Despite initial allegations that it had a low crowd on its opening day, the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is doing rather well this year, according to publicist Noel Ferrer.
Ferrer added in a Facebook post on Sunday that the cinemas proprietors themselves indicated that the MMFF's December 25 opening was their greatest grossing day since reopening during the pandemic.
“Not even the big Hollywood films (like 'Eternals') are able to approximate the gross that MMFF 2021 has generated so far,” Ferrer said.
“In fact, the first day gross alone this year covered 1/3 of the total MMFF online gross (in its entire run) last year. With more people going to the cinemas by the day, sa first 3-4 days pa lang, puwede nang malampasan ang total gross last year. Wala pang major sakit ng ulong problema sa piracy,” he continued.
Ferrer believes that the fact that there is a film festival this year is an accomplishment in and of itself, and that it is a significant step toward the restoration of the local film industry, which has been dormant for nearly two years.
“Sobrang appreciated ng mga producers ang efforts ng MMFF na buhayin at bigyang sigla ang pelikulang Pilipino,” he said.
“Sa Hollywood ganito rin, hindi maiaalis ang takot at pangamba -- kahit saan na nag-reopen ang sinehan ay ganito. The important thing is we took the challenge -- and we really had to take that painful first step -- because we really have to start somewhere.”
Ferrer went on to thank everyone for their continuing support as the country deals with the pandemic.
“Kung sa mga nasalanta ng Odette may kagyat tayong ayuda, ang industriya ng pelikula ay binagyo at dumapa rin. Ang hinihinging suporta ay ang pagbabalik sa mga sinehan para panoorin ang mga likhang sariling atin. Ito ang tulong/ayuda na inaasahan sa bawa’t isa. Hindi lang ito para sa kabuhayan ng mga tao kundi ang patuloy na paglikha ng sining -- sa gitna ng pandemya,” he said.
“Ipagpatuloy natin ang suporta at pagmamahal sa pelikulang Pilipino. Sa huli’t huli, sino nga ba ang magtutulungan kundi tayo tayo rin naman, di ba?”
– Jerwin Quitaneg, Kapatid Insider