The speculations have been confirmed.
On Sunday, global entertainment website Deadline reported the upcoming collaboration of media giants ABS-CBN and GMA Network, particularly the first team-up of their movie studios Star Cinema and GMA Pictures.
The publication confirmed that the two film outfits will be partnering for the sequel of the 2019 mega-blockbuster movie ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye,’ which starred Kapamilya actress Kathryn Bernardo and Kapuso actor Alden Richards.
Both Bernardo and Richards will reprise their respective roles as Joy and Ethan, with the movie’s setting taking place in Canada five years after the first movie.
Other cast members for the upcoming sequel ‘Hello, Love, Again,’ have yet to be named by the production.
“After fighting for their love to conquer the time, distance and a global shutdown that kept them apart, Joy and Ethan meet again in Canada but realize that they have also changed a lot, individually,” the ‘mild spoiler’ in the article divulged about the premise of ‘Hello, Love, Again.’
Also returning as the director is Cathy Garcia-Sampana, who shared her excitement about telling the story of Joy and Ethan anew.
The movie will be screened in theaters worldwide on November 13, 2024.
‘HELLO, LOVE, GOODBYE’
In 2019, Star Cinema produced the original movie ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye,’ which was set in Hong Kong.
It marked the first project of Alden Richards with the ABS-CBN movie studio, and his first on-screen partnership with Kathryn Bernardo.
Also part of the film are Kakai Bautista, Joross Gamboa, Lovely Abella, Maymay Entrata, Lito Pimentel, William Lorenzo, Jameson Blake, Anthony Jenmings, among others.
When the film was released that year, it immediately went to the top of the box-office charts and eventually cemented itself in Philippine cinema history upon becoming the highest-grossing Filipino film of all-time.
According to box-office records, ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ raked in a worldwide gross of Php 880 million.
It toppled Bernardo’s previous movie, ‘The Hows of Us’ which she topbilled with Kapamilya actor Daniel Padilla, which is the first movie to breach the Php 800 million mark.
‘HLG’ held the distinction of being the top-grosser until Star Cinema’s 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival entry ‘Rewind’ starring Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera took the spot in early January 2024.
As per ABS-CBN Films, ‘Rewind’ grossed more than Php 900 million worldwide.
KAPAMILYA-KAPUSO COLLAB
‘Hello, Love, Again’ marks the third partnership of erstwhile rivals ABS-CBN and GMA since 2023.
Prior to this, the media giants have already collaborated with one another for the primetime drama series ‘Unbreak My Heart,’ which ran from May to November 2023 and starred Kapamilya stars Jodi Sta. Maria, and Joshua Garcia; Kapuso stars Gabbi Garcia, and Richard Yap.
Following the end of its TV5 simulcast, ABS-CBN noontime show ‘It’s Showtime’ found a new home in GMA’s GTV channel from July 2023.
Later on, after the cancelation of TAPE, Inc.’s noontime show ‘Tahanang Pinakamasaya’ on the main GMA-7 channel in March, ‘Showtime’ took over the vacated Kapuso noontime slot on April 6, 2024.
During the recent annual stockholders meeting of GMA Network, President and CEO Gilberto Duavit confirmed that the collaboration between his network and ABS-CBN will continue due to the success of their first two tie-ups.
In Philippine media history, ABS-CBN and GMA were known to be the fiercest rivals from the early 2000s until the 2020 broadcast shutdown of the Kapamilya network.
Hence, ABS-CBN had to pivot and become a major content provider for other networks, including A2Z (ZOE Broadcasting Network), TV5, ALLTV, and GMA.
Trendrod 