Is ABS-CBN Films out to see if a family drama would do extremely well at the box office, the way Hello, Love, Goodbye and Hello, Love, Again did, if the family narrative is titled Meet, Greet, and Bye?

There must be something about three short words that cast a spell in the box office. A spell that could work out not only for romantic stories but also for family affairs — harmonious or troubled. More so if the film would top-bill Piolo Pascual, Maricel Soriano, Belle Mariano, Joshua Garcia and Juan Karlos Labajo — all together for the first time in a movie.

Meet, Greet, Bye is to be helmed by the same woman who directed Hello, Love, Goodbye and Hello, Love, Again: Cathy Garcia-Sampana (who for many years had Garcia-Molina as her surname). Most likely, its writing team will be the same as the two high-grossing films bannered by Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards had: the team of Carmi Raymundo and Crystal San Miguel.

It was in June that we first heard about Meet, Greet, Bye and we’ve forgotten about it until last Monday (18 August) at Star Magic’s solo media conference for Belle Mariano’s contract signing with ABS-CBN talent development and management division held at ABS-CBN’s Studio 4.

Mariano portrays the youngest daughter of Soriano, whose eldest child in the story seems to be the one portrayed by Piolo Pascual. (In real life, the age gap between Soriano and Pascual is more than 10 years.)

Not every fan is happy with the three-word title. We chanced upon a Facebook posting heckling those three words. Here’s the rant, quoted verbatim: 

“Looking good sa cast, but if u can still change the movie title po, take the chance. Wala pong dating.

“It is easily one of those movies na maganda (siguro), but forgettable dahil sa title. Katatapos lang ni Direk Cathy ng something with Hello and Goodbye installments, Meet, Greet, Bye naman?

“Baka lang mas interesting kung sa wikang Filipino ang title ng movie na ‘to. Mas tatagos at tatatak sa pamilyang Pilipino.”

Mariano has been with ABS-CBN for 14 years. Those 14 include being a child actress and eventually being half of the loveteam known as “DonBelle” -- the “Don” referring to Star Magic’s Donny Pangilinan. That loveteam has practically been dissolved without an ABS-CBN announcement to prevent the fans from making a big fuss about it. 

Apart from Meet, Greet and Bye, Mariano is also gearing up for another album with record label StarPop, following her previous hit releases “Daylight,” “Solemn,” “And Somber” and “Believe” from her first album.

In a media huddle a few months ago, Pangilinan said as far as he knew, ABS-CBN is developing a concept for at least one film for them. He is not aware if the writing team has a deadline for a story suitable for their tandem.

It’s the director of Meet, Greet, and Bye who has mouthfuls about the film’s narrative coverage, though not about its title. 

Intoned Sampana to a news team on the home ground ABS-CBN: “This movie is very close to my heart. Sabi ko nga, this movie will be my love letter to my children, as this might be the love letter of all parents to their children and hopefully, vice versa.

“‘Pag family drama, medyo malapit sa puso ko. Nakakatakot puntahan kasi alam nating masyadong very close to your heart, isa siyang bagay na masarap pag-usapan pero nakakatakot pag-usapan kasi lumalabas ang lahat ng multo (When it comes to family drama, it’s pretty close to my heart. It’s scary to go into it because we know it’s very close to your heart, it’s nice to talk about, but scary because all the ghosts come out).

“Ipakilala sa mundo kung ano ang pamilyang Pilipino, kung how we raise our children, kung gaano ka-close ang family ties nating mga Pinoy. Parang gusto kong mapakita sa kanila kung paano tayo magmahal (Show the world what a Filipino family is like, how we raise our children, how close our family ties are as Filipinos. I feel like I want to show them how we love).”