Lotlot airs her side

"I have a high respect for my mother-in-law that’s why I’m hurt by what she said. She knows who I am and what kind of person I am."

That, in a nutshell, was Lotlot de Leon’s tearful reaction, aired on The Buzz last Sunday, to her mother-in-law Pilita Corrales’ statement on Startalk last Saturday that she wished Lotlot would find a boyfriend who has "lots of money."

Pilita was talking about the break-up of Lotlot and husband Ramon "Monching" Christopher after 13 years of marriage blessed with four beautiful children. Both were barely 18 when they got married in civil rites. The cracks in their marriage, first reported as a blind item in this corner, started two years ago when Lotlot emerged from semi-"retirement" and resumed her (rudely-interrupted?) showbiz career.

She finally left home almost a year ago to start life on her own, bringing along daughter Janine and, against her will, leaving their three other children with Monching at their former home in New Manila, near that of Pilita.

Funfare sources said that Monching "never really weaned himself from his mother" who has been practically "making decisions" for the couple mainly because Pilita was helping them financially. In an interview back then, Pilita said that there was nothing wrong with her helping Lotlot and Monching’s brood financially because, after all, he’s her son.

"But what Lotlot wanted," said another Funfare source, "was for her and Monching to be financially independent, that’s why she was forced to go back to showbiz, the only work she knows best. She was thankful for Pilita’s help, pero iba naman talaga ’yung ang gagastusin nila ay sarili nilang kita."

Between sobs during the interview with hosts Kris Aquino and Boy Abunda, Lotlot said that since it was a family problem, she decided to keep mum and expected other people concerned, Pilita included, to do the same – "For the sake of the children." That is, until last Saturday when Pilita "bared all" in Startalk (although in the past, Pilita has been hinting at it in various TV and print interviews).

"It was my decision to leave home," said Lotlot. "Nobody asked me to, not Monching or my mother-in-law."

Clarifying that no third party was involved, Lotlot denied that she has a boyfriend and/or that she’s looking for someone "with lots of money" (as Pilita wished her to).

"As I’ve said," Lotlot reiterated, "I’m not the kind of person my mother-in-law (pictured me to be). She knows who I am and what kind of person I am."

Throughout the tearful interview, Lotlot never said anything negative about or against either Pilita or Monching, stressing how much she respected her mother-in-law and that "Monching will forever be the father of our children."

"For 13 years," according to Lotlot, "nakisama ako sa kanila and I don’t think they can say anything against me," adding that her sister-in-law Jackie Lou Blanco was particularly nice and sympathetic to her. "We talk all the while. She understands my situation."

Ultimately, said Lotlot who’s renting an apartment and goes around using a second-hand car given to her by Christopher de Leon, her adoptive father, she hopes to gather all her children together as a family under one roof.

The case of Crying Ladies

Before the non-issue about Unitel Pictures’ Crying Ladies gets out of hand, here’s Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondent" Ferdinand Lapuz to clear it up once and for all, after which Funfare will consider the minor misunderstanding closed.

Here’s Ferdinand:

Hi, Ricky. I don't have a hard copy of the issue when you published the article concerning the first weekend gross of Crying Ladies in the US. So I can’t really say if I am correct or some of your readers are right.

I don’t remember that the article mentioned that Crying Ladies was the No. 1 grossing film for the weekend ending February 22nd.  What it said was that the per-screen average of Crying Ladies was No. 1 as compared to the the top 10 films for that particular weekend.

Crying Ladies grossed a healthy $65,664 on 10 screens.  If you divide the total gross by the number of screens, you get $6,566 which is the per-screen average on that weekend.  This is the formula used by industry people in determining the per-screen average which I think is never used back there.

In comparison, 50 First Dates grossed $20,429,325 on 3,612 screens which gives it a $5,656 per-screen average.  So the per-screen average of Crying Ladies is really higher than 50 First Dates.

The per-screen average is very important to some films as publicists use this in generating good publicity and increasing the profile of their films. 

Honestly, I am not sure what came out in your article but I don't remember writing it was the No. 1 film for the weekend because if that was the case, this news deserved to be in the headlines, right?

For the information of some of your readers, I am not a paid publicist of Crying Ladies, Unitel, Unico Entertainment or Sharon Cuneta.  I only report the things I read on the Internet and I usually check my facts before I send them to you. So I am not really sure if the statement on the press release was wrong.

Thank you and if you publish this, I will be happy as well.

– Ferdy

Ferdinand enclosed a listing (by Exhibitor Relations Co., Inc.) of The Top Movies, Weekend of Feb. 20, 2004, with Crying Ladies placing No. 54 among the 129 movies mentioned.

Here are the Top 10 with their weekend grosses, number of theaters, per-theater gross, total grosses and number of days (showing):

1. 50 First Dates (No. 1 the previous weekend)– $20,429,325 weekend gross; 3,612 theaters; $5,656 per theater; $71,738,493 total gross; 10 days

2. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (new) – $9,350,572...2,503... $3,736...$9,350,572...three days

3. The Miracle (No. 3) –$7,803,352...2,713...$2,876...$50,352,253...17 days

4. Welcome to Mooseport (new) –$6,775,132...2,868...$2,362... $6,775, 132... three days

5. Eurotrip (new) – $6,711,384...2,512...$ 2,672... $6,711,384...three days

6. Barbershop 2 (2) – $6,287,008...2,229...$2,821...$53,223,440...17 days

7. Mystic River (9) – $3,094,569...1,352...$2,289...$79,206,839...138 days

8. Against the Ropes (new)– $3,038,546...1,601...$1,898...$3,038,546...three days

9. The Butterfly Effect (4) – $2,975,882...1,901...$1,565...$53,208,211...31 days

10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (8) – $2,850,455...1,407...$2,026...$361,118,934...68 days

And here are those from Nos. 51 to 60, including Crying Ladies (Funfare isn’t publishing the complete list due to space constraints):

51. The Cat in the Hat (re-entry) – $74,769...112...$668...$100,970,499...94 days

52. Chasing Liberty (69) – $74,611...191...$391...$12,145,090...45 days

53. Torque (39) – $72,028...121...$595...$20,848,827...38 days

54. CRYING LADIES (new) – $65,664...10...$6,566...$65,664...three days

55. Love Don’t Cost a Thing (45) – $63,980...111...$576... $21,803,258...73 days

56. Bugs (re-entry) – $57,705...15...$3,847...$4,976,857...346 days

57. The Station Agent (48) – $57,142...39...$1,465...$5,801,558...143 days

58. Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey (re-entry) – $51,973...14...$3,712...$5,720,373...500 days

59. Monsieur Ibrahim (51) – $49, 786...7...$7,112...$159,335...10 days

60. Kitchen Stories (new) – $48,103...8...$6,013...$48,103...three days

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])