Viva Films

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Viva Films
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryMotion pictures
FoundedQuezon City, Philippines (November 11, 1981; 40 years ago (1981-11-11))
FounderVicente del Rosario Jr.
Headquarters
Pasig
,
Philippines
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Vicente G. del Rosario III (chairman of the board and CEO)
Veronique del Rosario-Corpus
ProductsMotion pictures
OwnerViva Entertainment
ParentViva Entertainment

Viva Films is a Philippine film production company established under Viva Entertainment. It was founded on November 11, 1981 by Vic del Rosario Jr.

History[]

Veering away from the Sharon Cuneta-Gabby Concepcion tandem, Viva became home to quality dramatic films. The "glossy" production of films such as Sinasamba Kita, Palimos ng Pag-ibig, Saan Darating Ang Umaga?, Kung Mahawi Man Ang Ulap and Paano Ba Ang Mangarap? won critical and commercial acclaims. Viva Films also made a documentary film on the Puerto Rican boyband Menudo on their visit to the Philippines in 1985.

Viva launched then-supporting actor Phillip Salvador as an action star in the movie Boy Negro. It was also instrumental in introducing to the public Robin Padilla (Bad Boy and Anak ni Baby Ama) and Raymart Santiago (Noel Juico: Batang Kriminal) as new action stars. Veteran action stars Eddie Garcia, Rudy Fernandez, Bong Revilla Jr. and Fernando Poe, Jr. also made movies for Viva.

Viva became later known as home to quality youth-oriented films, starting with the 1984 breakthrough flick, Bagets. The movie was top billed by William Martinez and launched the careers of then unknowns J.C. Bonnin, Herbert Bautista, Raymond Lauchengco and Aga Muhlach. With its box-office success, the company produced a sequel Bagets 2 with Ramon Christopher, Jon Hernandez and Francis Magalona joining the original cast, the success of the two Bagets film made it the flagship movie of VIVA films & it set the trend for youth-oriented movies in the 80's which other film companies copied, but they never matched nor equaled the success brought about by thehe two Bagets films.

Viva also made "glossy" comedy films like Working Girls and Sa Totoo Lang which featured serious actors and actresses as main characters instead of comedians. The company also gambled on new comedians as the '80s decade was about to end. Comedy flicks such as Puto, Jack en Jill, Humanap ka ng Panget and I Love You Three Times a Day launched the respective careers of Herbert Bautista, Andrew E. and Jimmy Santos. In the 1990s, Viva launched the careers of Dennis Padilla and Janno Gibbs as solo comedians while reviving the film careers of veteran comedians Redford White (Neber 2 Geder), Chiquito (Pinagbiyak na Bunga) and Joey de Leon (Hibangers).

In 1989, Viva introduced its second batch of young stars via the youth-oriented comedy Estudyante Blues. It introduced to the public young stars & That's Entertainment mainstays such as Vina Morales, Gelli de Belen, Keempee de Leon, Raymart Santiago and Dingdong Avanzado. The movie was also a resounding success, despite the fact that Estudyante Blues became an earlier hit via the Philippine music airwaves as a single sung by Freddie Aguilar.

Viva later on entered into television production by partnering with GMA Pictures. Their first venture together was the sitcom Ober Da Bakod in 1992 with then rising young talents Donita Rose, Gelli de Belen, and Janno Gibbs and Anjo Yllana as main stars, followed by the soap opera Villa Quintana in 1994 with Donna Cruz and Keempee de Leon as lead stars. However, it was the 1995 youth-oriented series T.G.I.S. that gave Viva its biggest success as a television producer. Headlined by Angelu de Leon, it gave birth to the careers of Bobby Andrews, Michael Flores, Onemig Bondoc, Red Sternberg, Raven Villanueva and Ciara Sotto. The success of the TV series was later translated to the big screen, when the TGIS group became box-office stars via the movies Takot Ka Ba sa Dilim? and TGIS the Movie. A new batch of teens were introduced a few months later, and was led by Dingdong Dantes, Anne Curtis, Sunshine Dizon, Kim Delos Santos, Antoinette Taus, Polo Ravales, Dino Guevarra and Chubi del Rosario. In 1999, Viva made a comeback movie with Vic Sotto for the movie Basta Ikaw, Nanginginig Pa! with sexy actress Rosanna Roces, Valentin, Val Sotto, Nova Villa & Yoyong Martirez.

In late 2006, Viva Films made a comeback to production of mainstream films by co-producing with new players GMA Films and Star Cinema while producing its own films. Among the movies that the company co-produced or solely produced at that time were Till I Met You (with GMA Films), Wag Kang Lilingon, Ang Cute ng Ina Mo, Paano Kita Iibigin (all with Star Cinema), Ouija (with GMA Films), Apat Dapat, Dapat Apat (with On-Q 28 Productions), Ikaw Pa Rin: Bongga Ka Boy, When Love Begins, A Very Special Love (all with Star Cinema), Status: Single (with On-Q 28 Productions), You Changed My Life (with Star Cinema), Patient X (with GMA Films and RGUTZ Productions), Babe, I Love You (with Star Cinema), Working Girls (with GMA Films and Unitel Pictures), Hating Kapatid, In Your Eyes (with GMA Films), and Petrang Kabayo. Patient X marks the first Viva movie of rising young actor Richard Gutierrez followed by In Your Eyes and also the first Viva movie of teen actress-turned sexy star Cristine Reyes after signing a contract with Viva Entertainment, while Working Girls marks the first Viva movie of 1st Starstruck princess Jennylyn Mercado after she signed a contract with Viva Entertainment.

In 2011, Tumbok, Catch Me, I'm in Love, No Other Woman, The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin, Won't Last A Day Without You (all co-produced by Star Cinema), were released. In 2012, Of All the Things (co-produced by GMA Films), Moron 5 & the Crying Lady (co-produced by MVP Films) and A Secret Affair were released.

In 2013, Bekikang: Ang Nanay Kong Beki, It Takes a Man and a Woman, Momzillas, and Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy (all co-produced by Star Cinema) were released. In 2014, Diary ng Panget, Trophy Wife and Muslim Magnum .357 were released.

In 2015, Felix Manalo, a biopic of the Iglesia Ni Cristo founder, was released in October.

On March 13, 2019, Viva Communications joined the local-language film consortium Globalgate Entertainment, which is led by American mini-major film studio Lionsgate.[1]

Highest-grossing films[]

Highest-grossing films by Viva Films[HGF]
Rank Title Year Box-office gross
(in estimated amount)		 Notes Ref.
1 Gandarrapiddo: The Revenger Squad 2017 ₱571,000,000 co-produced with Star Cinema [2]
2 Beauty and the Bestie 2015 ₱526,000,000 [3]
3 The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin 2014 ₱440,000,000 [4]
4 Miracle in Cell No. 7 2019 ₱475,000,000
5 Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy 2013 ₱421,000,000 co-produced with Star Cinema [5]
6 It Takes a Man and a Woman 2013 ₱405,000,000 [6]
7 Sisterakas 2012 ₱393,000,000 [7]
8 The Mall, The Merrier 2019 ₱338 million
9 The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin 2011 ₱331,000,000 [8][9]
10 Kita Kita 2017 ₱320,000,000 co-produced with Spring Films [10][11]

HGFEarnings of the film listed in the box-office gross with an estimated amount is not the accurate total gross of the film. Some articles and reports even the production company itself are giving different amounts of gross and not revealing its actual amount. In this case, the estimated gross amount shown above is from the sources that has a similar report of the gross.

Viva movies on TV[]

During the early 1980s, Viva tied up with IBC-13 to air their early releases every Saturday nights. The movie block, titled Viva Box Office Hits, showed early movies of Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion and other early releases by the company, In 1988, "Viva Box Office Hits" was one of the Viva shows that transferred to ABS-CBN (along with "The Sharon Cuneta Show") after its original home IBC-13 was sequestered by the Aquino administration. Despite Viva Box Office's cancellation in 1989, succeeding movies produced by Viva Films and its subsidiaries continued to air on ABS-CBN through the network's movie blocks Tagalog Movie Greats and Star Cinema Presents until 1992.

In 1992, Viva switched networks by partnering with GMA-7 where their latest movie releases starting in 1991 onwards were shown every Thursday nights. The movie block was renamed Viva Sinerama. The said partnership initially caused controversy after former media partner ABS-CBN filed an injunction to block the partnership as the network launched their own motion picture company Star Cinema a year later. The said injunction affected the airing of the 1991 box-office hit "Maging Sino Ka Man" which was supposed to be Viva's maiden offering on "Viva Sinerama". After the court decided in favor of the Viva-GMA partnership, the said movie finally aired after six months. It was also during the GMA era where Viva aired another movie block on Monday nights called MVP (Monday Viva Presentations) in 1994, primarily to compete with ABS-CBN's then top-rating movie block Regal Presents. The block lasted until 2001.

During the new millennium, Viva diversified its movie library where it was aired randomly on IBC-13 (via Viva TV primetime block) and ABC-5 (now TV5) (via the Viva Box Office and Viva Cine Idols movie block).

From free TV, Viva was able to tie up with Star TV and Fox International Channels Philippines to create an all-Filipino international movie channel on May 6, 1996, called Viva Cinema. Viva Cinema aired over 300 movies coming from the Viva library, including latest releases. It also aired behind-the-scenes outtakes and refreshing entertainment shows. The partnership between Viva and Star TV ended on July 31, 2003, when Viva created its own movie channel, PBO (Pinoy Box Office) and entrusted the entire Viva movie library to ABS-CBN by allowing it to air over. Viva Prime Channel air mostly action and Drama movies at 7:00 p.m. only every other week of the month. Viva Cinema return in February 2009 along with the launch of Philippine DTH's Cignal Digital TV of the same month. Aside from Viva entrusting the entire Viva library to ABS-CBN, co-productions of Viva and Star Cinema are also aired exclusively via ABS-CBN's movie block Kapamilya Blockbusters and ABS-CBN Sports and Action's movie blocks Movie Action Zone and Lunch Blockbuster, and via Viva Cinema, Viva Prime Channel, and PBO. While co-productions of Viva and GMA Films are exclusively aired via GMA's movie blocks Kapuso Movie Festival and/or Kapuso Movie Night, GMA News TV's movie block Takilya Blockbuster, and via Viva Cinema, Viva Prime Channel, and PBO.

For overseas markets, Cinema One Global (owned by ABS-CBN) also aired Viva Films productions for the overseas Filipino audiences.

In 2015, Viva partnered with TV5 to provide entertainment content. This transpired after the TV network dissolved its entertainment department to make room for blocktimers and content providers. It is said that Viva will be the biggest content contributor for the network. However, its partnership with TV5 took a break in late 2016 as former Gilas Pilipinas and PBA head coach, Vicente "Chot" Reyes took over as president and CEO of TV5 which focused in sports and news programming on TV5 until he resigned in June 2019 due to negative feedbacks by the viewers and fans of the network's entertainment programming against Reyes.

On May 10, 2021, after Cignal TV took over the TV5 Network's management and operations (and Viva resurrected its partnership with TV5 for the overall programming), TV5/Cignal and Viva through the Sari-Sari Channel announced that TV5 will air a Viva weekly movie block under the Sari-Sari Presents: Viva Cinema banner, similar to the now-defunct Viva Sinerama on GMA which began on May 15, 2021, every Saturday afternoon.[12] On October 31, 2021, the Sine Spotlight block on Sunday evenings began airing films produced by Viva from the early to mid-2010s.

P1.1-billion IPO[]

In January 2008, Viva chairman Vic del Rosario announced that Viva Communications expected to raise P1.1 billion through approval of the initial public offering (IPO) by the Philippine Stock Exchange, on listing date of March 5. It planned to sell up P 92.8 million new shares and P 49.9 million secondary shares at P 12.93 / share (offer is 35% of the company's issued and outstanding capital stock). It appointed Banco de Oro (BDO) Capital and Investment Corporation as lead underwriter and Abacus Capital and Investments Corporation as co-lead underwriter. Viva's net income was P 121 million for January to October 2007, double its 2006 earnings and projects net profit of P 330 million this year.[13]

Filmography[]

Main article: List of films produced and released by Viva Films

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Dave McNary (13 March 2019). "Lionsgate's GlobalGate Adds Philippines' Viva Communications". Variety. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  2. ^ "The Revenger Squad grosses P571 million, says Star Cinema; now highest-grossing Filipino movie of all time". Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  3. ^ News, ABS-CBN. "'Beauty and the Bestie' earns P526M in box office". Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  4. ^ "MMFF 2014 Box Office Update Praybeyt Benjamin, Feng Shui set record". The Summit Express. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Annual report" (PDF). www.pds.com.ph. 2015. Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  6. ^ "Philippines Yearly Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  7. ^ Calderon, Nora (February 21, 2016). "John Lloyd, Bea, Vice, Coco, Vic, Ai-Ai lead winners at the Box Office Entertainment Awards" (in Tagalog and English). Philippine Entertainment Portal. Ang My Bebe Love #KiligPaMore ang nakakuha ng pangatlong top gross, with P385 million...[My Bebe Love #KiligPaMore gained the third top gross, with P385 million]
  8. ^ "The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin (2011)". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  9. ^ Ricky Lo (January 20, 2014). "Vice Ganda beats Kris at the tills". The Philippine Star. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  10. ^ "'Kita Kita' exceeds P300 million mark in box-office sales". Push. August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  11. ^ "Alden and Maine's movie Imagine You And Me earned P120". Philippine Entertainment Portal. July 21, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  12. ^ Sagot na namin ang sine niyo simula MAY 15!. TV5 Philippines YouTube Channel. May 10, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  13. ^ Inquirer.net, Viva Films plans P1.1-billion IPO

External links[]

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