Regal Entertainment is taking its next story on a regional road trip. The Philippine studio is partnering with Singapore’s Mocha Chai Laboratories on One For The Road, a coming-of-age film that pairs a Filipino cast and crew with Singapore-led sound design.
The project is now in principal photography in the Philippines and is targeting a second-quarter 2027 release. Kip Oebanda directs from a script by Oebanda and Victor Villanueva. Elijah Canlas, Gian Bernardino, Emilio Daez and JM Ibarra lead the cast as four friends entering their mid-20s.
A legacy studio goes outside Manila
Mocha Chai Laboratories will lead sound design. Its recent Singapore-Thailand co-production Decalcomania was nominated for Best Sound Design at the 2026 ContentAsia Awards, which gives One For The Road a craft credential that festival programmers and platform buyers tend to notice.
Mocha Chai co-founder Michelle Chang said she had long wanted to partner with Regal because of its “extraordinary legacy in Philippine cinema.” Regal’s deep local audience knowledge, combined with MCL’s international co-production and post-production experience, is the core logic of the deal.
The project has also been selected for the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ International Co-Production Fund. That backing positions the film as a genuine cross-border production, not a local title with a post vendor attached.
A comedy with a heavier pitch
The plot: four high-school best friends drift apart as careers, relationships and adult pressures take over. After a tragedy, they go on a road trip that forces them to face grief they have avoided.
The producers are not hiding the heavier layer. Oebanda said the film aims to “normalize talking about grief and our mental health struggles” while remaining a “hilarious, fun movie.” Monteverde added that it puts a spotlight on struggles many young Filipino men “carry quietly” today.
Why this is a useful model
- Market access: A Singapore craft partner can lift the film’s regional festival, sales and platform profile.
- Public funding: ICOF support reduces risk and signals government validation.
- Positioning: A mental-health story is packaged as road-trip comedy, which is easier to sell than an issue film.
For media planners and content buyers, the test is whether a local Filipino coming-of-age story can travel as a regional title on the strength of a co-production structure and a widely understood emotional hook. Festival slots and platform interest before the Q2 2027 date will give the first read. That makes this more than a one-title deal; it is a template for Southeast Asian co-productions.
Source: Deadline
