Tito Sotto thinks MMFF won’t make a lot of money in the box office this year

The word war continues.

A number of showbiz insiders are still expressing their disappointment over the drastic change that has come in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

READ: After snub, Vic Sotto says: ‘I hope MMFF respected the taste of Pinoy moviegoers’
READ: Regal Films’ Mother Lily amid MMFF snub: Christmas season is not the time for indie movies 

This is after it was revealed that majority of the entries for the annual Christmas film fest are from independent filmmakers, snubbing movies from major films producers such as Regal Films’ Mano Po 7, Vic Sotto’s Enteng Kabisote and the Abangers, and Vice Ganda and Coco Martin’s The Super Parental Guardians.

In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sen. Tito Sotto echoed what Regal Films matriarch Lily Monteverde and comedian Vic Sotto have said the past few weeks.

He said the MMFF has “forgotten what Christmas is all about” and that “it should be about children.”

Sotto even said: “Anyway, I’m sure the first week gross of all the movies in this year’s film fest will not even muster the first day of a Star Cinema and MZet movie.”

A bit of context: Last year, Star Cinema’s MMFF entry Beauty and the Bestie and the Vic Sotto-starrer My Bebe Love reportedly both made more than 60 million pesos.

So, Sotto doesn’t think the 2016 MMFF can make 120 million pesos in its first week.

The 2015 MMFF reportedly made a little over one billion pesos during its two-week run. 

READ: Vice Ganda on MMFF 2016 selection: ‘Quality is subjective’
READ: Actress Mercedes Cabral slams Mother Lily for saying Christmas is no time for indie films

The senator further told the Inquirer that there should just be a “festival for indie films so it would be more awards-oriented.”

During a press conference last week, Mother Lily of Regal Films said Christmas is not the time for independent movies.

Vic Sotto, a mainstay in the MMFF since the early 2000s, said he respects the MMFF’s decision, although he believes the film fest should have respected the taste of the Pinoy moviegoers.