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New Cinema Guidelines: Friday Openings, No Split Screenings, Student Discounts

Better opportunities await both filmmakers and audiences with these new policies.

Following several consultations with the film industry stakeholders and the public, the Film Development Council of the Philippines has released Memorandum Circular No. 2019-01 with Policies and Guidelines on the Theatrical Release of Films in Philippine Cinemas.

Following several formal consultations with producers, theatres, and distributors to draft the contents of the guidelines, a public consultation with stakeholders was conducted with partner government agencies like DILG, MTRCB, DTI-EMB, and the Office of the Presidential Legal Counsel and Spokesperson.

FDCP Chairperson and CEO Mary Liza Diño (seated; sixth from the left) and stakeholders

To push for Philippine cinema’s growth and development, new policies have been introduced via the MC which applies to both local and foreign films. Here's a rundown of the new policies:

Switching of the theatrical release of local and foreign films nationwide from Wednesday to Friday to accommodate more potential moviegoers during the weekend.

A minimum run-length of at least seven (7) days for every film booked for theatrical release, as well as guaranteed theater assignment for the first three (3) days to avoid movies from getting pulled out of cinemas.

Booked films will be assigned with “full screens” for the first three (3) days of their exhibition. This means there will be no 'screen splitting,' or a double booking and exhibition for a single theatre screen.

A fair ratio for booked Filipino and foreign films should also be observed in regular playdates to give local films a higher chance of being seen by the audience [except in cases of a national film festival, such as Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (PPP) and Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF)].

To encourage watching local films at the cinemas among the youth, recommended national average ticket prices for students of ages 18 years and below will now be at Two Hundred Pesos (P200) in Metro Manila and a maximum of One Hundred Fifty Pesos (P150) in provinces every Wednesdays.

Meanwhile, films that have been theatrically released should only be screened to other platforms in the country after a holdback period of one hundred fifty (150) days after its first day of exhibition to maximize the movies’ revenue opportunity in local cinemas.

“This [Memorandum Circular] is the culmination of FDCP’s efforts to strengthen our industry practices and level the playing field for all our stakeholders – from film producers, to distributors, to our exhibitors, and even the audience – through a transparent and fair set of guidelines that addresses the gaps that have long plagued our industry when it comes to screening films in commercial theatres,” said FDCP Chairperson Liza Diño, who spearheaded meetings and dialogues regarding industry practices since she came to office in 2016.

After the full contents of the circular has been released in a national newspaper this June 25, the policies and guidelines will take effect fifteen (15) days thereafter.

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Homestream image screengrabbed from Birdshot official trailer.

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