January 16, 2025 | 2:46pm
MANILA, Philippines — The 2025 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) managed to reach its box office target of P800 million, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) confirmed.
The MMDA announced on social media last January 15 the golden anniversary of the film festival was able to surpass P800 million at the box office.
Chairman Ron Artes said the recent MMFF leveled up the standards of the annual festival in terms of quality of entries, inclusivity, the revival of the Student Short Film Festival with the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), and talk back sessions, among others.
“The MMFF will continue all efforts by encouraging our stakeholders, especially the local entertainment industry, to create quality films,” Artes continued. “The key to our success is in collaborating, helping and supporting each other instead of fuelling divisiveness, coming out with unsubstantiated claims, and sweeping judgments.”
Artes added there were lessons to be learned in attempting to give the public the festival’s best edition in its 50th year, acknowledging the efforts and sacrifices of those who took part in it.
“It was a success as it upped the standards from the previous MMFFs, and by saying so, we redefined our indicators beyond box office returns, which is worthy of another study, moving forward,” Artes ended.
The MMDA said the three entries that topped gross sales receipts were “And The Breadwinner Is” starring Vice Ganda, “The Kingdom” fronted by Piolo Pascual and Vic Sotto, and the festival’s big winner “Green Bones.”
Star Cinema, the studio behind “And The Breadwinner Is,” separately announced its movie made over P400 million during its entire run, accounting for half of the festival’s overall ticket sales.
Last year, Star Cinema’s entry “Rewind” broke records as it made up a huge chunk of the MMFF’s billion-peso box office take despite initial projections set at P700 million.
“Rewind,” starring real-life couple Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes, went on to finish with P924 million at the box office to become the year’s highest-grossing film and the highest-grossing movie in the MMFF’s history.
It also held the title of highest-grossing Filipino film ever for nearly a year until it was surpassed by “Hello, Love, Again” starring Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards — coincidentally the titleholder before “Rewind” was the original film “Hello, Love, Goodbye.”
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