A TOP MOVIE PRODUCTION executive told us a lot of local films released so far this year didn’t do well at the box office. Most of them have stars who are popular in hit TV shows, but obviously, having a toprating TV program is not a guarantee that your movie will attract enough people willing to pay for movie tickets.
The list of flops include “Mama’s Girl” that featured the loveteam of Sofia Andres and Diego Loyzaga who starred in the well received afternoon soap, “Pusong Ligaw”; “Wonder Beki” and “Amnesia Love” starring Paolo Ballesteros who’s in “Eat Bulaga”; “Mr. and Mrs. Cruz” starring Ryza Cenon who plays Georgia in the megahit afternoon soap, “Ika-6 na Utos”, and “Ang Pambansang Third Wheel” starring Yassi Pressman who’s in the number one primetime show, “Ang Probinsyano”.
Ryza’s leading man in “Mr. and Mrs. Cruz” is JC Santos, who fared better with Bela Padilla in “100 Tulad Para Kay Stella”. His film with Ryza didn’t get any extension at all in the theaters where it was shown. The latest news about Ryza, now that her long-running soap "Ika-6 na Utos" has finally ended, is that she’s transferring to ABS-CBN, as arranged by Viva Artist Agency who’s now managing her career. It’s said she will soon be joining the cast of “Ang Probinsyano”. Let’s see if the grass will be really greener for her as a Kapamilya.
As for Yassi Pressman’s movie, it didn’t even last for one week in some cinemas and was quickly pulled out, like in SM North Edsa. We were looking for it there and we're told is has already been withdrawn. How sad. Apparently, it didn’t help at all that her leading man in the movie is Sam Milby, who seems to have lost his luster lately.
The only local films that made money this year are “Meet Me in St. Gallen” with Carlo Aquino and Bela Padilla, which was extended at SM North Edsa for five weeks. And the romcom “My Perfect You” which stars Gerald Anderson with our 3rd Miss Universe winner, Pia Wurtzbach. It helps, of course, that their director is the bonafide hitmaker, Cathy Garcia Molina, who really knows how to make very commercial films that please the crowd.
The next local movie with an established love team to be shown is “Never Not Love Your” with James Reid and Nadine Lustre. Here’s hoping this will be more successful at the tills than their last outing, “This Time”, that suffered a beating from the John Lloyd Cruz movie, “Just the Three of Us”, when they were shown simultaneously.
