Back-to-back positive news about local films at the box office is something to really celebrate. Fortunately, that happened last week with Pagtatag! The Documentary and Un/Happy For You crossing newsworthy milestones (August 28-September 1, 2024). Meanwhile, Leni Robredo supporters continue to organize block screenings for And So It Begins.
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| Pagtatag! (C) 1Z Entertainment |
The SB19 documentary is now the highest-grossing Filipino documentary released in theaters, Columbia Pictures Philippines reports. However, the studio did not release the official numbers for the doc. For reference, MMFF 2016 entry Sunday Beauty Queen grossed ₱7.8 million during its festival run while if we to follow Solar Pictures' cryptic post, And So It Begins has made ₱10 million in 2 weeks. Assuming that was included in the comparison, Pagtatag! really did a strong opening for a limited release. It proves that the Filipino boy band can bring in paying audiences - an important feat for the group.
Petersen Vargas-directed Un/Happy For You also continues to bring more cash for Star Cinema-VIVA Films. As of September 2, the Joshua Garcia-Julia Barretto romantic drama has now crossed ₱390 million globally. Box Office Mojo actually reported some of its performance in some territories it opened last August 22: $176K (plus $61K this week) in UAE, $93K (plus $18K this week) in Australia, and $23K in New Zealand. These are solid numbers for the film which just adds more cash to its already huge pile.
Organizing remains a skill expertise of Leni Robredo supporters as more block screenings happened last week for And So It Begins. The film is said to have not been scheduled by major theater chains in the country. “We were supposed to be a national release,” says film director Ramona Diaz from her interview in Rappler.
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| A sold out screening of And So It Begins in SM Cabanatuan |
As a silver lining, selling out block screenings seems like a better PR-story for the documentary and former politician. A single sold out screening in SM Cabanatuan could've likely saw over ₱100K in sales. Distributor Solar Pictures has not released an official data as of this writing. They have posted, however, a cryptic post thanking all the viewers of the film which suggests a two-week total of ₱10 million.
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| Solar Pictures PH thanking viewers of And So It Begins |
For international releases, Deadpool & Wolverine adds ₱4.6 million ($81K) this week for a six-week total of ₱434 million ($7.69 million). Alien Romulus tumbled 66 percent this week with ₱2.3 million ($40K) for a total of ₱26 million ($460K) in three weeks.
Updated 9/4/2024 and 9/6/2024 for international features and numbers for And So It Begins.
