valid argument against this.
Please explain why the top grosser of last year's MetroManila Film Festival earned over P500M?
That means that people had the money and went out of their way to watch this movie.
Does this also mean that all those who flocked to the cinemas to watch Rewind were only those enabled to spend money for watching movies on the big screen?
Analyzing the phenomenon of Rewind reveal why this MMFF entry had all the right ingredients and conditions to make it big --- or better yet, very big:
(a) It was Christmas. Everyone is in a celebratory mood. Christmas is for the family --- and Rewind is about "family" as some other entries of the Festival delved into that same territory but ...
(b) The stars of Rewind are a popular real life couple whose personal lives gleam with all the qualities of domestic bliss including two beautiful children. Better yet, they have not appeared together again in any movie within memory's reach plus the fact that ...
(c) Rewind was about the triumph of love and sacrifice, about preserving the sanctity of the family ---- then throw in Jesus for extra measure but most of all, one must not forget that ...
(d) It was Christmas. Regardless of economic class and buying capability, everybody had money because of the company or employer's bonuses --- and, for some, watching a movie became the highlight of their Christmas celebration of the family.
Two or three other films in last year's roster of ten entries in Festival made money. A number also failed to do good business but there was Rewind that literally hit the jackpot and took home the lion's share of the sales.
Of course there are so many other variables to be factored in --- but since no other Filipino movie made money after the MMFF, are we to conclude that Philippine cinema has been diminished to two weeks for every year? That means 14/365 which does not speak much of an industry that is about to last any longer.
At the rate that the industry is moving, is this an ominous sign that unless the stakeholders face the problem head on, Philippine movies will wither away and be relegated to the business of providing content to streamers?
What is the real root of the problem?
What can be done not only to save Philippine cinema but bring about its lost vibrancy?
TO BE CONTINUED
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