Regal Entertainment


Regal Entertainment, Inc. is a Philippine filmmaking and entertainment firm, based in Quezon City. It was founded by Lily Monteverde in 1962. It has produced movies of all genres; and is the oldest surviving movie studio in the Philippines.

Films released

History

In the beginning, Mother Lily and her father Remy put up a popcorn stand at the Podmon Theater in C.M. Recto, Manila. Regal Films was started by distributing foreign films, such as That Man from Istanbul, Marsha and All Mine to Give, pouring funds for Mother Lily to produce a local movie. In 1976, Mother Lily asked permission from her father to produce her first project, Kayod sa Umaga, Kayod sa Gabi. It became a big hit then in theaters. Alma Moreno was the first star who had an exclusive contract with Regal, becoming the first of the Regal Babies.
In its early years, Regal Films produced local movies with a "mature" and "daring" style, although it also produced "wholesome" pictures. In 1987, it ventured in local television; "Regal Television" produced several entertainment programs in '80s and '90s and aired in three different channels, ABS-CBN 2, GMA 7 and IBC 13.

Television

In the late 1980s Regal Television was a weekly Sunday programming block featuring the country's biggest artists from Regal Films. In 1987, Regal co-produced "Mother Studio Presents" with GMA Network and featured monthly guest artists; and "Regal Drama Presents" with ABS-CBN and featured Maricel Soriano. In 1989, ABS-CBN took over majority of her production on the latter program and renamed it as The Maricel Drama Special. The movie studio had short lived specials as well as mini drama series celebrating the country's other elite artists or upcoming movie stars.