'How to Be Yours' gets a low PHP 10 million on first day

How to Be Yours

The good times at Star Cinema stopped, at least for the moment. Critically acclaimed How to Be Yours starring Bea Alonso & Gerald Anderson earned a low PHP 10 million on its first day. That's lower than Bea Alonso's 2015 films A Second Chance (PHP 43.3 million) & The Love Affair (PHP 15 million) and her lowest opening in 4 years (24/7 In Love) but a bit higher than Gerald Anderson's previous movie Always Be My Maybe (PHP 10 million). 

What happened? A Bea Alonso romantic movie is a sure-fire hit and yes this might also be considered a hit. But Ms. Alonso's box office standards are not like this.Three Reasons came up into my mind. One: the release date. Coming off from the success of Imagine You & Me plus the opening of Jason Bourne this week (plus Star Trek Beyond and Lights Out targets their target audience) and the opening of hotly anticipated Suicide Squad next week, this is a surprisingly crowded market for How to Be Yours. Two: the Anderson-Alonso love team is fresh, although interesting, might unattract some fans of the Cruz-Alonso movies. And lastly: the marketing was weird. The movie definitely had less hype than Ms. Alonso's recent movies (A Second Chance was a sequel to a cult movie while The Love Affair targeted the fans of 'kabit' movies which are proven to be strong). The trailers show really nothing new. It was sold like Imagine You & Me - trusting on the fanbase.

Good word of mouth might give this movie strong legs but with Suicide Squad coming, they better hurry up. This might also be a warning to Star Cinema's upcoming Kathniel film Barcelona: An Untold Story which will be interesting to track.