Love teams and celebrity match-ups have always been crucial in intensifying the star power of a particular cinema. Movie producers know that a “kilig” love team goes hand in hand with box-office results to a great extent. It is not a wonder they invest a great deal of money on hyping up the flickers and the chemistry between reel partners.
To keep apace with the romantic trend, talent managers and publicists launch love teams as one of their oldest tricks of the trade. These tricks not only did magic in the local showbiz and movie industry, but also with the international entertainment industry such as the Hollywood.
Now, Mentalfuss gives you a short list of the greatest and most memorable local and international love teams.
1. Nora and Tirso (Guy and Pip). One of local showbiz's most popular love teams of all time started in the box-office hit The Musical Teenage Idol in 1969. Their tandem was unusual, say older fans, because for the first time, a morena (Nora) was paired with a mestizo (Tirso). And the unusual became phenomenal! Even Maria Leonora Theresa, the doll given by Pip to Guy, was a sensation.
3. Piolo Pascual and Judy Ann Santos. Judy Ann first teamed up with Wowee de Guzman, who became her real-life boyfriend. But it was her tandem with Piolo that generated the loudest shrieks among fans. The chemistry between Piolo and Judy Ann first showed up in the defunct soap opera Esperanza. ABS-CBN and Star Cinema then made it a point to bring them together in TV series and movies. And their followers actually hoped that they'd end up together, but Ryan Agoncillo came into Juday's life.
4. John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo. John Lloyd was 18 when he was paired with Bea, who was then only 14 years old. Despite the age gap, their mestizo looks brought out the "kilig factor". Most of their fans had hoped that their onscreen romance would eventually become a real thing, but Bea fell in love with with Mico Palaca and John Lloyd, with a non-showbiz girl. Their fans were understanding enough to accept that their idols couldn't be together—the proof, their recently concluded telenovela Maging Sino Ka Man was a success in terms of viewership.
5. Mark Herras and Jennylyn Mercado. Mark and Jennylyn are both products of the talent search StarStruck. In fact, they were both the grand winners of the show. Their offscreen and onscreen romance unfolded right before the public eye. Even their on-and-off relationship became a talk of the town. How did they make it to our list? Even after they called it quits, the clamor for their pairing did not stop. They're currently part of the cast of Tiyanaks, a horror flick produced by Regal Entertainment.
6. Angel Locsin & Richard Gutierrez. Their team up as Alwina (Angel) and Aguiluz (Richard) in Mulawin (2004) was a hit with the televiewers. So it was not surprising when their launching movie as a love team, Let The Love Begin (2005), also became a hit at the box office. Fans had more of them when Mulawin: The Movie was released later that year. Their fans’ clamor for another movie was answered when Angel and Richard again made a killing at the box-office with I Will Always Love You (2006). They starred together again with veteran actors Lorna Tolentino, Gina Alajar and Tirso Cruz III in the movie Mano Po 5: Gua Ai Di (I Love You) (2006). Their last movie together The Promise, did not do well in the box-office because of problems that Angel had with GMA-7.
7. Marian Rivera & Dingdong Dantes. It was a gamble for GMA-7 to repackage an already mother role-playing Marian Rivera and team her up with Dingdong Dantes. Never did they imagine that the team-up would be bigger than they ever expected. Marian and Dingdong’s love team in MariMar (2007) not only became wildly popular but also set a record in Philippine Television-52.6 percent rating on its final episode, beating the 52.1 percent posted by Darna on 2005. Their team-up was seen again in Dyesebel (2008) and was finally seen on the big screen in One True Love (2008), which was a blockbuster. Despite negative publicity after both Marian and Dingdong broke up with their real life partners (Eric Vijandre, Marian’s boyfriend and Karylle, Dingdong’s girlfriend), their latest team-up in Ang Babaeng Hinugot Sa Aking Tadyang continues to enjoy high ratings.
8. Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson. Kim and Gerald became such a favorite of the viewers that their love team was given the name "Kimerald." Movies, TV series, endorsements—they're always together. They're too young for love, they claim, but ABS-CBN insiders say that their friendship is blossoming into a relationship. This, their fans would surely be delighted to see in real life.
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1. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Angelina Jolie fell hard for Brad Pitt on the set of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" — but didn't chase Hollywood's leading hunk because he was married to his "best friend," the smoldering actress said in a jaw-dropping magazine interview. At present, the couple already had kids, though they were not married..yet.
2. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. On April 2005, Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes. On April 27 that year, Cruise and Holmes, dubbed "TomKat" by the media, made their first public appearance together in Rome. A month later, Cruise declared his love for Holmes on The Oprah Winfrey Show famously jumping up and down on Winfrey's couch during the show. On October 6, 2005, Cruise and Holmes announced they were expecting a child, and their daughter, Suri, was born in April 2006. On November 18, 2006, Holmes and Cruise were married at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy, in a Scientology ceremony attended by many Hollywood stars. The actors' publicist said the couple had "officialized" their marriage in Los Angeles the day before the Italian ceremony. David Miscavige served as Cruise's best man.
3. Miley Cyrus & Liam Hemsworth -- Miley and Liam became an onscreen couple in the movie entitled The Last Song from the novel written by nicholas sparks. They prove that young love can be serious and so supportive.
4. Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart – Robert and Kristen were the stars of the Twilight Saga movies based on the novels of Stephenie Meyer. Later on, the two became real partners on and off screen though both keep their romance super low-key.
