How do you get people to still watch movies in cinemas as the consumer pivot to video on-demand streaming continues?
The Sy family’s SM Prime Holdings Corporation (SM Prime), the largest mall operator and developer in the Philippines with 397 cinema screens in its 86 malls nationwide, has found two ways that are helping forestall the death of cinema viewing in the Philippines.
One is by showing movies exclusive to SM Cinemas — which means offering something to moviegoers that other cinemas don’t have — with ticket prices lower than the usual P350 per patron.
Based on the second quarter/first half 2024 earnings of SM Prime, this marketing strategy for its cinema business helped increase the company’s revenues from its Philippine malls operations by 8%, from P31 billion in first half of 2023 to P34 billion in the same period this year.
SM Prime’s cinema and event ticket sales, which are under its malls business, increased by 5%, from P5.19 billion in the first half of 2023 to P5.43 billion in the same period in 2024.
SM Prime’s second quarter earnings report released on Wednesday, August 14, said this was “mainly due to blockbuster movies and SM Cinema’s exclusive movies shown during the period.” For the latter (exclusive movies), these include the English-subtitled Thai drama, How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, and Japanese anime film Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle.
The case of How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, a Thai movie about a cancer-stricken grandmother and her grandson, was a jackpot choice for SM Cinema for its exclusive offerings.
It started showing in select SM Cinemas on May 29 and lasted for four weeks. Most movies are given only a week to see if they perform well; if not, they’re replaced with other films. If a movie lasts four weeks, it only means it’s a box-office hit.
As in other Asian countries where the film has been shown, Filipinos were touched by the movie’s themes on aging, love and caring for grandparents, as well as its sad and happy ending. Many moviegoers said the film made them remember their departed loving grandparents. SM promoted the movie’s emotional impact by posting on its Facebook account that they would give free tissues to movie patrons.
After two weeks, SM Cinema called it the “highest grossing Thai movie in the Philippines,” and it continued in select SM theaters until end of June. I’d call it not just the highest grossing Thai movie. but probably also the highest grossing Southeast Asian movie in the Philippines, excluding our own Filipino films of course. It’s the best example that Southeast Asians can be as good as the South Koreans in filmmaking.
Rappler reached out to SM six weeks ago on ticket sales of How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, but we have yet to get a response as of posting. We will update this story after we get an official figure.
But if we go by how the Philippine indie movie Kita Kita performed in 2017, SM Cinemas could have earned at least P100 million from ticket sales of this Thai box-office hit. On its second week, it was shown in 47 SM Cinema locations in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Recall that Kita Kita earned P320 million in 2017 after Filipinos endorsed the movie via social media and word of mouth. It still holds the record for being the highest-grossing Filipino indie film.
What played a key role in How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies‘ box-office success was the promotion of the movie by ordinary moviegoers on social media platform TikTok, with quite a number of TikTokers sharing how they ended up crying when they saw the film. Moviegoers were also encouraged to post videos of them crying while watching the movie or after watching it.
“As a lola’s boy, this movie hits the spot. ‘Yung scenes sa movie are very relatable sa mga nangyayari sa families natin, lalo na sa ‘ting mga Pinoy,” said popular TikToker, pharmacist Ramon Christian “Arshie” Larga.
@arshielife Bihira ako umiyak sa mga movie pero grabe ‘tong movie na ‘to may kurot sa puso.
♬ original sound – menggay 🌻 – luna🌻
“Bihira ako umiyak sa mga movie pero grabe ‘tong movie na ‘to may kurot sa puso,” Larga, with over four million TikTok followers, said on June 1. (I seldom cry over a movie but this movie touched my heart.)
SM Cinema’s pricing of the movie — at P275 in regular cinemas or P75 lower than the average movie ticket — also helped bring patrons to the big screen. I paid P220 with the senior discount when I watched it, and I was surprised to see the nearly all seats taken in SM City Taytay two weeks after the movie opened in theaters.
Quoting the film’s producer, GDH 559 Company Limited, entertainment website Variety reported on Tuesday, August 13, that How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies has earned a whopping 1 billion baht or around P1.6 billion worldwide from 10 million admissions.
The film was a big hit across Asia. In Singapore, the movie is the city-state’s biggest film in 2024, earning S$5 million (around P216 million). It was also a box-office winner in Indonesia where it earned 200 million baht (around P325 million), and also in Australia where there’s a sizeable Thai community. It is set to earn much more when it is shown in China starting August 23.
The movie will premiere on streaming platform Netflix on September 12, with some who watched the film in theaters saying they will see it again.
Anime market
The other marketing strategy that’s paying off for SM Cinema is its move to tap into the niche Japanese anime film market. It’s been showing anime films exclusively to help bring people, especially the youth, to its theaters.
The biggest anime movie in the second quarter this year for SM Cinema is Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, about two competing Japanese high school volleyball teams. A fan screening was held exclusively in SM on May 13, with some fans showing up in Haikyu volleyball outfits. Regular screening began May 15 and the film stayed in select SM Cinemas for at least three weeks.
“It’s more than just a film screening. The exclusive run of this anime film at SM Cinemas has created a vibrant community of Gen Z and Gen Alpha moviegoers,” said SM Supermalls in a press release on May 18, noting the young demographic appeal of the film.
Aside from being an indication of the growing popularity of Japanese anime in the Philippines, the movie’s success is also a sign of the continuing rise of volleyball as a sport in the Philippines. SM Cinema organized a meet and greet with the champion National University (NU) Volleyball Men and Women’s teams on May 27 at SM Sta. Mesa event center to help promote the movie.
“The recent National University double championship sweep of the Men’s and Women’s UAAP volleyball tournament and how so much excitement was generated during the game has only added spice to this Haikyu film, and how new fans and followers have taken to the subject matter of this latest Haikyu film series installment,” said SM Supermalls.
Along with South Korea, Japan is a leading player in the global creative economy, with anime in comics, films, video games, and merchandise growing in popularity around the world.
The box-office successes of How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies and Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle are more the exception than the rule, however. With ticket prices now beyond reach of most Filipinos, many movies shown in Philippine cinemas still do poorly and don’t last long in theaters. However, these two films again show that people will still watch in cinemas as long as they think the movie is worth it for them.
SM Prime said other movies that did well in the second quarter this year were Hollywood’s Inside Out 2, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. In the first half of 2023, the films that did well were all Hollywood movies, namely: The Little Mermaid, John Wick: Chapter 4, Avatar: The Way of Water, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
‘First and only family cinema’
Meantime, in the new Opus Mall in Pasig City, which is on soft opening, it’s hardware that’s getting people to watch movies in a theater.
The Gokongweis’ newest mall has the “first and only” Family Cinema in the country, with colorful seats and Instagrammable statues at the entrance. If you’re among the first in line, you have the option to use any of the eight family couches where kids and adults can lie down, sit, or even play while watching a movie for general patronage. The cinema is also sweet-scented and well-lit even while the movie is showing.
It’s a bit pricey, though, with each ticket in the Family Cinema at P600 each or P2,400 for a family with two kids. Nevertheless, the Family Cinema is being patronized by many well-to-do families, proof again that people are willing to pay for a worthwhile experience, especially for their children. – Rappler.com
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