Would another Pinoy film dare show in theaters in mid-November this year alongside Hello, Love, Again?
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, that’s the movie re-teaming Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards as a much-awaited sequel to their Hello, Love, Goodbye in 2019, which became the Philippines’ highest-grossing film until Rewind of real-life couple Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes came along last year as a Metro Manila Film Fest entry.
A most likely added attraction to the sequel Hello, Love, Again is the possibility that by the time the film is showing Bernardo and Richards have become sweethearts in real life — and admit it to the Pinoy multitude.
Bernardo, who broke off with actor Daniel Padilla last year after an 11-year real-life romance, has been accommodating Richards to her family events. He was at her 28th birthday celebration out-of-town.
The GMA 7’s prize bachelor actor is reported to have canceled one long-scheduled commitment to attend a family affair birthday gathering at Bernardo’s house. He was there again recently to join a send-off bash for a brother of Bernardo who was going to work abroad.
At the brief media huddle on Sunday (19 May) at ABS-CBN to announce the much-awaited making of the sequel, Bernardo revealed that Star Cinema, her mother studio, notified her sometime after the showing of her most recent film, A Very Good Girl, that she and Richards were going to do the sequel to Hello, Love, Goodbye. That could mean even Richards had been notified about the sequel. They may have been instructed by their respective managers not to reveal the sequel project yet. But they were allowed to see each other as often as they could for as long as there was an occasion that could justify that kind of dalliance.
Unlike in their first pairing in which Richards was just “borrowed” from GMA-7, their re-team up is a collaboration between Star Cinema and GMA Pictures (which used to be known as GMA Films). It could mean both entities are bank-rolling the sequel. Richards said at the media huddle that it’s the first collaboration for a film between GMA-7 and ABS-CBN.
The collaboration could also mean GMA-7 can impose that some of their Sparkle stars be cast in the sequel. The network, after all, has been aggressively promoting their Sparkle stars through one kind of event or another. Just a few days ago, the Kapuso network launched its newly signed Sparkle stars.
At the sequel’s media huddle, no co-stars were announced. Star Cinema and GMA Pictures could be in the midst of negotiations now did the also-starring cast. Talent fee negotiations for major roles from each camp could be “bloody”!
Meanwhile, the sequel will be filmed in Canada —because that’s where Joy (Bernardo’s character) went to work after she and Ethan (Richards) parted ways in Hong Kong where they are humble workers but decently employed.
The sequel will also be directed by Cathy Garcia-Sampana (her new surname is that of the man she married last year; she was a widow of a Molina when she directed Hello, Love, Goodbye).
The sequel will also be shown in other countries, of course. Pinoys are all over the world, possibly even in Timbuktu. The likely reason the film will be shown in November yet is that it has no completed script yet at the time of the media huddle. When Garcia-Sampana was asked by the huddle host MJ Felipe about how different the sequel’s story will be from the previous film, she sweetly pointed to the two scriptwriters sitting with her and the lead stars.
Carmi Raymundo and Krystal San Miguel, the scriptwriters, blithely asserted that the story will be very contemporary because it will show the life of OFWs in Canada after the pandemic and after so many global and Philippine events that transpired within the five-year gap of the story after the lead characters left Hong Kong, the main setting of Hello, Love, Goodbye.
The filming schedule for Bernardo and Richards may take weeks and months to finalize as well as the negotiations for the acting fees of Pinoy talents in Canada who will portray happy or heart-broken OFWs there.
Darren (who has removed his surname “Espanto” from his showbiz name since October last year) is well-publicized these days all because he has a concert on 1 June at the Araneta Coliseum mysteriously titled D10.
Much of the publicity is courtesy of ABS-CBN which is producing the concert celebrating Darren’s 10th anniversary mainly as a singer.
Actually, there are other young singers marking their 10th year in the music industry this 2024, namely, Lyca Gairanod, Juan Karlos Labajo and Kyle Echarri. After all, these three were Darren’s co-winners in ABS-CBN’s Voice Kids Philippines in 2014. Gairanod was the grand champ.
So why is it only Darren that ABS-CBN is producing a huge concert for?
Well, it’s most likely because Darren is the most sellable. Also, he is the only one whose acting-hosting career and singing career are managed by ABS-CBN. Labajo and Echarri are managed by ABS-CBN as actors. They were together in the entertainment company’s series Senior High and its newly launched sequel High Street. As recording singers, though, they are with the Philippine subsidiaries of the global Universal Music Group.
Darren joined ABS-CBN as a prime star only in August last year. Among his first assignment was to be in the cast of the iWantTFC series Can’t Buy Me Love as a wealthy Fil-Chinese suitor of Mariano’s character. And then Darren was made a judge in “Tawag ng Tanghalan,” the amateur singing contest in It’s Showtime. Darren was fun and so he was made a regular host of the show and easily blended with its seasoned hosts led by the flavorful and playful Vice Ganda.
Joining him in his milestone D10 concert are some of the amazing talents who have been part of his journey as a singer, including Gary Valenciano, Erik Santos, Ogie Alcasid, Sarah Geronimo, Vice Ganda and Voice Kids champ Gairanod.
Recounting his The Voice Kids journey, the singer-actor expressed his gratitude for the opportunities it opened for him and how it fulfilled his dreams of being a performer.
“I feel like it’s been such a long time since The Voice Kids but at the same time, it feels like it’s been such a quick journey as well. But when I look back on everything I’ve done, parang grabe, ang dami na nangyari sa buhay ko, sa career ko (it’s like so much has happened in my life and in my career) and I’m just very grateful for everything that has happened in the past 10 years,” Darren said.
At the media conference for D10 held at The Ignacia Place on the street where the ABS-CBN studio is located, the music video for his latest single “Hanggang Kailan” premiered to the journos and vloggers. The music video stars Belle Mariano.
“This music video is a lot more laidback because it’s more on the storytelling and asking the universe hanggang kailan ako maghihintay (until when must I wait) for the right person,” Darren intoned at the media-con.
Tickets to Darren’s D10 concert are available in Ticketnet outlets and ticketnet.com.ph priced at P8,004 (platinum), P6,404 (VIP), P4,269 (patron a), P2,668 (patron b), P2,135 (lower box), P1,068 (upper box), and P427 (general admission).
