My Ex and Whys[2][3] is a 2017 Philippine romantic comedydrama film directed and co-written by Cathy Garcia-Molina. Starring Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano, the story is about a womanizer named Gio (Gil), who tries to prove he is a changed man to his ex-girlfriend, a blogger named Cali (Soberano). Cali, on the other hand, tests if Gio really has changed, and things do not go as planned. The film was released on February 15, 2017, to commercial and critical success, grossing over ₱400 million worldwide. My Ex And Whys is the highest-grossing film to be starred by Soberano and Gil to date.
TFC released My Ex and Whys internationally around the same time said film was released in the Philippines. In North America, the film earned $434,000 on its first 3 days.[4] Then, on its fourth day, it was estimated to have earned $630,000.[5] On its 3rd weekend (ending March 5, 2017), the film earned an additional $110,000, summing up its 3-week North America gross to $1,300,000 [6]
On February 26, My Ex and Whys registers total earnings of $5 million worldwide.[7] This is composed of $4 million opening week gross in the Philippines and $1 million opening week gross from screenings in the Middle East, Europe, U.S. and Canada.
The film's commercial run has been extended in the U.S., Middle East, Canada and Southeast Asia.[8]
Reception
Box office
My Ex and Whys earned ₱31.5 million on its opening day,[9] and the figure increased to ₱100 million in three days.[10] Another milestone was made as the film crossed over the ₱200 million mark in 8 days.[11] After 17 days, the movie earned ₱341 million worldwide.[12] On August 11, 2017, ABS-CBN released its first-half annual report where it announced that My Ex and Whys brought in over ₱400 million in ticket sales in its entire run in the cinemas.[1]
Critical reception
Mari-an Santos of Philippine Entertainment Portal praised the two lead actors, stating that "the two have undeniable chemistry and play off each other well, whether it is in intense scenes or very casual time-wasters."[13] Oggs Cruz from Rappler commented that Soberano "is able to charm her way out of her character’s inexplicable immaturity. Gil, on the other hand, plays the suffering ex-boyfriend with ample enthusiasm. If My Ex and Whys is meant to be a simple showcase of a love team’s power to arouse fantasy and make-believe, then it seems like it is all worth it."[14] Philbert Dy through The Neighborhood complained that "the movie just takes it in a really bizarre, toxic direction. It essentially has its female protagonist go to borderline illegal lengths in order to prove herself right, the movie apparently unable to conceive of a way to display the pain that she went through without resorting to ludicrous antics. After that, it’s hard to buy into why this relationship needs to happen. The film, like so many of these romcoms, just takes the pairing for granted."[15]
^ ab"ABS-CBN posts P1.2-B net income in first half". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved August 11, 2017. Star Cinema generated over P1.2 billion in revenues during the first half, including P400 million in ticket sales from "My Ex and Whys",