Much ado about theaters

Filipinos still love watching movies but they don’t do much of it in the theaters anymore. They do it at home or in any place where they can switch on their gadget to Netflix and quietly gaze at their own screen.

A report by PEP.ph on 26 May reveal that since February this year, a number of Filipino films that mostly had low box office revenues in theaters were among the Top 10 most viewed for a few days or weeks on Netflix. For instance, Marian Rivera’s Balota, an entry at Cinemalaya 2024, was the highest viewed film from 1 to 4 February this year. It was also Cinemalaya’s top grosser last year.

On the other hand, Hello, Love, Again of Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards hugged the top spot on 14 to 24 also in February, a good 10 days. That reunion movie of two stars from different film companies (ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema and GMA pictures) and TV stations is really a bigtime favorite of Pinoys in the Philippines and outside the country.

Sosyal Climbers, a movie not shown in theaters but just on Netflix, and top-billing the TV loveteam of Maris Racal and Anthony Jennings, was number one on the streaming giant from 28 February to 8 March. It is the first collaboration film between Netflix and ABS-CBN, and both companies decided not to release the movie in the cinemas.

Guilty Pleasure, headlined by Lovi Poe, JM de Guzman, and Jameson Blake, went on top on 13 to 14 March. Peaking on number two was Carlo Aquino’s Crosspoint which practically bombed at the theater box office. That day of 14 March was marked as one in which two Pinoy films were the top two on the same day.

Sampung Utos Kay Josh, a comedy produced by Viva Films, and which has a Satan character portrayed by Pepe Herrera, hit the top spot from 18 April (Good Friday) to 21 April. It was shown in theaters in 2025 January.

Hold Me Close, a reunion movie of Julia Barretto and Carlo Aquino, an unexpected flop at the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), was the highest viewed on Netflix on 14-15 May.

My Future You,”which did well at MMFF 2024 as banners by the Francine Diaz and Seth Fedelin, topped Netflix film viewership on 17-20 May. On those four days, though, Hold Me Close stayed third and fourth in viewership ranking.

Watching films in theaters has really become more expensive these days than it used to be. A major reason is that cinemas are now located only in the malls in urbanized areas in towns and provinces. There are no more stand-alone moviehouses most likely all over the country.

Up to the 1980s and 1990s, practically each town in the country has at least one stand-alone theater for first-run movies and another one for double programs (meaning, two films shown one after the other). By 2000s though, most stand-alone moviehouses have been demolished and a few were renovated and repurposed for business ventures that have nothing to do with showing films.

By the 2000s, malls have sprouted in many towns and cities. At that time, though, admission tickets were below P200 per viewer. People were excited to go to the malls which were bigger than what we used to call shopping emporium (such as Good Earth in Sta. Cruz, Manila and Goodwill in Cubao, Quezon City) which did not have cineplexes. Transportation fares were lower in the early years of 2000s. Traffic wasn’t as tight as it had become today in provincial cities.

Cinema admission tickets increases every year. And so do transport fares (which is even higher if one prefers Grab and similar transport services). The minimum movie ticket now is P450 — which may be enough for a year’s subscription to some movie streaming platforms.

One has to travel and spend on transportation fares to get to a mall and not every town and province in the Philippines has a mall. If you live two or three towns away from a mall that has a cineplex, you will have to spend so much on bus and jeepney rides, and possibly on pedicab fare. At the malls, there are snack stalls and restaurants to whet your appetite. You could be prompted to feel impoverished or cheapskate if you could not afford to buy yourself some snacks or dine at a restaurant or the fastfood rows.

So watching movie at the malls has become a luxury for some. Those who can afford tickets to concerts and stage productions in Metro Manila or in the cities of Cebu and Iloilo are most likely an entirely different sets of Filipinos: the upper middle class and the upper class.

But dear film producers, don’t despair. We haven’t heard of cineplexes at the malls getting shut down. They are open even for block screening, gala premieres, previews for media and friends of the stars and the movie company, and even live productions. A theater company used to stage their musicals for students in a moviehouse in a mall. Repertory Philippines stage their productions now in a cinema at Eastwood mall in Libis, Quezon City.

Happily for film producers, directors, stars, and movie workers, films that have been screened at the theaters and become hits or flops are accepted by the streaming companies who see quality in their output. A quality film will finds its way to be shown sooner or later in a streaming platform.

Somehow, all will be well in Philippine movies at the theaters and online. Life would be lonely and boring for Filipinos who have produced movie superstars and fascinating idols of silly and serious genres of films.