All articles by Jason Gray – Page 20
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Korean star Jun takes the lead in $26m Blood: The Last Vampire
Korean star Jun Ji-hyun (MySassy Girl, Windstruck) has beencast in the live-action version of Japanese animation house Production IG's Blood:The Last Vampire, which Bill Kong (CrouchingTiger, Hidden Dragon) is producingwith France's Pathe. Kong reteams with directorRonny Yu after their hit Fearless,starring Jet Li, grossed over $65m worldwide. Kong also just ...
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Baseball comedy beats Flags at Japanese box office
Local baseball comedy Kisarazu Cats Eye: Sayonara Game grabbedthe number one spot at the weekend box office in Japan, out-grossing Clint Eastwood's WWII drama Flags Of Our Fathers. The sequel in the popularsports comedy franchise grossed $2.57m (Y302m) on 244 screens, for a strong $10,532per screen average. Flags Of Our ...
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French comedy OSS 117 wins top prize at Tokyo
In a surprising result,Michel Hazanavicius' spy comedy OSS 117, Cairo Nest OfSpies was awarded the Tokyo SakuraGrand Prix at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF). The crystaltrophy was accompanied by a cash prize of $100,000. While there was no clearfavourite in the lead-up to the awards, local buzz and ...
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Tokyo market draws more buyers but mixed reviews
The TokyoInternational Film Festival's contents market, TIFFCOM, concluded its thirdedition yesterday evening after a three-day run.Approximately 460registered buyers attended this year's market, a 30% increase over last year.They visited a combined total of 163 companies (versus 131 in 2005) throughoutthe 40th floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. While domesticsellers outnumbered ...
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Sega to adapt two games into animated features
Sega Sammy Group Holdingsand subsidiary TMS Entertainment Co have announced plans to adapt two of itsmost popular game franchises into animated theatrical feature films to bereleased next spring.Osharemajo Love And Berry and Kabutomushi:Oja Mushiking are two of Japan's best selling card and video games for girls andboys respectively. Both games ...
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Nikkatsu rolls out library through VoD service
Nikkatsu, one of Japan's oldest film studios, has announced that it willoffer films from its vast library as video-on-demand content through parent companyIndex Corp's "Miranca" VoD and IPTV service.The first 23 titles goonline today (Oct 16) and include classic films starring some of Japan's mostenduring cinema icons, including the late ...
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Letters From Iwo Jima set for Tokyo world premiere
Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima will receive itsworld premiere at Tokyo's Budokan arena on November 15. The multiple AcademyAward-winning director is confirmed to attend the red carpet event at the famedvenue, as well as a press conference with the film's Japanese cast scheduledfor the following day. Lettersfollows Flags Of ...
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Tokyo Filmex unveils nine competition titles
Tokyo Filmex hasannounced the line-up for its seventh edition. Festivaldirectors and programmers Kanako Hayashi and Shozo Ichiyama have selected ninefilms to compete for a Grand Prize of $8,500 (Y1m). The titles include Close To Home by debut directors DaliaHager and Vidi Bilu, Half Moon from Iraniandirector Bahman Ghobadi, Mani Haghighi's ...
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Japanese actor Tetsuro Tamba dies aged 84
Tetsuro Tamba, one of Japan's most famous and prolific actors, died of pneumonialate September 24 at the age of 84. Born in Tokyo in 1922, Tamba became a translator for alliedoccupation forces after Japan was defeated in WWII. He made his film debut in 1952,going on to appear in over ...
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Tokyo to open with Flags, close with Murder
The Tokyo International FilmFestival (TIFF) has announced its full line-up for the 19th edition which willclose with veteran director Kon Ichikawa's MurderOf The Inugami Clan. TIFF and Kadokawa chairmanTsugihiko Kadokawa announced Ichikawa and director Milos Forman as recipients of the AkiraKurosawa Award, which carries a prize of $100,000.As previously announced, ...
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Japan names Hula Girls as Oscar selection
The MotionPicture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) hasannounced Lee Sang-il's Hula Girls as Japan's official entry for Best ForeignLanguage Film for the Academy Awards. The final five films nominated in thecategory will be announced by AMPAS on January 23.Hula Girls tells the true story of a group of Japanese coalminers' ...
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Tokyo Filmex to open with Venice winner Still Life
Tokyo Filmex has announcedJia Zhangke's Venice Gold Lion winner StillLife as the opening film at this year's edition. Jia's fifth feature focuseson the lives of couples and families set against the backdrop of the massiveThree Gorges Dam project in China. The film, which was not tipped to win but walkedaway ...
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Japanese industrial giant buys into Comic Book Movies
Japanese conglomerate Itochu has bought a 10% stake in Hollywood-basedComic Book Movies (CBM).The investment, for an undisclosed sum, gives CBM access to theJapanese market through Itochu's licensing and distribution network, includingits Family Mart chain of convenience stores. Itochu will also promote CBM movies released in Japan and assist withglobal promotion.Itochu ...
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Fuji TV unveils fourth spin-off in Bayside franchise
Fuji TV has announcedanother entry in its successful Bayside Shakedownfilm and TV franchise - Bengoshi HaijimaHideki (Hideki Haijima, Esq.) - to bedirected by Daisaku Kobayashi and star actor and TV presenter Norito Yashima.The TV movie will be thefourth spin-off produced since the release of the original feature film in 1998and ...
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First wave of Blu-ray releases announced in Japan
Sony, Matsushita and majorhome video companies have announced that consumer-priced Blu-ray disc playersand 75 movie titles will be released in Japan this November.The discs will sell at arange of prices under $42.78 (Y5,000) which is slightly more than standard DVDreleases. The initial releases coincide with Sony's debut of the PlayStation ...
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Japan plans early expansion for Sokurov's The Sun
The Sun, director Alexander Sokurov's drama aboutEmperor Hirohito after Japan's WWII defeat, hasexpanded its cinema count earlier and in greater numbers than originallyanticipated. The film,released by small distributor Slow Learner, opened Aug 5 on one screen each inTokyo and Nagoya. The opening weekend in Tokyo broke the predominantly B-movietheatre's record ...
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Shochiku promotes Matsumoto to head film division
Japanese studio Shochikuannounced today several changes in the top management of its motion picturedivision. Chiefly, Teruki Matsumoto has been promotedto managing director of the filmed entertainment division. In the position Matsumotowill oversee all production, development and distribution of feature films. He will report directly to Shochiku president Junichi Sakomoto,who himself ...
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Japanese box office poised to beat 2005 numbers
When the list of the top tenreleases for the first half of 2006 was widely reported in the Japanese medialast month, it was clear that the trend toward homegrown hits was alive andwell, with seven of the slots occupied by Japanese films.A barrage of local andHollywood summer movies has altered ...
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Eastwood's Iwo Jima film to open Tokyo festival
The 19th annual Tokyo International FilmFestival has announced that its opening film on Oct 21 will be Clint Eastwood'sFlags Of OurFathers.The film is the first of two that focus on the WWIIbattle for the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. Flagsdepicts events from the American side, while the forthcoming Red Sun, ...
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Yubari fantastic film festival closes its doors
After much speculation aboutthe future of the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival (YIFFF), it wasofficially announced today that the 17-year-old event is being shut down. The closure is due to thecurrent state of bankruptcy in the tiny town of Yubari in the Hokkaido region in the north of Japan. The ...