Missing the theater movies

By Herbert Vego

IN January this year, the Daily Guardian echoed the lament of filmmaker Rodolfo “Jun” Robles Lana Jr. over rising movie ticket prices, saying the cost has affected the ability of Filipino families to watch films in cinemas.

Current ticket prices, ranging from PHP 500 to PHP 600 per person, are beyond the reach of the average Filipino.

“By pricing the ordinary Filipino out of the theater,” Lana said, “the industry hasn’t just lost customers; it has lost its soul. Cinema has shifted from a shared national culture to a middle-class privilege.”

The winner of 11 Palanca Awards for Literature, Lana became the youngest member of the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2006.

Lana’s official entry to the 51st Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) in December 2025 was “Call Me Mother,” a drama starring Vice Ganda and Nadine Lustre. It won the 3rd Best Picture Award.

It’s only during film festivals now that producers gamble their hard-earned money for star-studded quality movies. But we can’t blame them in the absence of the traditional movie theaters that are no longer where they used to be.

Most of the movies shown in the malls today are in English with foreign actors; very few in Filipino.

As a member of the entertainment press in Manila in the 1970s, I miss writing about what used to be the lucrative movie industry.

Were you old enough to remember those years when scores of movie theaters dotted the city streets nationwide? Some of them, known as first-run theaters, showed only newly-released films; the second-run ones showed “double” programs or two older films at the price of one.

I remember the 1950s and ’60s as the golden decades for the Philippine movie industry. The major studios like Sampaguita Pictures, Premier Productions and LVN were bursting at the seams with as many stars as there were in the heavens.

The late Dolphy and Panchito were already tickling us to laughter.

In the 1960s and ’70s, Filipino movie stars competed for the limelight with their Hollywood counterparts. Tony Ferrer as Agent X-44 was as popular as Sean “James Bond” Connery.

Stella Suarez, the mother of actor-turned-congressman Richard Gomez, was the most in-demand sexy star.

The 1970s saw Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III on one hand, and Vilma Santos and Edgar Mortis on the other, hitting their peak as the most-mobbed teenage pairs.

Being no longer profitable, the few Filipino movies today are cranked out within one month, with a predictable mixture of comedy, sex, drama and star value. Producers are averse to innovation or risk-taking.

In fairness, there are still a few serious movies today, the “indie films” that do not win the commercial patronage they deserve. Hence, the producers try to find a way to sell them to Netflix for exclusive runs and reruns on the Internet.

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CHEAPER POWER THIS MONTH

“EXPECT lower rates of electricity.”

This was the forecast made by an engineer of MORE Electric and Power Corp in the Facebook program “MORE Power at Your Service.”

In an interview with program host Angel Tan, Engr. Justin Lunar — the company’s energy sourcing supervisor — said that it’s because of a more stable power supply from the power plants that had gone back in operation after taking a long break.

He also traced the lower billings to cold weather that reduced demand for power in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

MORE Power charges the lowest residential rate in Western Visayas at PHP 12.66 per kilowatt-hour.