Showbiz insider Ogie Diaz has released the six-day box-office figures for the 51st Metro Manila Film Festival, covering the period from December 25 to 30—and the numbers reveal a sobering performance for this year’s festival entries.
According to the figures shared on January 1, the combined gross of all eight MMFF 2025 entries reached only ₱350,802,000 after six days, falling short of the ₱500 million mark. This has raised concern among producers, as many films have yet to recoup their production costs.
Leading the pack by a wide margin is ‘Call Me Mother’, starring Vice Ganda and Nadine Lustre, with a total gross of ₱186,385,000. The film’s strong performance comes as no surprise, as it marks Vice Ganda’s tenth MMFF entry—and once again, none of his festival films has failed to top the box office.
In second place is the lone horror entry, ‘Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins’, which has earned ₱66,540,000 so far, continuing the franchise’s tradition of drawing holiday crowds.
A close battle follows in the middle rankings. ‘Bar Boys: After School’ currently holds third place with ₱25,886,000, narrowly edging out Unmarry, which sits at fourth with ₱25,640,000.
While ‘Unmarry’ initially lagged, it has since expanded its cinema count and benefited from strong word of mouth, keeping it competitive.
Rounding out the rest of the list are:
- Love You So Bad – ₱18,980,000 (5th place)
- I’m Perfect – ₱12,511,000 (6th place)
- Manila’s Finest – ₱10,758,000 (7th place)
- Rekonek – ₱4,092,000 (8th place)
Reports indicate that ‘Rekonek’ struggled from the outset, earning only around ₱1.6 million on opening day and failing to reach ₱1 million on its second day, making it the current bottom performer of the festival.
Industry observers note that box-office figures dipped on December 26 due to the resumption of workdays, but weekend screenings and the results of the MMFF Gabi ng Parangal—held on December 27—have helped boost select films, particularly those that received acting and technical awards.
While rankings may still shift as weekend audiences return to cinemas, there appears to be little debate about one thing: ‘Call Me Mother’ remains the undisputed box-office leader of MMFF 2025, once again proving Vice Ganda’s unmatched draw during the holiday film festival season.
