VIVA Films

Viva Films is a Philippine film production company established under Viva Communications. It was founded on November 11, 1981, by Vic del Rosario Jr.

History

Veering away from the Sharon Cuneta-Gabby Concepcion tandem, Viva became home to quality dramatic films. The "glossy" production of films such as ''Sinasamba Kita'', '' Palimos ng Pag-ibig'', '' Saan Darating Ang Umaga?'', '' Kung Mahawi Man Ang Ulap'' and '' Paano Ba Ang Mangarap?'' won critical and commercial acclaims. Viva Films also made a documentary film on the Puerto Rican boyband Menudo on their visit to the Philippines in 1985.

Viva launched then-supporting actor Phillip Salvador as an action star in the movie ''Boy Negro''. It was also instrumental in introducing to the public Robin Padilla (''Bad Boy'' and ''Anak ni Baby Ama'') and Raymart Santiago (''Noel Juico: Batang Kriminal'') as new action stars. Veteran action stars Eddie Garcia, Rudy Fernandez, Bong Revilla Jr. and Fernando Poe, Jr. also made movies for Viva.

Viva became later known as home to quality youth-oriented films, starting with the 1984 breakthrough flick, ''Bagets''. The movie was top billed by William Martinez and launched the careers of then unknowns J.C. Bonnin, Herbert Bautista, Raymond Lauchengco and Aga Muhlach. With its box-office success, the company produced a sequel ''Bagets 2'' with Ramon Christopher, Jon Hernandez and Francis Magalona joining the original cast, the success of the two ''Bagets'' film made it the flagship movie of VIVA films & it set the trend for youth-oriented movies in the 80's which other film companies copied, but they never matched nor equaled the success brought about by thehe two ''Bagets'' films.

Viva also made "glossy" comedy films like '' Working Girls'' and ''Sa Totoo Lang'' which featured serious actors and actresses as main characters instead of comedians. The company also gambled on new comedians as the '80s decade was about to end. Comedy flicks such as ''Puto'', ''Jack en Jill'', ''Humanap ka ng Panget'' and ''I Love You Three Times a Day'' launched the respective careers of Herbert Bautista, Andrew E. and Jimmy Santos. In the 1990s, Viva launched the careers of Dennis Padilla and Janno Gibbs as solo comedians while reviving the film careers of veteran comedians Redford White (''Neber 2 Geder''), Chiquito (''Pinagbiyak na Bunga'') and Joey de Leon (''Hibangers'').

In 1989, Viva introduced its second batch of young stars via the youth-oriented comedy ''Estudyante Blues''. It introduced to the public young stars & ''That's Entertainment'' mainstays such as Vina Morales, Gelli de Belen, Keempee de Leon, Raymart Santiago and Dingdong Avanzado. The movie was also a resounding success, despite the fact that ''Estudyante Blues'' became an earlier hit via the Philippine music airwaves as a single sung by Freddie Aguilar.

Viva later on entered into television production by partnering with GMA Pictures. Their first venture together was the sitcom ''Ober Da Bakod'' in 1992 with then rising young talents Donita Rose, Gelli de Belen, and Janno Gibbs and Anjo Yllana as main stars, followed by the soap opera ''Villa Quintana'' in 1994 with Donna Cruz and Keempee de Leon as lead stars. However, it was the 1995 youth-oriented series '' T.G.I.S.'' that gave Viva its biggest success as a television producer. Headlined by Angelu de Leon, it gave birth to the careers of Bobby Andrews, Michael Flores, Onemig Bondoc, Red Sternberg, Raven Villanueva and Ciara Sotto. The success of the TV series was later translated to the big screen, when the ''TGIS'' group became box-office stars via the movies ''Takot Ka Ba sa Dilim?'' and ''TGIS the Movie''. A new batch of teens were introduced a few months later, and was led by Dingdong Dantes, Anne Curtis, Sunshine Dizon, Kim Delos Santos, Antoinette Taus, Polo Ravales, Dino Guevarra and Chubi del Rosario.

In 1996, Viva Films had the highest number of films produced out of all the major studios in the country, producing 35% of all local films in 1995–1996. The practice of having a high output of films was revived in 2018-2019 and since 2021 due to the launch of Vivamax.

In late 2006, Viva Films made a comeback to production of mainstream films by co-producing with new players GMA Films and Star Cinema while producing its own films. Among the movies that the company co-produced or solely produced at that time were '' Till I Met You'' (with GMA Films), ''Wag Kang Lilingon'', '' Ang Cute ng Ina Mo'', ''Paano Kita Iibigin'' (all with Star Cinema), ''Ouija'' (with GMA Films), ''Apat Dapat, Dapat Apat'' (with On-Q 28 Productions), ''Ikaw Pa Rin: Bongga Ka Boy'', '' When Love Begins'', ''A Very Special Love'' (all with Star Cinema), ''Status: Single'' (with On-Q 28 Productions), ''You Changed My Life'' (with Star Cinema), '' Patient X'' (with GMA Films and RGUTZ Productions), Babe, I Love You (with Star Cinema), '' Working Girls'' (with GMA Films and Unitel Pictures), ''Hating Kapatid'', ''In Your Eyes'' (with GMA Films), and ''Petrang Kabayo''. ''Patient X'' marks the first Viva movie of rising young actor Richard Gutierrez followed by ''In Your Eyes'' and also the first Viva movie of teen actress-turned sexy star Cristine Reyes after signing a contract with Viva Entertainment, while ''Working Girls'' marks the first Viva movie of 1st '' Starstruck'' princess Jennylyn Mercado after she signed a contract with Viva Entertainment.

In 2011, ''Tumbok'', ''Catch Me, I'm in Love'', ''No Other Woman'', ''The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin'', '' Won't Last A Day Without You'' (all co-produced by Star Cinema), were released. In 2012, '' Of All the Things'' (co-produced by GMA Films), '' Moron 5 & the Crying Lady'' (co-produced by MVP Films) and '' A Secret Affair'' were released.

In 2013, '' Bekikang: Ang Nanay Kong Beki'', ''It Takes a Man and a Woman'', ''Momzillas'', and ''Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy'' (all co-produced by Star Cinema) were released. In 2014, ''Diary ng Panget'', ''Trophy Wife'' and '' Muslim Magnum .357'' were released.

In 2015, ''Felix Manalo'', a biopic of the Iglesia Ni Cristo founder, was released in October.

On March 13, 2019, Viva Communications joined the local-language film consortium Globalgate Entertainment, which is led by American mini-major film studio Lionsgate.

Highest-grossing films

Viva movies on TV

During the early 1980s, Viva tied up with IBC-13 to air their early releases every Saturday nights. The movie block, titled ''Viva Box Office Hits'', showed early movies of Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion and other early releases by the company, In 1988, "Viva Box Office Hits" was one of the Viva shows that transferred to ABS-CBN (along with "The Sharon Cuneta Show") after its original home IBC-13 was sequestered by the Aquino administration. Despite ''Viva Box Offices cancellation in 1989, succeeding movies produced by Viva Films and its subsidiaries continued to air on ABS-CBN through the network's movie blocks ''Tagalog Movie Greats'' and ''Star Cinema Presents'' until 1992.

In 1992, Viva switched networks by partnering with GMA-7 where their latest movie releases starting in 1991 onwards were shown every Thursday nights. The movie block was renamed ''Viva Sinerama'' which ended in 2001. The said partnership initially caused controversy after former media partner ABS-CBN filed an injunction to block the partnership as the network launched their own motion picture company Star Cinema a year later. The said injunction affected the airing of the 1991 box-office hit "Maging Sino Ka Man" which was supposed to be Viva's maiden offering on "Viva Sinerama". After the court decided in favor of the Viva-GMA partnership, the said movie finally aired after six months. It was also during the GMA era where Viva aired another movie block on Monday nights called ''MVP (Monday Viva Presentations)'' on August 15, 1994, primarily to compete with ABS-CBN's then top-rating movie block ''Regal Presents'', which later moved to Tuesdays as ''Tuesday Viva Presentation'' from 1997 until 1998.

During the new millennium, Viva diversified its movie library where it was aired randomly on IBC-13 (via Viva TV primetime block) and ABC-5 (now TV5) (via the Viva Box Office and Viva Cine Idols movie block).

From free TV, Viva was able to tie up with Star TV and Fox International Channels Philippines to create an all-Filipino international movie channel on May 6, 1996, called Viva Cinema. Viva Cinema aired over 300 movies coming from the Viva library, including latest releases. It also aired behind-the-scenes outtakes and refreshing entertainment shows. The partnership between Viva and Star TV ended on July 31, 2003, when Viva created its own movie channel, PBO (Pinoy Box Office) and entrusted the entire Viva movie library to ABS-CBN by allowing it to air over. Viva Prime Channel air mostly action and Drama movies at 7:00 p.m. only every other week of the month. Viva Cinema return in February 2009 along with the launch of Philippine DTH's Cignal Digital TV of the same month. Aside from Viva entrusting the entire Viva library to ABS-CBN, co-productions of Viva and Star Cinema are also aired exclusively via ABS-CBN's movie block ''Kapamilya Blockbusters'' and ABS-CBN Sports and Action's movie blocks ''Movie Action Zone'' and ''Lunch Blockbuster'', and via Viva Cinema, Viva Prime Channel, and PBO. While co-productions of Viva and GMA Films are exclusively aired via GMA's movie blocks ''Kapuso Movie Festival'' and/or ''Kapuso Movie Night'', GMA News TV's movie block ''Takilya Blockbuster'', and via Viva Cinema, Viva Prime Channel, and PBO.

For overseas markets, Cinema One Global (owned by ABS-CBN) also aired Viva Films productions for its overseas Filipino audiences.

In 2015, Viva partnered with TV5 to provide entertainment content. This transpired after the TV network dissolved its entertainment department to make room for blocktimers and content providers. It is said that Viva will be the biggest content contributor for the network. However, its partnership with TV5 took a break in late 2016 as former Gilas Pilipinas and PBA head coach, Vicente "Chot" Reyes took over as president and CEO of TV5 which Reyes focused in sports and news programming on TV5 until he resigned in June 2019 due to negative feedbacks by the viewers and fans of the network's entertainment programming against Reyes.

On May 10, 2021, after Cignal TV took over the TV5 Network's management and operations (and Viva resurrected its partnership with TV5 for the overall programming), TV5/Cignal and Viva through the Sari-Sari Channel announced that TV5 will air a Viva weekly movie block under the ''Sari-Sari Presents: Viva Cinema'' banner, similar to the now-defunct ''Viva Sinerama'' on GMA which began on May 15, 2021, every Saturday afternoon. Since October 31, 2021, the ''Sine Spotlight'' block on Sunday evenings aired films produced by Viva from the early to mid-2010s and since May 2022 older action films produced by Viva; competitor studio Star Cinema (under ABS-CBN Corporation) assumed the co-production and partnership duties for the block from February to May 2022. On August 1, 2021, Viva reverted its secondary cable-only network Viva TV back to Viva Cinema with older films produced and distributed by Viva until 1996 (since August 2022) in the new iteration along with concerts produced by sister company Viva Live; the former had been merged with the company's TV production unit. PBO is set to target broadcasting films from 2002 onwards in the coming years.

P1.1-billion IPO

In January 2008, Viva chairman Vic del Rosario announced that Viva Communications expected to raise P1.1 billion through approval of the initial public offering (IPO) by the Philippine Stock Exchange, on listing date of March 5. It planned to sell up P 92.8 million new shares and P 49.9 million secondary shares at P 12.93 / share (offer is 35% of the company's issued and outstanding capital stock). It appointed Banco de Oro (BDO) Capital and Investment Corporation as lead underwriter and Abacus Capital and Investments Corporation as co-lead underwriter. Viva's net income was P 121 million for January to October 2007, double its 2006 earnings and projects net profit of P 330 million this year.Inquirer.net, Viva Films plans P1.1-billion IPO
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Filmography

See also

* Sine Novela – movies of Viva Films remade by GMA Network for afternoon drama in television from April 2007 via Sinasamba Kita to June 2010 via Gumapang Ka Sa Lusak.
* Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita – a non-Sine Novela created by Gilda Olvidado and Viva Films remade by GMA Network for primetime drama on GMA Telebabad.

References

External links

List of Viva Films Movies at IMDB.Com

{{Philippine production companies and film studios

Film production companies of the Philippines
Mass media companies of the Philippines
Entertainment companies established in 1981
Mass media companies established in 1981
Philippine film studios
Philippine companies established in 1981