Jack Black's new film appears to have similar premise to Paolo Contis' unreleased film 'Dear Satan'
Jack Black's new movie, Dear Santa, recently dropped its official trailer, and some Filipinos couldn't help but notice its similarities to the unreleased local film Dear Satan, starring Paolo Contis.
The upcoming American Christmas comedy film follows a young boy named Liam who mails his Christmas wish list to Santa but accidentally misspells his name as "Satan" instead. Because of this, the devilish entity, played by Black, receives his letter and arrives at his home to wreak havoc on the holidays.
In the trailer, Satan offers Liam three wishes in exchange for his soul. As they embark on a series of wild adventures, Satan attempts to tempt Liam into committing mischievous acts.
After the trailer's release, some Filipino viewers noted how the plot appears to be identical to Contis' Dear Satan film, which was supposed to premiere last Sept. 18.
In case you don't know about the movie, Dear Satan involves a child summoning Satan during Christmas.
Instead of a boy, a little girl named Chichi leads the Filipino film. She accidentally writes to Contis' character Satan instead of Santa. After reading her heartfelt wishes, Satan appears before her to tempt her to evil.
Like Black's character, Contis' Satan also aims to claim the girl's soul by teaching her the ways of the devil and encouraging her to commit the seven deadly sins, as seen in the trailer. All his efforts eventually fail due to Chichi's strong faith.
However, as they spend time together, the girl's virtues resist the demon's plans and change him instead.
The two films do not appear to be based on any succeeding work. Deadline reported that Black's film was written by Bobby and Peter Farrelly and Ricky Blitt, with the original idea from Dan Ewen. On the other hand, Contis' film was based on his own concept, with the workshop script developed by the Movie Workers’ Welfare Foundation.
What happened to Paolo Contis' movie?
Despite the villain-to-hero plotline of Dear Satan, the film garnered much controversy among religious folks in the Philippines and received an X rating from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). Any film with this rating will not be allowed to screen in theaters.
In a Senate hearing, MTRCB chair Lala Sotto explained that Dear Satan violated Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1986. While she did not specifically mention what was violated in PD No. 1986, one of the elements indicated in the mandate for rating X is when the film "clearly constitutes an attack against any race, creed, or religion."
Sotto stressed that she was "offended as a Christian" after seeing the film. She admitted, however, that "it is not demonic, but it has a different depiction of Satan becoming good. But Satan will never ever be good."
After the backlash, the film's production company Mavx Productions Inc. apologized to the public if the title of the film caused "any offense or discomfort," stressing it was not their intention "to hurt or disrespect anyone’s religious beliefs."
"The film is a narrative about the power of faith and the triumph of good over evil. We wanted to illustrate that despite the presence of evil in the world, faith and virtue can prevail," read the statement.
They said that they would be changing the film’s name to "reflect its intended message and to honor sensitivities of all our viewers." They also expressed hope for viewers to watch the film with an "open mind and heart."
The Directors' Guild of the Philippines (DGPI) later criticized MTRCB's decision, reasoning that it is "an evident overreach."
"The film does not glorify evil; rather, it presents a narrative that challenges conventional depictions of antagonists, suggesting that even those considered inherently bad can change for the better," the group stressed.
Despite these efforts, Dear Satan remains unreleased.
Black's upcoming film will be released on Paramount+ and digital platforms on Nov. 25 this year. The platform is currently not available in the Philippines.
