Japanese major Toei hasreported that it closed around $650,000 (Y73.4m) in sales during Cannes, marking the highest sales figures from a singlemarket in the company's 55-year history.

The company, which had astrong slate featuring talent such as Ken Watanabe and director Kenta Fukasaku,expects to close a further $440,000 (Y50m) in sales following negotiations at Cannes.

Among the deals closed byToei, Yo-Yo Girl Cop, from Battle Royale 2 director Fukasaku, was pre-sold to Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures and Germany's Rapid Eye while buyer interest was also strongfrom France, the UK and North America.

Meanwhile, Takehiko Shinjo'sromantic drama Heavenly Forest, starring hot female star Aoi Miyazaki, was sold to Taiwan's Three Dots Entertainment and Hong Kong's Golden Scene.

Golden Scene also bought KenWatanabe starrer Memories Of Tomorrowfor release in Hong Kong and mainland China. Buyer interest was also strong from Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.

"Yo-Yo Girl Cop and Heavenly Forest were our first attempt at market pre-sales before afilm's completion and we are very happy with the results," said Tadayuki Okubo,Toei's manager of international sales and purchasing.

Box office hit Yamato, which Toei sold to 12territories at Berlin, continued to sell at Cannes with Korea's JS Films and Scandinavia's Atlantic buying rights to the WWII drama.

Memories Of Tomorrow is currently enjoying a successful run at the Japanesebox office, grossing $10.6m (Y1.2bn) from 267 screens since its release on May13.