Magikland is an official entry for this year’s Metro Manila Film Fest. The movie is about an iOS game where gamers have to get the highest points in order to save Magikland from the bad guys. When the four kids who happen to be the winners meet each other in person, they are teleported from the real world and transported to the mystical world of Magikland itself, starting an adventure that they will never forget.
The movie is ambitious in its own way and we are here to help you know why it is watch-worthy. Here are 10 reasons to watch Magikland.
Most expensive film of Philippines
The movie is considered to be the most expensive film ever produced in the Philippines as it has a budget of over P200 million pesos. According to Albee Benitez, the owner of BrightLight Production, the budget of the movie was P90 million, initially. But because of how animated the movie is, it exceeded the actual budget.
“The original budget is P90 million but we already crossed P100 million. Actually I stopped counting. Considering the number of special effects, computer graphics, animation, lumagpas na kami ng isang daan. If you look at it, parang secondary ‘yung business side ng film,” revealed Benitez in an interview.
Most ambitious film of 2020
The reason it is one of the most ambitious films to be made is that almost all of its shots were incorporated with state-of-the-art visual effects. 95% of the film’s scenes relied heavily on CGI, visual effects, and animation.
Hollywood-like effects
Yes, you read it right! The movie boasts visual effects that are on par with Hollywood movies. With the cost of ‘Magikland’ during its production phase, the team behind the film concentrated on and put in a lot of effort into its visual effects and graphics, making it seem realistic. And if it is to be compared with other movies with visual effects, ‘Magikland’ has the best among the rest when it comes to effects.
All Filipino CGI Team
The movie’s producer, Albee Benitez put a lot of faith in his CGI team as he built his visual effects team an all-Filipino one. Just like Hollywood where Filipinos were behind the CGIs of Marvel to DC to Disney Pixar, the movie’s visual effects team were all extremely talented.
Magikland is actually a theme park
The movie has a theme park that it inspired. The park which is also called ‘Magikland’ is located in Negros Occidental. The characters in the movies such as Boy Bakunawa, Mara Marapara, Pat Patag, and Kit Kanlaon greet visitors as they enter the theme park.
Based on Negros’ legendary folklore
The movie depicted the ‘Four Elements’ in Negros folklore which were Boy Bakunawa, Mara Marapara, Pat Patag, and Kit Kanlaon. In the movie, they are played by child actors Miggs Cuaderno as Boy Bakunawa; Elijah Alejo as Mara Marapara; Princess Aliyah Rabaraa as Kit Kanlaon; and child dancer Joshua Eugenio as Pat Patag.
Magic Temple-like
Just like the hit movies ‘Magic Temple’ and ‘Magic Kingdom’, ‘Magikland’ has the same genes just like its predecessors. The movie, like Magic Temple, is high on adventure, fantastic creatures, and fantastic landscapes combined with heavy CGI.
Based on the anime Pokemon
For all Pokemon lovers out there, you will certainly enjoy this movie. According to one of the producers, the late Peque Gallaga, the movie was inspired by the Pokemon game in which players must attain the highest score in order to save Magikland from an evil dictator. After the four winners were determined, they will be transported to the actual Magikland to which they have to save—literally.
Made by a commercial director
The movie is oozing with creativeness as it is directed by Christian Acuna, a director of TV commercials. Acuna was also handpicked by Peque Gallaga to be the director. In fact, Magikland is Acuna’s first full-length movie so expect the cinematography to be reeking with his passion to direct.
The last project of Peque Gallaga
The legendary filmmaker who was behind the movies ‘Magic Temple’ and ‘Magic Kingdom‘ also helped completed ‘Magikland’ despite his worsening condition. His effort to complete the film is a fitting movie for Gallaga as stated by Benitez, one of the movie’s producers.
Peque Gallaga passed on May 8 but was able to complete Magikland making it his final contribution to Filipino fantasy.
