I’ve been out the whole day and night so I haven’t had the chance to visit the forums until now. I saw this post at Soompi that gave me a shock. I thought it’s one of those unconfirmed reports, but it does have a legitimate source; I know because I visited the source website and it’s really there.
I’ve always had this hunch that Ninja Assassin did well in the Philippines because of its extended run. This theory has been debunked by others before because they were claiming that the reason why NA stayed in cinemas for more than two weeks is that there were no other blockbusters that opened prior to the Metro Manila Film Festival. What I totally did not expect - and I bet this will come as a total shock to those who debunked my theory - is that the movie grossed more than 1 Million USD here. USD1,102,178, to be exact. 
Why is this a shocker? Our country is one of those places where piracy is so rampant that people hardly ever go to the movies anymore. In fact, when Ninja Assassin was currently showing here, I have had this conversation more than once with people who knew that I am a Rain fan:
Them: Hey, have you seen Ninja Assassin?
Me: Of course, more than once!
Them: May I borrow the DVD?
Me: 
Excuse me. I saw it in theaters. And you should, too.
If a movie grossed more than php20M here, that’s already considered a mild hit. NA’s gross when converted amounts to around php50M. That’s not bad at all. 
Moreover, the Philippines is one of only four countries in Asia, so far, where NA grossed more than USD1M (the other three being South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia). We’re not in bad company at all.
Although it should also be a cause for concern that the “usual suspects”, that is, countries where Rain is supposed to have a surefire market, did not yield good boxoffice results. 
I guess that part is also a shocker.
NOTE: NA is yet to be shown in Japan and (I think?) China.
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Update on the Cloud Philippines 2010 Party:
We have decided on the final date and venue of the party. It’s going to be on March 13, 2010, Saturday, at Chie’s residence in Muntinlupa City. For obvious reasons, we cannot post the exact location and directions going to the venue on the internet. If you are confirmed to attend, please drop us a line by texting either Rizza or me, or sending us a PM at the forums, or emailing us at events@cloudphilippines.com and we shall give you the directions. We shall also be posting more details at the CloudPH forum by tomorrow evening.
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Uhm I know I say this year after year but… do we really have to put Rain into that Time 100 nonsense again?
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