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The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin

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The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWenn V. Deramas
Screenplay by
  • Keiko A. Aquino
  • Wenn V. Deramas
  • Danno Kristoper C. Mariquit
Story by
  • Kriz Gazmen
  • Keiko A. Aquino
  • Wenn V. Deramas
  • Danno Kristoper C. Mariquit
Based onPrivate Benjamin
by Howard Zieff
Produced by
  • Vincent Del Rosario III
  • Veronique Del Rosario-Corpus
  • Charo Santos-Concio
  • Malou N. Santos
  • Vic Del Rosario Jr.
Starring
CinematographyElmer Despa
Edited byMarya Ignacio
Music byVincent de Jesus
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • December 25, 2014 (2014-12-25)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryPhilippines
Languages
  • Filipino
  • English
Box office₱455 million[1] (US$9 million)

The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin is a 2014 Philippine action comedy parody film written and directed by Wenn V. Deramas. It is the sequel to the 2011 film The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin. The film is one of the official entries to the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival. Vice Ganda reprised his role as Colonel Benjamin "Benjie" Santos VIII together with a supporting cast Richard Yap, Tom Rodriguez, Bimby Yap and introducing Alex Gonzaga with the special participation of Eddie Garcia.

Plot

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In a mission in Paris, Praybeyt Benjamin and his platoon defeat a horde of zombies, parodying Plants vs. Zombies, leading to his promotion to Colonel. Benjamin is assigned to a new general, Wilson Chua, to prepare him better. However, Benjamin messes up a subsequent mission against terrorists led by Jan Jaranjan and is rescued by his grandfather, who sacrifices himself to save him. Benjamin is about to be dismissed from service when Gen. Chua saves him by giving him a mission – to guard his bratty son Bimbee, who holds a clue to the location of the terrorists' next three bomb attacks. As he watches over Bimbee, Benjamin clashes with Misty, General Chua's daughter, and the meddlesome housemaid Gundina while trying to gain information from a recalcitrant Bimby. However, as he gets to know Bimbee more, he learns that Bimbee is a kid deprived of familial love – something he has ignored in his quest to be on top again. The first bomb explodes harmlessly while the second is found and defused by Benjamin, who is fired after his arrogance causes an error. While relearning his humility with his family, the terrorists abduct Bimby and take him to their last target, a shopping mall. Benjamin is reinstated into the army, rescues Bimby, and defuses the bomb, after which he flies off with Bimby on an umbrella resembling Mary Poppins.

Upon mid-credits, Benjie celebrated his birthday with his family and friends. Wilson heard about Benjie not going back to the service. Benjie says he wants to take a break and spend more time with his family. However, Wilson says they need him and assigns a juvenile delinquent who wishes to be a soldier. There, Wilson introduced James Anred to Benjie. Because of James's good looks, Benjie accepts Wilson's offer.

Cast of characters

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Main cast

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Supporting cast

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Cameo

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Reception

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Box office

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MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino, revealed that The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin topped the box office record of the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival's opening day on December 25, 2014, in a radio interview in DZMM. Praybeyt Benjamin was ahead of fellow entrants, My Big Bossing's Adventures and Feng Shui 2 ranked second and third respectively in terms of box office record on the opening day of the film festival. Tolentino did not state the official figures of the sales on the opening day of the film festival during the said interview.[2]

During her stint at The Buzz where is she is one of the hosts, Kris Aquino said that The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin recorded P172 million worth of box office receipts as of 3:00 pm PST December 28, 2014.[3]

In a January 15, 2015, episode of Vice Ganda's variety show, It's Showtime, he announced that the movie closed the day before with P435 million earnings, surpassing the film Starting Over Again in terms of domestic earnings. He now hold the distinction of starring in 7 of the 20 highest-grossing films in the Philippines of all time.

Critical response

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Despite being a high-grossing film at the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival, reception for The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin generally received negative reviews.[4]

Zig Marasigan of Rappler, described the film in his movie review as "a brainless, hyper-stylized and utterly ridiculous family comedy". Marasigan criticized Praybeyt Benjamin for "unashamedly made for profit". He also described the film as "cheap, tacky and absolutely nonsensical. But say what you might about the film's level of intellectualism (or lack thereof), it is at least honest about its intentions". Marasigan however acknowledged that the film fulfilled its purpose, to primarily entertain its target audience.[5]

Bubbles Salvador at the Philippine Entertainment Portal, has a more positive review for the film. While Salvador took note of one loophole in the plot of the film - namely the lack of resolution between Bimbee and his father, with the former feeling unloved by the latter, Salvador described Praybeyt Benjamin 2 as "worth of one's couple of hours at the cinema this holiday season, if one is not looking for a lesson in history, a love story, or a good scare, and would settle for a light and funny action comedy".[6]

Planned sequel

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After the Leap Day 2016 passing of Deramas, a third film was announced as an entry to the 46th Metro Manila Film Festival. Vice Ganda was expected to reprise his role.[7] Filming for the Praybeyt Benjamin sequel was delayed due to logistics issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainties caused by the non-renewal of ABS-CBN's broadcast franchise.[8][9] As a script-based submission to the film festival, Praybeyt Benjamin would have to be produced by November 30, 2020.[9] The film was not listed the final ten official entries of the film festival announced in November 2020.

References

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  1. ^ "ABS-CBN 1Q 2016 Investor's Briefing Presentation Materials" (PDF). ABS-CBN Corporation. May 12, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 8, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  2. ^ Corales, Nestor (December 26, 2014). "'Praybeyt Benjamin' tops MMFF opening day". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  3. ^ "'Praybeyt Benjamin,' 'Feng Shui' earn P260M in 4 days". ABS-CBN News. December 29, 2014. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  4. ^ Balbin, Sherwin Allan (December 29, 2014). "The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin Tops MMFF 2014 & Earns P172 Million In 4 Days!". Philippine Edition. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  5. ^ Marasigan, Zig (December 27, 2014). "[MMFF 2014] 'Praybeyt Benjamin 2' Review: Show me the money". Rappler. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  6. ^ Salvador, Bubbles (December 28, 2014). "MMFF 2014 Review: The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Archived from the original on December 30, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  7. ^ "MMFF names first 4 official entries for 2020; 'Praybeyt Benjamin 3' confirmed". ABS-CBN News. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  8. ^ Policarpio, Allan (July 28, 2020). "Fear, uncertainty take a toll on Vice Ganda's performance". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Gabinete, Jojo (October 28, 2020). "Praybeyt Benjamin 3, hindi aabot sa MMFF 2020? KimJe movie, makapasok kaya sa MMFF?" [Praybeyt Benjamin 3, could not make it in time for MMFF 2020? KimJe movie, could be included in MMFF?] (in Tagalog and English). Philippine Entertainment Portal. Archived from the original on August 15, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
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