The “One More Chance” sequel is really happening. After years of hoping and months of speculation, Star Cinema confirmed it by uploading a teaser on YouTube on August 17.
The four-minute video, which stars John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo and which has been viewed over 1.5 million times in less than two days, has been shared over and over again on Facebook by excited Popoy and Basha fans.
“One More Chance” writer Carmi Raymundo told Inquirer Super that she and the movie’s team, including co-writer Vanessa Valdez and director Cathy Garcia-Molina, were surprised by how quickly it spread on social media, especially since they didn’t know that the teaser would be released that night.
“We were all equally surprised when we started receiving messages from friends… Karamihan pa napamura dahil hindi namin sinasabi sa kanila na may part two nga, haha. When our new media team informed me that it had already been viewed more than one million times on YouTube less than 24 hours after it was uploaded, nakaka-overwhelm,” Carmi said.
They’re happy about the reaction. “Siyempre natuwa kami kasi naramdaman namin na interesado pa rin sila kina Popoy at Basha, pero ang laki rin talaga ng kaba. Kung puwede lang na kainin na ako ng lupa sa kaba, haha. Until now, hindi ko pa binabasa ang mga tweets and comments about it because I don’t want to lose focus muna sa ginagawa namin.”
Instant classic
“One More Chance,” originally released in 2007, became an instant classic, a love story loved by both men and women, young and old, heartbroken or not. Eight years on, those who loved the film refuse to forget it, continuing to quote its memorable lines.
Carmi has her own favorites. “Pabago-bago. Depende sa pinagdadaanan ko sa buhay, haha. Ngayon, siguro, yung linya ni Basha na, “I want to stop wondering ‘what if.’ I want to know ‘what is.’”
It was the ultimate hugot movie long before people knew what a hugot movie was. (And it even made an appearance in the new hugot hit “That Thing Called Tadhana”—not a surprise, since filmmaker Antoinette Jadaone counts “One More Chance” as one of her favorite films.)
Asked how she feels about having worked on such an iconic film, Carmi said, “Dati kapag sinasabi nila ’yan, yung totoo, di ako komportable. Parang wow, feeling naman namin. Ano ba naman yung pelikula namin. Pero over the years, after all the people who talked to us about how they were touched by the movie, natutunan ko nang ipagpasalamat. Nakakahiya pa rin pero nakakatuwa na rin. Hindi naman kasi namin inasahan na magiging ganun pala yung reaction ng mga tao. We are all just too grateful now that the viewers loved the characters as much as we did.”
Like the movie’s fans, we have many questions about the sequel (No. 1: When can we watch it?) but for now, the people behind the film are keeping mum. We will gladly wait.
And in the meantime, there are other ways for us to get our “One More Chance” fix: the novel inspired by the movie and written by Juan Miguel Sevilla; the movie’s DVD; and the “One More Chance” documentary which is part of the restored and remastered DVD.
