Mulawin: The Movie

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Mulawin The Movie
Directed by Dominic Zapata
Mark Reyes
Produced by Lily Monteverde
Annette Gozon-Abrogar
Written by Don Michael Perez
Starring Richard Gutierrez
Angel Locsin
Dennis Trillo
Iza Calzado as Reyna Amihan
Michael De Mesa
For the complete cast, see below.
Music by GMA Records
Cinematography unknown
Editing by unknown
Distributed by Regal Films and GMA Films
Release date(s) December 25, 2005
Running time 135 minutes
Language Tagalog
Budget PHP 80,000,000
IMDb profile

Mulawin: The Movie is the film sequel to the Mulawin television series that was shown on GMA Network. The movie was released on December 25, 2005 and is produced by Regal Films and GMA Films in the Philippines. It is also an official entry to the 31st Metro Manila Film Festival.

Contents

[edit] Overview

[edit] Production

GMA Network hired international action choreographer Wong Wai Fai and other Hong Kong martial arts experts to make the stunts more realistic, the same team hired for fantasy-action TV series Sugo. Wong choreographed stunts in the highly successful movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Kung Fu Hustle, Rush Hour 2 and Bulletproof Monk.

[edit] Cast

It was said that Robbie Tan of Seiko Films didn't allow his contract stars Diana Zubiri (Encantadia's Danaya) and Alfred Vargas (Encantadia's Aquil) to appear in the movie. Because of this, Valerie Concepcion played Danaya character in Mulawin: The Movie, while Aquil's character didn't appeared. Also, since the movie is a sequel, major characters such as Veronica/Vultra (played by Ara Mina) and Rasmus (played by Gary Estrada) who died in the TV series were not included in the movie version. New characters not in the TV series were also introduced in the movie.

[edit] Synopsis

Aguiluz and Alwina's plan for a peaceful life as mortals unravels when their boat to Tierra Fuego (the realm of man) is caught in a violent storm. They wash up on separate shores, a young man and woman living without memories and living separate lives. Aguiluz is adopted by a humble farmer and Alwina becomes the surrogate daughter of a wealthy family and is engaged to be married to Gabriel.

But a new period in the Mulawin saga unfolds as fire maiden Pirena uses the gintong binhi to bring Ravenum back to life. Ravenum summons the dragon Buwarka and raises an army of Ravenas to wreak havoc on Avila, which barely survives the initial attack. With the power of Mulawin’s Tree of Life dwindling and the Mulawin race in peril, the Diwatas and the Tres Aves (a legendary trio of heroes with special abilities) rush to aid the Mulawin. But ultimately, the fate of Avila and the Mulawin race now hinges on the valor of two of its two greatest champions, Aguiluz and Alwina.

[edit] Reaction

Mulawin The Movie grossed P 8,522,904 on its opening day (December 25) from over 80 screens around the Philippines. Regarding its overall gross as of December 28, there were conflicting box office reports, one of which stated that the fantasy has grossed P 15.0 million while another report states a higher P 19.5 million. While the figures are decent, Mulawin wasn't be able to recover its P 80 million budget.

At the end of January 7, 2006 the GMA-Regal joint project has an official finish at third place among all Metro Manila Film Festival entries in the box office. Mulawin has grossed a grand total of 57,761,882.

Because it did not gross enough to break even, speculation is rampant that GMA Films and Regal Films will release the film on video market within two months. There are also unconfirmed plans that GMA will sell both the television and movie version of Mulawin to interested networks in Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and India.

[edit] Criticisms and recognition

The Cinema Evaluation Board of the Philippines gave the movie the high A Rating, making it the only entry of the MMFF to receive such rating.

Mulawin the Movie is one of three fantasy films entered into the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

Though with an "A" rating, the movie receives criticisms as follows:

  • A storyline that failed to justify events leading to some of the characters' disappearance (i.e. Lourdes, Gabriel and Pirena)
  • A predictable storyline.
  • Character inconsistencies.
  • The transitions and scenes, as a consequence of the time limit, were hurried.
  • Substandard special effects.

Mulawin The Movie did not win any award in the concluded Metro Manila Film Festival 2005 Awards Night.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links