[06.01.09] Lee Zhai Yuan reports
Asia unites under the name of "Rain"!
Star of Asia, Rain, will set up a fan club with the strength of 200,000 fans. Fans from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hongkong, Thailand etc Asian countries will be able to join the official fanclub.Rain's agency, JYP Entertainment will be making preparations for this Asia fanclub alongside the Cloud 4 fans recruitment drive in September.
At the moment, Ran has two official fanclubs; namely "Cloud" in Korea, and "Cloud Japan" in Japan. The first three recruitment drive have acummulated 3,500 official fans. The fanclub is now open for it's fourth cloud recruitment drive, which is estimated to increase cloud-count to more than 10,000. "Cloud Japan, ont he other hand, has 4,000 members at present.
The total number of fans in "Cloud" and "Cloud Japan" add up to less than 20,000. However, many fans outside these two countries are hoping to join the club as official members. It is said that a fan site in China has more than 100,000 members, while 40,000 Taiwanese fans came together to sign a petition, which was sent to JYPE's office, for Rain's concert to be held in Taiwan last fall.
Rain also enjoys international VIP's treatment whenever he goes to Hongkong and Thailand. He is considered a superstar in these areas. However, fans belonging to non-official fanclubs in these countries organises their own activites.
JYP Entertainment has decided to gather all these non-official fanclubs, scattered throughout Asia, and have them united into one official Asian fanclub, so that fans in these countries can enjoy the same privileges that members of "Cloud" and "Cloud Japan" enjoy. Last year, only "Cloud" and "Cloud Japan" members were able to enjoy the previleges of pre-ordering tickets and special sitting arrangements in the Rainy Day concerts which were held in Korea, Japan, Hongkong, China and Taiwan. Unfortunately, other fans could not enjoy these privileges.
It is estimated that Rain has more than 200,000 fans in different parts of Asia. It is rare for any artistes in Asia to have a united fanclub like that. Members of Rain Asia can expect to enjoy fair treatment in terms of ticketing and special sitting privileges, as well as chances to attend Rain's birthday celebration gatherings and all other fanclub activities, eliminating preferential treatments to some fans only.
JYP Entertainment expressed that in future, fans of Rain, regardless of whether they are Koreans or people from any other part of Asia will come together to form this Asia Fanclub, which they are now in the midst of setting up.
Rain will be in Japan from the 21st to 25th of January to promote his first Japanese single "Sad Tango", follow by New York for his Rainy Day Concert at Madison Square on 2 February.
Credit: 비withRain// jinlees@soompi
Korean to Chinese: irbi from 비with Rain
Chinese to English: Rayndrop
Top earners
WHO among the Hong Kong stars raked in the biggest bucks over the past 12 months?
According to the website sina.com, Jackie Chan is firmly in the top spot with earnings reportedly hitting a staggering HK$232mil (about RM113mil). Even the dud Everlasting Regret, which he produced and is said to have lost HK$10mil (RM4.9mil) in the process, did little to hurt his wallet.
Trailing in a distant second is Andy Lau with HK$106mil (RM49mil). Given Lau’s legendary diligence, it came as no surprise that the singer-actor should be among the highest earners. Last year, he netted HK$64mil (RM31mil) from seven commercials, HK$11mil (RM5mil) from his 14-show concerts and HK$31mil (RM15mil) from his three movies.
Kelly Chen is third with HK$75mil (RM36mil), thus becoming the Chinese territory’s top-grossing female artiste of 2005. Much of her time last year was spent in China promoting her album and going on performing tours. She collected HK$3mil (RM1.4mil) in album bonuses and HK$18mil (RM8.8mil) from concerts. Her performances in China further boosted her earnings by HK$24mil (RM11.8mil) while another HK$30mil (RM14mil) came from commercials. The biggest surprise on the list has to be Paula Tsui Siu Fung, who is placed seventh with HK$36mil (RM17mil). The 59-year-old veteran songbird came out of retirement to hold 23 shows in Hong Kong, gaining HK$1mil (RM490,000) per show. She also released an album of her hit songs that added to her wealth.
Rounding off the top 10 list are Joey Yung (HK$60mil/RM29mil), Twins (HK$53mil/RM26mil), Cecilia Cheung (HK$51mil/RM25mil), Aaron Kwok (HK$30mil/RM14mil), Leon Lai (HK$23mil/RM11mil) and Jacky Cheung (HK$20mil/RM9mil).
Strong Rain
SO, what if Rain’s latest TV series A Love to Kill ended with low viewer ratings in his native South Korea? When you have a red-hot career going for you, a tiny bump (or two) surely won’t kill, will it? In Rain’s case, he’s still flooded with offers to perform, what with 2006 promising to hold bigger and brighter things for him.
The KBS Global website recently reported that the 23-year-old will be making his silver-screen debut in renowned director Park Chan-wook’s (Old Boy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) movie, Although I am a Cyborg, it’s OK. Rain is to assume the male lead role and filming will begin in March.
Until that comes, this muscular hottie will be kept busy with his Rainy Day tour, which will take him to Madison Square Garden in New York on Feb 2 and 3. It’s a significant event that will see Rain becoming the first South Korean singer to enter the US pop market. Following this will be a performance in the Thai capital, Bangkok, on Feb 26. Then, there are his album plans too.
Rain, whose third album It’s Raining has recorded sales of over one million copies in seven Asian countries, will be releasing his first two singles in Japan this month before churning out a full-length album in May. In his home country, fans can expect his fourth record to hit the stores in September, after which he is scheduled to embark on his Asian concert tour again.
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