John Carter tops PH box office

John Carter (Taylor Kitsch)

The Taylor Kitsch-starrer "John Carter" is number 1 at the Philippine box office for two weeks in a row.

According to Box Office Mojo, Kitsch's movie added Php25.5 million to its earnings during its second week (March 14-18) in local cinemas, beating out other movies screening that week. It has now collected a total of Php69.6 million for 2 weeks.

The movie's performance is somehow surprising for some since there were calls to boycott the movie after lead actor Kitsch's erroneous statement about the Philippines.

Disney has also released a statement regarding the projected loss of $200 million from the sci-fi movie. So far, the film raked in $184 million worldwide but the problem is it cost more than $350 million to produce and market it.

Meanwhile, check out below Box Office Mojo's Top Grossing Movies in the Philippines for March 14–18, 2012:

TW	LW	Movie	Studio	Weekend Gross					Gross-to-Date	Week
1	1	John Carter	Disney	25,521,039 PHP					69,634,360 PHP	2
2	N	Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang	Star Cin.	20,517,124 PHP					20,517,124 PHP	1
3	N	Dr. Seuss' The Lorax	UIP	12,871,272 PHP					12,871,272 PHP	1
4	N	My Kontrabida Girl	n/a	6,715,616 PHP					6,715,616 PHP	1
5	N	Mirror Mirror	Pioneer	6,475,413 PHP					6,475,413 PHP	1
6	3	The Devil Inside	UIP	1,092,301 PHP					16,489,333 PHP	3
7	5	Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance	WB	951,250 PHP					72,217,457 PHP	5
8	4	This Means War	WB	896,013 PHP					32,094,746 PHP	4
9	7	The Vow	Sony	622,059 PHP					59,222,331 PHP	6
10	6	Moneyball	Sony	141,094 PHP					2,628,771 PHP	2

Data courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo

Taylor Kitsch 'bribed' in Indonesia, not Philippines

Taylor Kitsch | Photo: Theplace2.ru

Taylor Kitsch's airport bribe happened in Indonesia and not in the Philippines as previously suggested, an Indonsian official confirmed.

According to Indonesian Deputy Minister for Justice and Human Rights Denny Indrayana, they have identified the customs officer who allegedly asked the actor for an iPhone as bribe and will be interrogated.

"He will be sanctioned if he is found guilty of asking for a bribe," Indrayana said.

The story of the alleged bribe emerged when "Late Show" host David Letterman asked "John Carter" star about his recent shoot for the Oliver Stone film "Savages."

Letterman mentioned the Philippines when he asked about the shoot but Kitsch failed to correct him.

The Malacanang has earlier demanded for an apology from the Hollywood actor and asked him to correct his erroneous statement which "demeaned" the Philippines.

Check out the said interview of Taylor Kitsch here: http://noypistuff.blogspot.com/2012/03/taylor-kitsch-shares-naia-experience-to.html

Taylor Kitsch should apologize - Palace

Taylor Kitsch played as Gambit in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

Taylor Kitsch should not just correct but he also has to apologize for his mistake which "demeaned" the Philippines, according to Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

"We believe that Taylor Kitsch made an erroneous statement which demeaned our country and an apology would be a proper decent response," Lacierda told ABS-CBN Monday.

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte had said in a press briefing on Sunday that Kitsch and the producers of "Late Show with David Letterman" should correct their mistake.

On the "Late Show with David Letterman" last Wednesday, the "John Carter" star said a customs officer stopped him at the airport and ordered him back to Japan because his passport didn't have enough pages to stamp his arrival. He said he was finishing the shoot of Oliver Stone's "Savages" in the Philippines.

Kitsch added that while he was trying to prove that he is an actor, the official asked for an iPhone unit from him, too.

"Their computers are not working. So I told him,'you gotta look me up, I can show you something to prove (that I'm an actor) and he said 'You are on the next flight to Japan,' reminding me again. And then I'm looking on my iPhone because their computers weren't working. And he's like 'hey can you get me one of those?' And I'm like 'can you let me in and I will give you one of these.'" Kitsch said.

After conducting an investigation, Bureau of Customs commissioner Ruffy Biazon concluded that Kitsch "was mistaken in saying that his bad experience during his travel was in the Philippines." Biazon said there were no documents to support that the Canadian actor arrived in the country and that his officers do not stamp passports. He also found out that "Savages" is shooting in Indonesia not in the Philippines.

"Unfortunately, the damage was done. People immediately reacted negatively to the BOC without giving the benefit of an inquiry into the basis of what the foreign actor was saying," the commissioner wrote on his blog. "Perhaps it is due to the incidents in the past that have plagued the agency. Perhaps people have heard too many horror stories from passengers passing through our airports."

Watch Taylor Kitsch's interview here: http://noypistuff.blogspot.com/2012/03/taylor-kitsch-shares-naia-experience-to.html

Taylor Kitsch should correct his mistake - Malacañang

Taylor Kitsch as John Carter

Taylor Kitsch and the "Late Show with David Letterman" should correct the actor's airport delay tale he told the show recently, the Malacañang said Sunday.

On the "Late Show with David Letterman" last Wednesday, the "John Carter" star said a customs officer stopped him at the airport and ordered him back to Japan because his passport didn't have enough pages to stamp his arrival. He said he was finishing the shoot of Oliver Stone's "Savages" in the Philippines.

Kitsch added that while he was trying to prove that he is an actor, the official asked for an iPhone unit from him, too.

"Their computers are not working. So I told him,'you gotta look me up, I can show you something to prove (that I'm an actor) and he said 'You are on the next flight to Japan,' reminding me again. And then I'm looking on my iPhone because their computers weren't working. And he's like 'hey can you get me one of those?' And I'm like 'can you let me in and I will give you one of these.'" Kitsch said.

After conducting an investigation, Bureau of Customs commissioner Ruffy Biazon concluded that Kitsch "was mistaken in saying that his bad experience during his travel was in the Philippines." Biazon said there were no documents to support that the Canadian actor arrived in the country and that his officers do not stamp passports. He also found out that "Savages" is shooting in Indonesia not in the Philippines.

"Unfortunately, the damage was done. People immediately reacted negatively to the BOC without giving the benefit of an inquiry into the basis of what the foreign actor was saying," the commissioner wrote on his blog. "Perhaps it is due to the incidents in the past that have plagued the agency. Perhaps people have heard too many horror stories from passengers passing through our airports."

Watch Taylor Kitsch's interview here: http://noypistuff.blogspot.com/2012/03/taylor-kitsch-shares-naia-experience-to.html

Taylor Kitsch tells NAIA experience to David Letterman (Video and Transcript)

Taylor Kitsch, who played the role of Gambit in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and best known for his role as Tim Riggins in the NBC's "Friday Night Lights," related to David Letterman his NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) experience where he was stopped by a customs officer.

Check out the video and transcript of Kitsch's interview below, which was aired on US late-night talk show "Late Show With David Letterman:"


Letterman: "You're promoting that movie and at the same time you are making a movie in the Philippines - another movie. So you're gonna be flying back and forth. And that's a tremendously long flight, isn't it?"

Kitsch: "It really is. It messes with you. They are 15-hour ahead. There's a good a little moment when I had the visa to work there to film an Oliver Stone film called the "Savages" with Travolta, Benicio del Toro, Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek...

"So I get through to customs. I'm in the backroom and he said, you're going back to Japan... He said 'There's not enough pages. You're out of pages, so I can't stamp it. You're gone.' I'm like, I can work here, I've got the visa. He didn't believe I was an actor So I'm literally pitching myself to this guy, saying 'No, I'm an actor... I've done some things' And he's like 'Okay, what?'... Well, I'm here to work, finish Oliver Stone's movies with John Travolta in it... And he's like 'Where's Travolta?'... And I'm like 'He's not here.'

"Their computers are not working. So I told him,'you gotta look me up, I can show you something to prove (that I'm an actor) and he said 'You are on the next flight to Japan,' reminding me again. And then I'm looking on my iPhone because their computers weren't working. And he's like 'hey can you get me one of those?' And I'm like 'can you let me in and I will give you one of these.' And he still not believing (me).

"Finally I show him the trailer of John Carter on the iPhone and he stopped and he's like 'oh my God what's that?' And it's a great white apes that seen there that's in the trailer. And he’s like, ‘That’s not you.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘You have short hair.’ And I’m like, ‘Mate, I cut it. It grows. It’s me.' So, then finally he's like 'I love trailer, go ahead. You are in.' So, John Carter got me through customs." - NoypiStuff