KUMPARA sa mga nagdaang Metro Manila Festival, last year was reminiscent of the previous year when four indie films were mixed in the Magic 8.
Kung hindi kami nagkakamali, comparatively low ang naitalang revenues ng taong ‘yon, which served as a lesson to MMDA to rectify its mistake—kung matatawag ngang ganu’n—in the next festivals to follow.
Last year though wasn’t anywhere close to the pinned hopes of the MMDA. Ang “The Mall, The Merrier” nga lang ni Vice Ganda ay lumalabas na one-third lang ng kinita ng kanyang “Fantastica” two years ago.
Pagsama-samahin man ang total gross revenues ng all eight entries last year might not even equal that of “Fantastica’s.”
In short, hindi kagandahan ang ipinamalas ng 2019 MMFF entries at the box-office.
Maraming attributable reasons for it, isa na rito ang mataas na bayad sa sine even increasing so rapidly na hindi na ito abot-kaya ng mga nakararami. The commercial run being Christmas has other more essential concerns na pinagtutuunan din ng ating mga kababayan.
Back to Aga and Vice. Reportedlt, seventy million hanggang P100 million ang agwat ng kinita ng mga ito, but much more yawning a difference ay ang pumangatlo, that of Coco Martin’s entry na P80 million lang which wasn’t even one-third of Vice Ganda’s.
The 2019 MMFF was sending an important signal. Hindi na porke’t Vice Ganda o Coco Martin o Vic Sotto ang bida, foolproof nang kikita ito at mangunguna pa sa kita.