Old legends and folklores tell nothing about any hostility between vampires and werewolves. In fact, ancient traditions say werewolves become vampires after being killed. It’s only in contemporary gothic literature (Underworld, Van Helsing, Twilight) that these supernatural beings are at war.
Nonetheless, stories of vampires and werewolves and their animosity against each other are big hits among audiences. And it’s the same thing that is happening to La Luna Sangre, the sequel to the series Lobo and Imortal, which revolve around the lives and conflicts between blood thirsty creatures.
Dubbed as Kapamilya’s biggest TV project for 2017, the series is living up to and even exceeding everyone’s expectations.
The announcement of the series being produced by ABS-CBN was made on Nov. 22 during the network’s Christmas Trade Launch at the Marriot Grand Ballroom last year. As soon as the news reached the fans and the teaser was released on YouTube, the hashtag #lalunasangre instantly lodged on the top spot in the trending topic list on Twitter the following day.
Since then, three trailers had been released by ABS-CBN Entertainment’s YouTube channel, and collectively, these videos have amassed millions of views.
When the series debuted on Monday, viewers were given a glimpse of the current situation between warring vampires and werewolves. Easily picked up by netizens, Twitter topic #LaLunaSangreAngSimula with close to a million tweets, became a trending topic in the Philippines and worldwide. The following day, #LaLunaSangreAngPropesiya hashtag dominated the microblogging site as early as 10 a.m.. You see, La Luna Sangre has been trending on Twitter since its first episode.
In the pilot telecast, viewers saw Angel Locsin and John Lloyd Cruz reprise their roles as Lia and Mateo, respectively. They are now married and have a child who they named Malia. The episode likewise introduced the other characters of the series played by Joross Gamboa, Ina Raymundo, Gelli de Belen, and Richard Gutierrez.
And while Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla’s characters as Malia and Tristan are still building up, the child actors playing their “little” characters stole the spotlight for the first few episodes of the series. There’s a special mention to Little Tristan (James Quilantang), whose photos have been flooding numerous social media platforms since he appeared on the first episode. The charming kid obviously has stolen the hearts of the viewers.
On the other hand, La Luna Sangre’s performance in the ratings game is commendable as well. Citing data from Kantar Media, the pilot episode of the series delivered a national TV rating of 33.9 percent beating its rival program which only scored 13.8 percent.
For the entire week, the series maintained its position as the second most-watched series on primetime, just a few points behind FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano. And based on the data from AGB Nielsen (NUTAM), La Luna Sangre dominated primetime viewership for the entire week, too.
