Sarah Geronimo, superstar?

Know there will be vehement, if not violent reactions, to this column's title from die-hard Noranians here and abroad, but it seems that the time has come for them to accept that Nora Aunor, a dear friend and fellow Bicolano (she comes from the city of Iriga in Camarines Sur and I from the poor town of Libon in the province of Albay), can now live in peace and quiet and relish her glory days as the Philippines first real superstar.

And she should be happy that another girl is captivating the country's imagination, enthralling millions of Filipinos with her performances as a singer and now drawing thousands to the multiplexes to watch her in the movie A Very Special Love.

No, this isn't an exaggeration because I (along with other friends) queued for tickets at the Glorietta 4 cinemas to catch the 8:15 p.m. screening of the movie on its opening day last week. Lo, and behold, the line of excited fans was already snaking around the lobby an hour before the scheduled screening.

Glorietta 4 has a standing policy of no-SRO (Standing Room Only) but it seemed that on that particular screening, the policy was breached as there were people standing at the back and others seated on the aisle.

As the house lights dimmed after a spate of theatrical trailers and commercials for the main feature, the crowd settled down but not for long as they screamed in delight, laughed and even gave Sarah Geronimo's performance occasional but very enthusiastic applause.

For nearly two hours, everyone (nearly a thousand people in the theater) was mesmerized by the girl from Sta. Cruz, Manila, who won the grand prize in an amateur singing contest on television with her nearly perfect coming timing, a natural flair for drama, and a naturalistic approach to acting.

Surprisingly, she had John Lloyd Cruz in her palms and the poor guy had no choice but keep himself in acting cadence with the singer-turned-actor in both the comedic and dramatic sequences.

The movie opened with P14 million gross in more than a hundred screens across the archipelago, and that is no mean feat, especially these days when Tagalog-language movies are being thrashed at the box office by Hollywood blockbusters. This only proves that the new generation of Filipino movie audience is ready for their own screen heroine, not someone passed on to them by their parents or grandparents.

The movie is a co-production between ABS-CBN's Star Cinema and Viva Films. Credits go as well to the effective promotion the network did for the movie, it did wonders for the creation of awareness for Sarah Geronimo's first full-length role. The plugs that run till the wee hours had everyone saying, this must be some interesting stuff why not watch it.

So, Vic del Rosario Jr. is very elated over the box-office results of his new movie. I was on the phone with him the day after I went to watch the movie to congratulate him personally. He said the box-office results were not expected, but he was hoping it would do better than what they projected. The first day gross nearly had him gasping for breath in incredulity. But now, I hope it has sunk in his mind that Viva (who created the megastar) has created a new superstar.