| Regal Entertainment, Inc. | |
| Former Name: | Regal Films, Inc. (1962–1998) |
| Type: | Private |
| Founder: | Lily Monteverde |
| Location: | 38 Valencia St., New Manila |
| Location City: | Quezon City, Metro Manila |
| Location Country: | Philippines |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Industry: | Film production Television production |
| Products: | Motion pictures Home videos Television series |
| Divisions: | Regal Multimedia, Inc. Regal Home Video APG Films MAQ Productions Inc. Mother Studio Films Good Harvest Unlimited Tagalog Pictures Inc. Reality Entertainment Starzan Films |
Regal Entertainment, Inc. (formerly and more commonly known as Regal Films) is a Filipino film and television production company based in New Manila, Quezon City. It was founded by Lily Monteverde on August 19, 1962, and is the oldest surviving film studio in the Philippines.
In the beginning, Mother Lily Monteverde (1938–2024) and her husband Remy put up a popcorn stand at the Podmon Theater (now LRT-2 Recto Station) in C.M. Recto, Manila (which served as the head office of Regal before it moved to the Valencia studio and eventually to the Tycoon Center in Ortigas Center, Pasig). Regal Films started as a distributor of 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 and it became a big hit then in theatres.[1] Alma Moreno was the first star who had an exclusive contract with Regal, becoming the first of the Regal Babies.
In the early years, Regal Films mostly produced local movies with a "mature" and "daring" style, although it produced more "wholesome" pictures later on. In 1987, it ventured into local television; Regal Television produced several entertainment programs in the '80s, '90s and 2020's aired on five different channels, ABS-CBN 2, GMA 7, IBC 13, RPN 9 and TV5. [2]
Some of the studio's notable films include:
In the late 1980s, Regal Television was a weekly Sunday programming block featuring the country's biggest artists from Regal Films (e.g. Gabby Concepcion, Snooky Serna, Manilyn Reynes, Sheryl Cruz, etc). 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 the majority of her production on the latter program and renamed it 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.
Regal Television has produced the 2011 reboot of Regal Shocker for TV5 and 10 years later, Gen Z (a co-production with Cignal Entertainment (formerly Studio5)). At present, they serve as an entertainment blocktimer for GMA Network, co-producing Regal Studio Presents (a weekly made-for-TV movie anthology), Mano Po Legacy (a non-Sine Novela based on the Mano Po franchise), and Lovers & Liars (a romantic drama primetime series). They also co-produced the Kapamilya Channel series Batang Quiapo.