MANILA, Philippines – After moviegoers in the Philippines and select countries and territories made Rewind the country’s highest grossing film of all time on the big screen, the movie is now conquering streaming platform Netflix. 

As of writing, Rewind was number one in the movies category of Netflix in the Philippines after it became available on the streaming platform starting Monday, March 25. 

Overseas Filipinos in the Middle East, Asia, and North America contributed to making it the top movie on Netflix in select countries.

ABS-CBN said on Wednesday, March 27 that Rewind “led the top 10 movies not just in the country [Philippines] but also in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and UAE [United Arab Emirates], based on data published by streaming analytics site FlixPatrol.”

“The inspiring drama film is likewise making waves as part of the top 10 movies on Netflix in Canada, Hong Kong, Malta, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore,” ABS-CBN said. 

As of March 26, Tuesday, ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema, in a social media post, said Rewind was number two in Saudi Arabia, number three in Singapore, number four in Hong Kong, number six in Malta, number seven in New Zealand, and number eight in Canada. 

Rewind is coproduced by ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema, Dingdong Dantes’ AgostoDos Pictures, and APT Entertainment. 

Directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar, Rewind is about a man named John, played by Dantes, who gets a chance to rewind time in order to save his wife, Mary, played by his real wife Marian Rivera. 

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On Tuesday, Star Cinema also uploaded on its Facebook and other social media accounts 14 minutes of deleted scenes from the movie that had never been shown before. Watch in this video below:

Rewind set a new Philippine box-office record of over P900 million in ticket sales globally as of January 30 after opening on Christmas Day in December 2023. 

It surpassed the box-office records set by Star Cinema’s The Hows of Us starring Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla in 2018, and Hello, Love, Goodbye starring Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards in 2019.

Last month, the Senate adopted a resolution commending the artists and production staff behind Rewind. 

“This achievement is a testament to the return of a vibrant and flourishing Philippine film industry – attributed to the hard work and commitment of artists, writers, directors and all members of the production teams,” Senator Robinhood Padilla said in his resolution.

“Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera-Dantes serve as inspiration, not only as artists on screen but also as one of the inspiring couple celebrities championing family values, entrepreneurship and philanthropic deeds to help our fellow countrymen,” he said.

Rewind was one of 10 entries to the annual Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), which set a new festival box-office record last January. 

Other MMFF movies that did well were historical film Gomburza, and GMA Pictures’ drama movie Firefly. 

Seven of the 10 movies will be available on Netflix in the next three months.

(Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this report said that all 10 films at the MMFF are now available on Netflix. This has been corrected. See the Facebook post below for the schedule.)

The success of the festival had many people thinking that Filipinos would go back to watching movies in theaters. 

However, most of the Filipino films shown after the MMFF 2023 have performed poorly in the box-office. Even Good Game or GG, coproduced by Manny V. Pangilinan’s MQuest Ventures, Mediaworks, and Create Cinema, and distributed by Star Cinema, did not do well despite a good marketing campaign. 

Manny Pangilinan’s movie gambles: After ‘GomBurZa’ win, it’s PH’s first esports film ‘Good Game’

The rise of streaming platforms has been cited as  one of the main factors for the decline in cinema attendance. Another factor is high ticket price of between P300 to P500 (depending on the type of cinema), an amount that has made movie-going beyond the reach of the masses. 

However, streaming platforms have become an additional source of revenues for film producers for films that first make the round of the big screen. 

First Arabic-dubbed Filipino drama to stream in Middle East

Meantime, ABS-CBN, now the Philippines leading content provider, said that it marked a new milestone by becoming the first to distribute an Arabic-dubbed Filipino drama, A Soldier’s Heart, making it the first Arabic-dubbed Filipino series to stream in Middle East.

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ABS-CBN said it forged a deal with Rabee Alhajabed ARt Production and Distribution FZE, which made the teleserye available on three streaming platforms – Maraya, Shofha, and Weyyak. These platforms cover Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Arabic-speaking territories.

A Soldier’s Heart follows the story of Alex, an IT expert who joins the army and crosses paths with a Muslim family whose identity makes him reconsider where his future might lie.

ABS-CBN said action-fantasy drama Darna will also soon be available in the Middle East with its own Arabic-dubbed version. 

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ABS-CBN has sold over 50,000 hours of content to over 50 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, the company said. 

After the Duterte administration closed down ABS-CBN’s lucrative broadcast business in May 2020, it has pivoted to becoming a content provider to various networks and streaming platforms. 

The publicly listed company recently signed a co-production deal with its former fierce competitor, GMA Network, on the airing of its noon show, It’s Showtime, on both GMA’s flagship Channel 7 and its GTV channel starting April 6. – Rappler.com