Voltes V Legacy: The Cinematic Experience opens today in SM Cinemas

Voltes V: Legacy, the highly anticipated live-action adaptation of the beloved anime series, can finally  be watched in all SM cinemas today. Fans of the franchise have been eagerly waiting for this moment, and the opening of the movie marks a major milestone for Filipino pop culture.

Dubbed as Voltes V Legacy: The Cinematic Experience, it is a 2-hour compressed edit of the first 15 episodes of the upcoming 80-episode daily TV series. Voltes V: Legacy follows the story of a group of young heroes who must come together to defend the Earth against the forces of evil Boazanian empire. The movie is directed by Mark Reyes and stars a talented cast of actors, including Miguel Tanfelix, Ysabel Ortega, Radson Flores, and Matt Lozano. Voltes V Legacy: The Cinematic Experience will be showing exclusively in all SM cinemas until April 25 only, after which the show starts airing on television and live streaming online on May 8.

The film has been in production for quite some time, with many fans anxiously following its progress. When the first trailer was released, it quickly went viral, garnering millions of views and creating even more excitement for the movie’s release.

“Ever since 1978 up until 2023, Voltes V has been in the heart of every Filipino,” says Reyes during the Voltes V Legacy media conference and premiere night. “But ultimately it’s the story of family…it’s all soap opera. Kasi yan ang gusto natin, eh. Yung nagtutulungan, mga magkakapatid, mga magkaaway. Tapos magsasanib-puwersa. Tapos yung kalaban mo, kadugo mo (brothers helping each other. Fighting each other. Then joining forces. And finding out that your enemy is family).”

“What was scary was…could we have pulled it off? Kids these days are into Marvel, Star Wars, Pacific Rim. I just had the audacity of ignorance when back in 2014 when I made a pitch tape with Jay Santiago of Riot (the VFX company which also worked on the popular GMA show Encantadia),” Reyes admits. Surprisingly, the GMA executives were all aboard the idea, and “the easiest meeting,” according to Reyes. It took another 9 years to develop the show, and the pandemic was an added complication.

The series produced by GMA Pictures, a subsidiary of GMA Network, in coordination with Telesuccess and the TOEI Company (the Japanese creators of the original anime). The latter had to sign off on every shot of the show.

Technical difficulties

There have been reports of certain cinemas cancelling screenings due to certain technical difficulties. This has prompted the show producers to post this announcement:

UPDATED April 20, 2023 1:39PM

The following SM Cinemas are now able to screen Voltes V Legacy: The Cinematic Experience: