The forthcoming Pedro Penduko film, which stars James Reid and features an appearance of Nadine Lustre as Maria Makiling, has a production budget of P100 million making it one of the most expensive films to be produced by a local outfit.
A dynamic partnership is making Pedro Penduko, the Filipino comic book character created by National Artist for Literature Francisco V. Coching come to life even more massive.
Beyond your run-of-the-mill comic take, EPIK Studios has partnered with Viva Entertainment and Cignal TV to create more than fifty extraordinary comic book characters making the film close to the heart of those who love Philippine folklore.
One of Viva’s biggest stars, James will portray Pedro Penduko as the ordinary Filipino who is out to fight the forces of evil with the help of an extraordinary amulet. Filipino actor Efren Reyes Sr. was the first to play the role. Other actors who portrayed the iconic folk hero were Ramon Zamora, Janno Gibbs and Matt Evans.
The full-length feature film will be shown in theaters in 2019.
James is deep into preparations for the challenging role. He is currently undergoing martial arts training for the rigorous scenes in the film. His character undergoes a modern twist that redefines Mad makes relevant superheroes for the current generation.
“The character is really fun to play. And I am confident that I can really pull it off. I’ve been training since last year with weapons and some Martial Arts,” James told the press during a media launch on Thursday.
For its part, Cignal TV is bringing Pedro Penduko and all these other thrilling characters to life through films and series, and distributing them through different platforms. The partnership goes beyond video entertainment as it ventures into merchandising and gaming.
There is more in the pipeline as EPIK Studios plans to retell the stories of more folk heroes. These will have a refreshing and new perspective from the eyes of young graphic novelists and animators.
The re-imagined version of Pedro Penduko is going to link other films that will be part of a cinematic universe slated to unspool in theaters one after the other until 2021.
Epik Studios’ ambitious slate of movies includes by a reboot of Carlo J. Caparas’s Totoy Bato, also scheduled in 2019, Bernardo Carpio in 2020, along with a movie about a sea siren hero “Osyana” and the Nadine Lustre-starrer Maria Makiling.