The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is an annual film festival organized to showcase and highlight Filipino produced movies.
Aired from Christmas Day until the first weekend of January, the festival promises Filipinos a much-needed holiday breather, an easy escape from work and school through a lineup of locally made films.
However, what was supposed to be a joyful holiday experience and an affordable Christmas treat has turned into a letdown for some viewers. The reason? High cost of movie tickets.
Filmmaker Jun Robles Lana took into social media his frustrations over the expensive cinema tickets. Director of one of the MMFF’s entries this year, ‘Call Me Mother,’ Lana criticized the price increase saying that it’s not for the ordinary Filipinos anymore.
“By pricing the ordinary Filipino out of the theater, the industry hasn’t just lost customers, it has lost its soul. Cinema has shifted from a shared national culture to a middle-class privilege,” he wrote.
Lana also pointed out that for today’s generation, a family of four would need to shell out at least ₱1,500 just to get inside the cinema, excluding transportation costs and without even a bag of popcorn in sight.
But, how much do cinema tickets differ from before?
Movie tickets prices
If this was 10 years ago, movie tickets cost only around ₱175 to ₱250 per person, meaning ₱1,500 could already cover six to eight people in a cinema.
Today, with ticket prices ranging from ₱375 to ₱500 and up, that same ₱1,500 barely gets a family of four through the door.
In movie theaters such as in Greenbelt, Ayala Malls, and Power Plant Malls, tickets cost higher than the usual price.
Lana’s ‘Call Me Mother’ is priced at ₱470 per ticket at Power Plant Mall cinemas, the same price as MMFF ‘Best Picture’ awardee ‘I’m Perfect.’
Meanwhile, movie tickets in Megaworld Malls cinemas are slightly cheaper, costing around ₱390 per ticket. However, it’s still expensive compared to the tickets before.
According to the director, there’s no use in promoting “national” film festivals if the ticket prices still exclude the nation.
“Until we admit that cinema has become a luxury that the ‘₱500 Noche Buena’ family cannot afford, we are simply watching the slow, expensive sunset of Philippine cinema.”
Risk
Several netizens backed Lana’s claim saying that the movie tickets today aren’t humane anymore.
“Before, we could still watch movies for around ₱150–₱180 per person, but now tickets are almost ₱500 each. That’s why it’s really hard to go out to the mall, if you don’t have enough budget, you’ll definitely feel the increase,” one netizen stated.
Some just opt to wait for the movies to be released on streaming platforms because it is much cheaper than going to cinemas.
These situations show that Philippine cinema is already at risk, as more people turn to streaming platforms due to the high cost of going to theaters. This dilemma will likely continue for years if it is not addressed by authorities, particularly those responsible for amusement taxes and related policies.
If left unresolved, Philippine cinema will either find a way to rise again—or slowly head toward further decline.
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