Kip Oebanda believes Filipino films rarely look at the burnout and isolation young men carry, and his work keeps circling it. His Bar Boys films followed law students and, in the sequel, the same friends worn down by work. His next film takes that subject on the road, and it has an unusual structure behind it: Regal Entertainment, the studio Lily “Mother Lily” Monteverde built into a Philippine institution, is making it with Singapore’s Mocha Chai Laboratories.

As Deadline first reported, Regal producer Keith Monteverde is partnering with Mocha Chai on One For The Road, a coming-of-age drama directed by Oebanda. Elijah Canlas, Gian Bernardino, Emilio Daez and JM Ibarra play four high school best friends in their mid-twenties whose careers, relationships and adult pressures are pulling them apart. When a tragedy brings them back together, they set off on a road trip that tests the friendship and forces them to face the grief they have avoided.

Oebanda wrote the script with Victor Villanueva, the director of Patay na si Hesus, a comedy about a family driving to a funeral, and he presents the mix of laughs and mourning as the point. “In the Philippines, men in particular are taught to suck it up and be strong or to not cry when they are emotional,” he said. “We can make a hilarious, fun movie without skirting away or downplaying the issue at hand. After all, many people mask their grief through humor and adventures.”

For Monteverde the project is also personal. The eldest grandson of Mother Lily, he left a legal career in California to help run the family studio, and he describes the film as one that “puts a spotlight on struggles that many young Filipino men carry quietly today.” Regal is also rebooting its Shake, Rattle & Roll horror franchise; the road movie is the smaller, more intimate bet.

The deal is built for cross-border money. It was selected for the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ International Co-Production Fund and will shoot entirely in the Philippines with a mostly Filipino cast and crew. Mocha Chai will lead the sound design; its Singapore-Thailand co-production Decalcomania was nominated for Best Sound Design at the 2026 ContentAsia Awards. Co-founder Michelle Chang called Regal a company she had long wanted to partner with “because of its extraordinary legacy in Philippine cinema.”

One For The Road is now in principal photography and is slated for release in the second quarter of 2027. It follows Bar Boys: After School, which won the FPJ Memorial Award at the 2025 Metro Manila Film Festival. Canlas also leads the Manila-set crime thriller Jaguar, recently picked up by EST N8.

Chang summed up the split herself: Regal brings its connection with Filipino audiences, Mocha Chai its post-production experience. In a film about four men who struggle to say what they feel, the Singaporean partner is in charge of what the audience will hear.

Tags: Cher, Wisit Sasanatieng, Elijah Canlas, co-production, Kip Oebanda, Mocha Chai Laboratories