MANILA, Philippines – The film Hello, Love, Again, starring Kapamilya star Kathryn Bernardo and Kapuso heartthrob Alden Richards, is the new Philippine box-office record holder.
ABS-CBN announced on Friday night, November 22, that the sequel to Hello, Love, Goodbye has reached P930 million in ticket sales worldwide in just 10 days after opening in theaters in the Philippines on November 13, Wednesday.
It broke the box-office record of Star Cinema’s Rewind which earned P924 million after it was released in the Metro Manila Film Festival on December 25, 2023 followed by a worldwide release in 2024. Rewind is the comeback reunion film of real life Kapuso couple Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera.
Hello, Love, Again is the first co-production between GMA Pictures Incorporated and ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema. ABS-CBN and GMA used to be arch rivals until the Duterte administration stripped the Lopez network of its broadcast business in 2020 or four years ago.
Assuming an average ticket price of P400, the P930 million ticket sales of Hello, Love, Again means that around 2.32 million have seen the film, surpassing the 2.31 million who watched Rewind.
Hello, Love, Again initially set a new Philippine record for highest first-day gross of P85 million, followed by highest single-day ticket sales of P131 million on November 16, Saturday, the first weekend day for the movie.
Hello, Love, Again is now showing in over 1,000 cinemas around the world, including in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand. It is set to open in various Asian countries (outside the Philippines) and territories starting next week.
The Philippine movie industry, similar to most countries around the world, has seen a big drop in patronage as viewers shift to streaming platforms for on-demand entertainment.
Previous to Hello, Love, Again, only one other Philippine movie out of over 40 local mainstream films shown in 2024 had done well at the box-office — Star Cinema and Viva Films’ Un/Happy for You, starring Joshua Garcia and Julia Barreto, which earned P390 million from ticket sales as of September 2. – Rappler.com
