Mga halu-halong hula-hula

The first-day grosses of the two additional entries (Lastikman and Spirit Warriors 2: The Short Cut) to the ongoing Metro Filmfest (extended until Jan. 10) were bigger than the earnings of any of the Magic 7 official entries when the filmfest opened on Dec. 25 last year.

Here’s how the nine entries fared on Jan. 1:

* Lastikman – P10 million

* Spirit Warriors 2: The Short Cut – P8 million

* Mano Po – P5 million

* Agimat (Anting Anting ni Lolo) – P2.5 million

* Dekada ’70 – P2 million

* Home Alone Da Riber – P1.5 million

* Alamat ng Lawin – P800,000

* Hula Mo, Huli Ko – P600,000

* Lapu-Lapu – P100,000

(Note: These "rounded-off" figures are from Metro Manila only.)

It’s "Hoy, guessing!" time again. As usual, after shuffling my clippings of showbiz stories in Year 2002 (look, Ma, I don’t need a crystal ball or tarot cards for this!), I’ve come up with my annual (traditional) halu-halong hula-hula.

Brace yourselves...

Blind Items

* A talent manager will be swamped with court cases. Poor him will be abandoned by his "wards" in the middle of the battle (sa gitna ng laban). Such fair-weather friends!

* A showbiz couple will announce their break-up, only to make up before the year ends.

* Another showbiz un-couple will reconcile.

* A young actor might get busted because of his love for Ecstacy – if he doesn’t watch out!

* A movie-TV producer might be arrested for a string of cases (estafa, swindling, etc.).

* Explicitly-nude photos of an inactive (still young, meaning not quite 30) action star will surface in the Internet but people will just look (if they ever do) and move on to juicier, more interesting items (ho-hum!).

* A bold actress will be exposed as an unwed mother but the non-issue won’t affect her popularity.

* A scandal will rock the movie industry, reminiscent of the infamous 1994 Manila Filmfest Scam.

* A recording company might fold up or merge with another company.

* A TV host will jump ober da bakod and transfer to a rival network.

* An actor-politician will find himself in the eye of a "romantic" storm but he’ll get out of it unscathed (so what else is new, ho-hum!).

* A young actress will get pregnant out of wedlock, with her loveteam-mate as the "culprit".

‘Wide-Awake’ Items

* Tintin Bersola and Julius Babao won’t be getting married – yet – this year

* Kris Aquino will enjoy a fulfilling lovelife – unless she starts talking about it. After her Best Supporting Actress (Mano Po) victory, she’ll get meaty offers as a serious actress.

* Alma Moreno will find a new love, a younger man, whose name also starts with the letter "J" (as in estranged husband Joey Marquez).

* Rica Peralejo will reconcile with Bernard Palanca but only if Bernard promises (to high heavens) that he will stop seeing Ms. "J".

* The telenovela craze will rage on but with less steam.

* The return concert team-up of Martin Nievera and Pops Fernandez next month, their first after their break-up six years ago, will lead to, ehem, "something beautiful".

* Zsa Zsa Padilla might quit as co-host (of Pops Fernandez and Carmina Villarroel) of the ABS-CBN show Morning Girls.

* One of the award-giving bodies will be rocked by protests for "unfair judgment" (so what else is new, ho-hum?).

* Several (as in dozens!) of movie folks will declare their intention to run in 2004 towards the middle of 2003, among them a most "unlikely" candidate.

* FPJ will finally and irrevocably make known his decision whether to run or not in 2004. Is your guess as good as mine?

* Madame Auring and Mystica, the reigning clowns of 2002, will engage in a hair-pulling spectacle on national television over a man, for real this time (unlike their past "encounters" which were all plain and stupid gimmickry).

* Korina Sanchez will hint at getting married.

* Sen. Loren Legarda will be the subject of nasty gossip which won’t affect her chances as a Vice Presidential bet – if and when she decides to run for that post.

* The 2003 Metro Filmfest will be as controversial and as noisy and as messy as ever (so what else is new, ho-hum?).