Dubbing Movies

Keanu Reeves in John Wick

In Philippine television, one thing that viewers notice is how a lot of American movies are always dubbed in Tagalog.

GMA-7 and TV5 have pioneered in this Tagalized dubbing while ABS-CBN does this occasionally.

Last New Year's Day, rival networks GMA and ABS aired separate Keanu Reeves movies with the former airing 47 Ronin and the latter showing John Wick (see photo).

Even TV5 has jumped into the dubbed bandwagon with the airing of American TV shows like The Walking Dead also in Tagalog dub. And this new year, more shows like Quantico, Supergirl and House of Cards are also going to be aired on TV5 in dubbed Tagalog.

Airing dubbed movies on Philippine TV is nothing new. In the United States, there are TV channels like Telemundo that air Hollywood films dubbed in Spanish. Even other countries have channels that dub their movies in their native languages.

I have been receiving mixed reactions regarding these Tagalized movies, with some saying that it's a novel idea while others say that the dubbing is too awkward. And I agree with these observations because many Filipinos understand English and patronize these same movies when they are first shown in theaters.

In the past, these networks would air their movies in original English audio but dubbing them has been a way for them to attract viewers especially with the proliferation of locally-produced soap operas.

Networks like GMA and TV5 air these dubbed movies as a way to save money especially with their locally-produced shows not rating well and getting cancelled, resulting in huge financial losses. Dubbers are also paid the same rates as those who dub the Korean, Spanish and Japanese anime shows.

Sometimes, networks even tap big stars to dub shows and movies in Tagalog. ABS-CBN hired Dennis Trillo and Sandara Park as dubbers for the legendary robot Voltes V which was aired then on the Hero anime channel. GMA 7 also tapped its own stars like Yasmien Kurdi and the late Marky Cielo to dub an anime film while also planning to get Alden Richards as a voice actor for the revival of Daimos, another popular robot show in the 70s.

Two years ago, ABS-CBN generated a lot of interest when it got one of its hottest young actresses, Kathryn Bernardo, to dub the voice of Amy Adams in the Disney movie Enchanted. Feedback was very positive when the film was shown first on Studio 23 (now S+A) and later on Channel 2 on a weekday morning slot after Kris TV.

Kathryn Bernardo

Most of these dubbed movies are aired on weekends, particularly on Sundays, as program fillers following the demise of the showbiz talk shows like The Buzz and Startalk. ABS-CBN tried airing NBA games on Sunday mornings but transferred them to Saturdays in favor of kiddie movies that are, you guessed it, dubbed in Tagalog.

GMA has three movie blocks on Sundays and all of their Hollywood movies have been aired over and over again with the same dubbed language, proof that the Rainbow Network has been mired in mediocrity. At least TV5 has its sports coverages to fall back on but dubbed movies are aired when there is no sports coverage.

Aside from John Wick, ABS-CBN also aired another dubbed movie, Step Up All In, last Christmas Day. Both those movies were aired on primetime prior to the launching of the new season of the reality show Your Face Sounds Familiar this weekend.

So whether televiewers like it or not, dubbed movies will still be a part of Philippine television in 2017. Other countries are also doing it so if you can't beat them, join them.