MANILA — The 49th Metro Manila Film Fest entry “Rewind” is now the highest-grossing Filipino film
in terms of domestic box office sales, amassing P815-million as of January 17.
This surpasses the local box office records set by “Hello, Love, Goodbye” in 2019 and “The Hows of
Us” in 2018, with P691 million and P690 million, respectively.
Globally, “Rewind” has earned over P845-M and it aims to surpass “Hello, Love, Goodbye” as the
highest-grossing Filipino film of all time. The latter had a worldwide total gross of P880-M.
The husband-and-wife tandem of Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes, who top-billed the film, said
the box office figure translates to the number of people whose lives were touched and hopefully
changed by the message that their characters tried to convey in “Rewind.”
“Noong binasa namin ‘to, isa lang gusto namin mangayari, bonus na lang figure, alam namin
naraming pinagdaanan tao ng pandemic. Kaya sabi namin sana gawin kami instrumento ng
Panginoon na touch puso nila na magbago at mas mahalin mga tao sa paligid nila,” an emotional
Rivera said during the film’s thanksgiving event on Wednesday night.
“‘Yung message na ito lang makalat sa mga tao… Ang pinaka importante sa amin ay ang message ng
film na ito, na talagang tumatak sa puso nila,” she added.
“Iba ‘pag nakakausap mo mga tao at kwinento paano naging impact sa buhay nila. ‘Yun priceless…
Itong figure says ganito kadami nanuod. We are so grateful we were able to tell the story,” said
Dantes.
According to ABS-CBN executives, the film’s impressive feat is a testament to the company’s
commitment to tell inspiring stories — on and off the screen.
“Today, that is what we are, a storytelling company. We are a content company, and that is what
we do best. I hope we can continue to create great movies like this in the future… we raised the bar
again,” said ABS-CBN Chairman Mark Lopez.
“This is a very special film. Not just because it is the biggest box office title in Philippine history, but
because it has touched so many in a very deep way, myself included… ‘Rewind’ will surely go down
in history as one of the movie greats, a true classic,” ABS-CBN President Carlo Katigbak said in a
message read by Star Cinema’s Managing Director Kriz Gazmen.
For Gazmen, the milestone is a triumph of the entire Philippine movie industry, which was one of
the hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We would like to share this success with all the Metro Manila Film Fest entries. It was a very
beautiful and successful line. Sana nasuportahan niyo all the other movies,” he said.
“What struck me was it wasn’t all the successful times, but what struck me was all the times nag-
doubt kami. The box office is a scary place to be in after the pandemic. We don’t know if a film will
be a hit,” he admitted.
“Pagtatrabahuhan, pero hindi natin alam. But what I realized sa homily ni father, we may lose
faith—but God will always remain faithful and here we are right now.
The film’s international run continues in over 300 cinemas worldwide, including Canada, Guam, and
Saipan.
Gazmen also announced that the film will soon hit cinemas in the Middle East after receiving
clearance on Wednesday evening. (A. Cerezo, abs-cbn)
