The Daily Tribune <<< Without Fear or Favor >>>

»HEADLINES

»NATION

Luis uninvited in ‘Love Me Again’ preem

BUZZSTATION

Edgar Cruz

01/13/2009

Stars, fans, critics and industry movers are all ready to grace the red carpet celebrity premiere of Love Me Again as directed by Rory Quintos for Star Cinema to be held at the SM Megamall Cinema 10 on Jan. 14. Everyone except Angel’s boyfriend Luis Manzano, that is!

Angel opted not to invite Luis, instead asking him to watch it during the regular screening. Could it have something to do with her sensual love scene with lead actor Piolo Pascual? Two sequences of said love scene had to be scissored by Star Cinema people for being too steamy. Is she trying to avoid getting Luis jealous as her body shuddered when it touched Piolo’s abs? When asked about it, Angel replied, “Wala siyang comment. In fact, he’s so excited about the movie.”

So there’s no trouble with Luis. Good thing Angel is the favorite of Gov. Vilma Santos among the girlfriends Luis has had. Last Christmas, Luis’s mom gave Angel a signature bag while the actress reciprocated with eye popping diamond earrings. The good governor of Batangas does not hide the fact that she likes Angel. She said Angel has influenced Luis very positively.

Love Me Again premiered in the US and will continue its global screenings as follows: From Jan. 23 to 29, Parkway Plaza Stadium 12 in Seattle, Regal Village Square Stadium in Las Vegas, UA Horton Plaza in San Diego, Regal Dole Cannert Stadium 18 in Honolulu and Micronesia Mall in Guam; Jan. 29 to 31: Grand Cine Cener in Qatar and Seef Cineplex in Bahrain; Feb. 5 to 7, Grand Cine City in Dubai and Grand Megamall in Sharjah; Feb. 6 to 12, Pickwick Theatre in Chicago; Feb. 12 to 13, Cinescape Marina Mall in Kuwait; and Feb 12 to 14, Grand Al Mariah lm Abu Dhabi. For more information, log on to www.abs-cbnglobalmovies.com or call 1-800-227-9676.

Ai Ai will overtake Sarah

as 2008 Box-Office Queen if...

Although the Ai Ai de las Alas starrer Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat as 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival was the top earner grossing P171 million, it still did not topple the John Lloyd-Sarah Geronimo starrer A Very Special Love gross of P180 million, which made it to the top 10 Filipino-made movies in 2008 as released by “Box Office Mojo.” Both are Star Cinema-produced full-length features.

When asked to comment about A Very Special Love’s performance, director Cathy Garcia-Molina answered, “Official na ba? Sa 2009 na ang Tanging Ina 2? Wow! Very thankful sa lahat ng nanood at sumuporta tulad ninyo. At kay Lord!”

Of course, Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat can easily close the P9 million advantage and exceed the P180 million gross sales of Sarah’s movie. Star Cinema projects the gross sales of Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat could reach P200 million. But as Cathy suggested, Sarah’s movie will be the top grosser if Ai Ai’s movie is classified as a 2009 movie. But this is not likely as Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat started screening in 2008.

When asked if You Changed My Life, the working title of the second John Lloyd and Sarah starrer will beat A Very Special Love, Cathy gave a tentative answer: “Naku mahirap magsalita. But we’re doing our best para mapantayan man lang ang kilig ng A Very Special Love.”

One thing is sure. If the filmfest’s top earners are included in the 2008 top 10 movies, the ranking will change. For sure, the new ranking will maintain Star Cinema’s position as the country’s top film production and distribution company. Six of its movies will make it to the list. They are: Tanging Ina Ninyong Lahat, estimated at P200 million; A Very Special Love, P180 million, Caregiver, P140 million; For the First Time, P133 million; When Love Begins, P89.5 million; and My Only U, P78 million.

Things come double in Tayong Dalawa

Tayong Dalawa cast member Anita Linda arrived jittery at Wednesday night’s grand launch at Teatrino. Two holdup men had attacked her in a taxi. They failed to rob her so they made do with the driver’s bag containing the day’s earnings.

Sometimes real life is more cinematic than teleseryes. Not if it’s Tayong Dalawa, however, because things come double in ABS-CBN’s newest offering.

Tayong Dalawa, the year’s most creative and reasonably budgeted teleserye, according to Business Unit head Deo Endrinal, is the compelling story of two males, Gerald Anderson and Jake Cuenca, with one name, one dream and one love in Kim Chiu. It’s necessarily respective stories of two mothers and two fathers. With two directors, Ruel Bayani and Trina Dayrit, the series will kick off on Jan. 19 on the ABS-CBN Primetime Block. As to be expected, it has two theme songs, Gary Valenciano’s “Tayong Dalawa” theme song and Lani Misalucha’s “Bukas Na Lang Kita Mamahalin.” The teleserye touches on the duality of life, which gives the plain and simple title an entirely beautiful and intriguing meaning.

A cluster of award-winning actors breathe life to the series’ colorful characters: Cherry Pie Picache as the whore with a tattered heart, Gina Pareño as a renewed Magdalene, Helen Gamboa as the ambitious mother, Agot Isidro as the efficient secretary turned dutiful wife, Mylene Dizon as the martyred wife, Ricky Davao as a powerful man with a weak heart, Alessandra de Rossi as a scorned friend, Jiro Manio as the burned son, Coco Martin as the wolf in sheep’s clothing and Baron Geisler as the drug mafia lord.

Breaking buzz 1: Mylene Dizon claims no right to Paulo Paraiso, her on-and-off boyfriend. Pregnant again with his child, she still doesn’t have a plan to marry him despite having two children with him. As far as she is concerned, that’s a risky thing to do on her part.

Gretchen and John not helping TV5

Yes, TV5 is the network that the buzz sheets have reported to be starting a production cost reduction program. It’s obvious. Gretchen Barretto’s game show, You and Me Against the World, has not improved start-up audience share since introduction and has been rating only 2 percent. Here’s the big problem: Commercial load is nil! Exactly the same goes for John Estrada’s sitcom Everybody Happy, which has low audience share and no commercial load.

With flagship shows like these, any investor would feel jittery and start peso-pinching. TV5 might have ranked as the third most-watched network based on NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement), but that is a far third from first two slot holders ABS-CBN and GMA. Considering its viewership is small, the 6 percent is very small in real terms. I’m sure Studio 23, QTV 11 or even Cinema One will question the figure.

Besides, said 6 percent was only for two weeks. TV5’s average audience share from its August launch to Dec. 20 was 4 percent. On the week of Nov. 23 to 29 and another in December when it showed blockbuster movies such as Spiderman, it “experienced” (read: for a limited period only) 6.3 percent and 6 percent share. Commercial load averaged two to two-and-half minutes, hardly helping cover expensive acquisition costs. It has since gone back to 4 percent.

Advertising sales is still dismal, which is worrying the Malaysian investors. Even if they have been on board for only five months, they are already planning on starting to cut back on production budgets.

Rufa Mae does not want to die a virgin

After counting boyfriends in real life, Rufa Mae declares, “I’m happily single!” Her new reel role in Status: Single to hit the theaters on Jan. 28 is about a 30-year-old virgin, Teodora “Doris” Mesina in a sexy and romantic comedy written and directed by multi-awarded Jose Javier Reyes for Viva Films and On-Q 28 Productions. Doris is anxious to get married after her boyfriend (Mark Bautista) dumps her. All her girlfriends have married, making her feel her biological clock ticking. For her, nothing can be worse than growing old, lonely and dying a virgin. She needs a man to marry pronto! Doris enlists the help of her best pal — the very handsome, very macho but very gay Randy(Paolo Contis) — and thus begins the search for the perfect husband. Will Doris end up with drop-dead gorgeous Fil-Am bartender Hans (Rafael Rosell), the handsome and intellectual Sean (Alfred Vargas), or the zero self-esteem Inaki (Jon Avila)? Status: Single also stars Desiree del Valle and Mylene Dizon.