Showbiz best practices we need to continue this 2024
MANILA, Philippines — Local showbiz entertainment started off this year with a bang, having surpassed the targeted P700M in box-office earnings for 2023. It is the biggest revenue from the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) since the lockdowns.
Now, we’re still seeing stars promoting their films past the halfway mark of the festival to sustain audience interest in going to the cinemas. Producers and actors have been going above and beyond with mall shows and tours, TV station-hopping for guesting, as well as ticket-selling, all of which have helped sustain the interest to drive people to watch their films.
These are just one of the many right moves that the industry has done, which we could also call bayanihan. There were also a couple of notable moments where the industry could take notice, and we hope it continues to apply these practices this year for a more leveled-up industry.
We hope to see a continuation of better casting in films and TV projects. We saw how GomBurZa star Cedrick Juan became the season’s breakout star of MMFF. While it was so easy to cast another already famous actor to headline a period film, director Pepe Diokno had no doubts about theater thespian Cedrick as he knew off the bat that the project was perfect for him and that the industry would take notice.
We also saw the impact of supporting cast Maris Racal as Irene and Anthony Jennings as Snoop in the TV5 primetime hit Can’t Buy Me Love. The Star Creatives-produced series just executed their subplot perfectly. Highlighting the chemistry of the two actors has been so effective that they trended on TikTok and X.
Another notable casting decision is Alessandra de Rossi as the unconventional leading lady in the first-ever Netflix-produced Filipino series, Replacing Chef Chico. If this were done in a network setting, we could expect internal forces to interfere and cast a mainstream leading lady. We are happy that it was not the case with Netflix. They know who deserves the lead spot in terms of charm, talent and character.
We hope that more substantial actors and newcomers will be given this type of break this year to usher in a new set of deserving superstars.
With regard to storytelling, more offbeat and original storylines were presented on the mainstream. We saw Star Cinema push Dolly de Leon and Kathryn Bernardo’s A Very Good Girl to box-office heights. It featured two strong female leads and had nothing to do with a love triangle or a love team.
They just proved how story value and great marketing could lure the audience to give it a shot in cinemas and it worked. It also proves that Kathryn is a standalone superstar and can definitely go on with her solo projects.
We also hope for the same success for her former partner Daniel Padilla, who will be embarking on solo projects this year. While the big producers continue to come up with great projects, showbiz also welcomed new producers with remarkable projects. There is MQuest Ventures with GomBurZa and Penduko, and JG Ventures with When I Met You In Tokyo. It is very encouraging for them since the projects are being talked about and Vilma Santos, who stars in When I Met You In Tokyo, even did not expect her Best Actress win.
In a group conversation with her last week, she even said that this encourages her to do more meaningful projects in 2024.
“Modesty aside, I have a lot. Marami akong script na hawak, but next year looking forward ako makagawa ng the word is ‘memorable’ film sa linya ng Sister Stella L, Anak, Dekada ‘70, Bata Bata Paano Ka Ginawa? Ito ang gusto kong gawin kahit isa lang,” she said.
With that, one can only look forward to exciting times ahead for showbiz.
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