Box-office star Vice Ganda recalled the feeling of having a Metro Manila Film Festival entry.
For the second time since 2012, the comedian has no entry for this year’s MMFF after his movie, Praybeyt Benjamin 2, backed out from the film fest.
Vice Ganda admitted that he misses the nerves during Christmas day, the first day of MMFF screening. He also misses receiving updates regarding their ticket sales as the battle for box-office heats up.
Dec. 25, 2020
Walang MMFF first day kaba and ngarag. Walang cinema tours. Walang mall tours. Walang kaliwa’t kanan na texts and calls from VIVA and Star Cinema kung magkano na ang gross every after screening hours. Tahimik lang. Kalmado lang. ibang iba. Kakamiss din.— jose marie viceral (@vicegandako) December 25, 2020
From 2012 to 2015, his MMFF entries, Sisterakas, Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy, The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin, and Beauty and the Bestie, were hailed as the highest-grossing MMFF films in their respective years.
In 2016, The Super Parental Guardians was not included in the MMFF. Despite this, the movie was still screened before MMFF and became the Highest Grossing Filipino Film of 2016.
In the following years, Vice Ganda returned to MMFF with his movies Gandarrapiddo: The Revenger Squad, Fantastica, and The Mall, The Merrier.
The comedian’s entries continued to rank #1 during MMFF not until 2019 when the Philippine adaptation of Miracle in Cell No. 7 starring Aga Muhlach and Xia Vigor surpassed his entry.
This year’s MMFF is totally different from the previous years because, for the first time, the films can be watched on digital platforms, not on cinemas.
MMFF 2020 features 10 film entries which can be streamed on Upstream and GMovies.
