The Philippine Online Chronicles

Filipinos are big movie fans. Though most may be bigger fans of Hollywood flicks than local productions, movie watching may be second only to television watching and radio listening as the biggest Pinoy pastimes.

Every year, the entire movie industry pays homage to the best Philippine-made film of the year in the annual Metro Manila Film Festival or MMFF. For the month of December, a couple of weeks are dedicated to local films. In short, no foreign-made film will be shown in major cinemas all over Metro Manila for those two weeks, to give local movies a time to shine at the box office even once a year.

All movie genres are pretty much covered in the MMFF. From drama, comedy, action, fantasy, and even horror; every type of movie is served to suit the moviegoer's taste.

In spite of how well some movies have done in the box office, it’s still a mystery why even the biggest film production houses haven’t dabbled with the idea of showing sports movies more often.

For a country that has such a loyal following in sports such as basketball, boxing, and billiards, it’s an anomaly why sports movies are very rarely shown.

Comedies and biopics

This is not to say that movie production outfits haven’t tried because history tells us that Philippines has had a few sports movies shown in the past.

One example was Manny Pacquiao’s biopic called Manny Pacquiao: The Movie starring matinee idol Jericho Rosales. Although the movie didn’t generate a lot of interest from moviegoers, it was an attempt to highlight and chronicle the life of the greatest boxer of this generation.

Aside from Pacquiao, champion runner Lydia de Vega also had a movie about her life called Medalyang Ginto, released in 1982.

De Vega and Pacquiao weren’t the only athletes who appeared in the big screen. Even before them, Gabriel “The Flash” Elorde, at the height of his popularity, appeared in The Flash Elorde Story.

In 1979, a somewhat more obscure movie called Mong starred former basketball player named Bonifacio "Bonnie" De Jesus and beauty queen Melanie Marquez. The film told the comic story of an enormous basketball player named Mong, who struggled both on and off the court.

Interestingly, De Jesus, who played for the Philippine Youth Team, was pretty much a mirror for his onscreen persona, since he also struggled with his career.

In the early '90s, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players Alvin Patrimonio, Paul Alvarez, Benjie Paras and Jerry Codiñera starred in the basketball comedy flick Last 2 Minutes. It took another five years before another PBA player got his own movie: Johnny Abarrientos, who played the lead role in the 1997 flick Go Johnny Go.

Decline

Ever since the 2000s, there has been a clear decline of sports movies that were released. Some of the “serious” movies were either documentaries (Eskrimadors) or independent films (Sabungero, Prince of Cockfighting, and Midas Touch).

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Pacquiao remains the most active actor-athlete in the country (No Fear: The Manny Pacquiao Story, Lisensyadong Kamao) and despite the PBA’s popularity, Abarrientos was the last professional basketball player to be cast in a full-length film.

Not many sports movies have come out in recent years from big-name production houses. There are many possible reasons for the genre to be in a coma. However, one of the most obvious is high production costs.

For instance, a basketball movie needs at least enough actors to form two teams in order to work. One strategy local outfits are fond of using to attract sports fans is to include popular athletes in the cast. These days, the average PBA player earns around P100,000 a month. Unless high-priced players agree to a much lower rate, the talent fees alone would cost an arm and a leg.

Making a sports movie is a huge gamble and even if the cast includes a local basketball superstar, it’s no guarantee that it will be a big hit at the box office. Pacquiao’s movie Wapakman, for example, is perhaps the biggest example of a movie that featured a world-class athlete that flopped big time.

The next frontier

More well-made independent sports films might resurrect the Filipino sports movie genre.

Though these independent movies don’t have limitless funds, they make up for it by offering excellent storylines.

For instance, Midas Touch tells the story of a struggling boxer who had to go back to the ring and fight again in order to save his ailing sister. Like most local independent films that cast unknown actors and actresses, the movie’s excellent story and acting are what every local movie should strive to achieve.

Sabungero on the other hand, is a film about a man who has a unique ability to breed and raise fighting cocks. Starring Joel Torre, Robert Arevalo, and Maritoni Fernandez, Sabungero delves deep into the game of cockfighting, which has played a huge part in Filipino culture even before the Spaniards came to the Philippines.

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Sabungero Trailer uploaded by sabongplayer

Banking on big Filipino-making firms for the revival of the Pinoy sports movie genre is already wishful thinking at this point. However, a new breed of independent filmmakers might just resuscitate the genre by working on creative and insightful storylines with or without a huge budget to pull it off.

Photo: “Bratz Movie Making Set: Motion Picture Camera” by puuikibeach c/o Flickr. Some rights reserved.