‘Totoong box-office king na nga si Alden Richards, pero…’

WHAT’S in a title? A lot, kung kami ang tatanungin.

Following the mammoth box-office success of “Hello, Love Goodbye” ay ipinagkaloob ng kanyang mga publicists ang bansag na Asia’s Box-Office King and Asia’s Multmedia Star kay Alden Richards.

Suportado naman ito ng mga figures. The film made a killing at the tills, more than P800 million nga ang iniakyat nitong kita sa Star Cinema.

Parang nahihiya naman kami para kay Kathryn Bernardo who deserves half of the credit. Pero wala kaming narinig na binansagan siyang Box-Office Queen after the showing of the movie except for predictions na siya ang tiyak nang tatanghaling reyna ng takilya para sa taong 2019.

Exag para sa amin ang  inilundag ng titulong iginawad kay Alden. By leaps and bounds, samantalang in the past ay hindi pa siya nagbida in a full-length movie solely relying on his box office strength, if any.

Totoo namang record-breaking ang tagumpay ng “HLG,” even pouncing on “The Hows of Us” na iisa rin ang direktor na humawak.

It would be politically correct to say na si Cathy Garcia-Molina ang Box-Office Director without whose directorial genius ay hindi sana nakamit ng “HLG” ang inaasahang box-office outcome.

Sa kaso ni Alden, talagang ikinabit pa ang Asia sa kanyang titulo as if naman sakop ng Pilipinas ang Asya when it’s geographically the other way around.

At tayo lang ba ang may mataas na output sa paggawa ng mga pelikula? There’s Bollywood in India. Thailand is also just as productive.

Huwag naman nating sabihing walang mga Asian actors whose movies don’t make money. Iba nga lang ang monetary unit.

Now, we expect to be bashed. May mga siguradong mag-aapela in relation to the case of other local celebrities na may “Asia” ring nakadikit sa kanilang mga moniker: Songbird (Regine Velasquez), Nightingale (Lani Misalucha), and yes, how can we forget Queen of Songs (Ms. Pilita Corrales)?

Excuse me, none one of them has earned her title overnight. It didn’t come after one hit single or one LP album or one show/concert.

Eh, si Alden? May pinagbidahan na ba siyang pelikula, or at least a movie of his own, na noong ipalabas ay para ka lang namumulot ng mansanas na bumagsak sa lupa?

Please drop the Asia to this title. Box-Office King naman talaga siya this year, hands down. For the word “Asia” to be justly connected to the title ay bumilang muna si Alden ng string of box-office hits.
For now, he has the Pambansang Bae tag to contend with, his publicists included.