JaDine movie director hurt over competition with John Lloyd-Jennylyn

They say all’s fair in show business, but it can’t be helped if people’s feelings get hurt along the way.

In an interview with Rose Garcia of Pep — Nuel Naval, director of the James Reid and Nadine Lustre movie This Time — admitted feeling hurt that Star Cinema decided to compete with his movie in the box office.

This Time and Star Cinema’s Just The 3 Of Us, starring John Lloyd Cruz and Jennylyn Mercado, both held a premiere night on Tue, May 3, and opened commercially yesterday.

“Well, yun na nga, I’ll be honest, siyempre nasaktan ako in a way. Sabi ko nga, I wish I’m just a director pero, tao rin ako,” Nuel said.

And it hurts not just because it’s rare these days for local mainstream movies to run on the same playdate and compete with each other.

Nuel also works for Star Cinema (he directed its 2015 movie The Love Affair), was mentored by Star Cinema head Malou Santos, and is friends with Just The 3 Of Us director Cathy Garcia-Molina.

Nuel, however, noted that even Cathy was surprised Star Cinema decided to run their movie this week.

Just The 3 Of Us was originally slated for a Apr 27 opening.  

“Maganda rin na sinabi ni Direk Cathy, isipin na lang natin, magsasanib-pwersa tayo against a foreign movie,” he said, referring to Captain America: Civil War which is still playing in the theaters.

According to Star Cinema, Just The 3 Of Us earned PHP16 million on its first day. No word yet on how This Time is doing in the box office.

In an interview last week, James and Nadine said they were surprised that Just The 3 Of Us changed playdates. 

“We’re happy naman po, siyempre si Kuya Lloydie doon naman po ‘yon. I mean, we’re not competing naman po with anyone,” Nadine said.

James and Nadine will reportedly do a movie with Star Cinema later this year (they’re also ABS-CBN contract stars) so it’s not like they’ll speak ill of their competition. 

Nonetheless, like what James Reid said, nothing’s wrong with a little friendly competition, right? 



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