Per reports, the nationwide collective box office gross of this year's Metro Manila Film Festival is much bigger compared to last year's edition.

What worked this time, according to observers, was that people were more willing to spend their hard-earned pesos and brave the holiday traffic to watch a better-than-usual lineup of movie entries.

The top five grossers — Rewind, Mallari, Gomburza, Firefly and A Family of Two — are without a doubt good movies. Not the usual popcorn and soda fare, they offered engaging, fresh and relatable narratives, topnotch artistic and production values, and performances that displayed the confidence, daring and range of their stars.

The level of promotions employed, a perfect blend of traditional and new media, also played a big part, not only arousing the audiences' curiosity but also giving them the perception that these movies are worth their while. As one would say in the vernacular, "Ay! Maganda ang pelikula. Panoorin mo."

The Top 5

Mae Cruz Alviar's Rewind was so well-loved and received because we Filipinos are suckers for romantic dramas. And the film of royal couple Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera proved to be irresistible, showing that the box-office draw and stellar power of the Dingdong-Marian tandem have not waned.

While the movie went home empty-handed from the MMFF awards night, it is now the highest grossing movie of the festival.

Along with its stars' pixie dust, Star Magic's promo power was also key to Rewind's mammoth success.

Derick Cabrido's Mallari intrigued and mesmerized viewers with its narrative of a serial killer priest. Though some found it wanting, the movie was bolstered by Piolo Pascual's giving life to three well-fleshed-out and defined characters. There was also heavyweight acting support from JC Santos and Gloria Diaz and glorious musical scoring by Von de Guzman, specifically the Gregorian chant music for the opening church sequence and the very "Carmina Burana"-ish ending number.

Pepe Diokno's GomBurza was a powerful and well-researched historical epic that gave a crystal-clear presentation of the repressive Spanish colonial era. Dante Rivero, Enchong Dee and Cedric Juan nailed their respective characters as the three titular priests, and the stellar presence of Elijah Canlas as Paciano Rizal added gravitas to a movie that reawakens the aspirations of a people for better governance and better leaders.

Simplicity is not only beautiful, but also elegant and heartfelt, as shown by Zig Dulay's Firefly. The straightforward narrative nevertheless pulled at our heartstrings and made us all remember our childhood dreams, the power of the greatest love of all, the innocence and purity of a child's dream — and the grace and strength of Alessandra de Rossi as Elay and the child wonder that is Euwann Mikael.

The Sharon Cuneta-Alden Richards starrer A Family of Two is a contemporary depiction of the special relationship between a mother and her only son. Under Nuel Naval's direction, the movie's sad and happy moments skillfully highlighted the leads' gifts as dramatic actors.

What happens now

To be fair, the intelligently written and laugh-out-loud moments in Jun Lana's Becky and Badette and the LGBTQ shenanigans and heart in Lem Lorca's The Broken Heart's Trip are not the "usual" pink cinematic.  More such films must be greenlighted and produced.

But, please, enough of Penduko and other comic-based heroines and heroes IF their makers cannot fulfill the promise of honoring the original while giving a novel spin to the tale.

Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon, both legends by now, must say no to bread-tripping projects and give the romantic drama genre a rest, or to younger stars.

The Star For All Seasons and the Original Drama King deserve better material and characters that will challenge them. How about a local version of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood's Bridges of Madison County, or Kathy Bates and James Caan's Misery?

The 4th Best Picture and Best Actress wins for their movie, and the special screening for vloggers and influencers after the awards night, did little to convince the populace to elevate the movie to the MFF Top 5 grossers.

And Kampon, despite some good reviews, did not entice the Christmas crowd who wanted a good scream and lots of palpitation in their horror movies.

With the bullish support and love given to the films that participated in this year's MMFF, the moviegoers' excitement for local cinema seems to be back. May the learnings from the box-office reception and performance of this year's m ovies become a guide and template to what exciting fare should be produced next, and, above all — given the prohibitive cost of movie tickets
— that the seduction of the paying Pinoy audience must be given prime due and importance.