All articles by Mark Schilling – Page 2
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Media Blasters takes gay samurai comedy to the US
Media Blasters is to distribute KankuroKudo's hitJapanese gay samurai road comedy Yaji And Kita, The MidnightPilgrims in the US next summer, with plans to roll out to 40 screens in NewYork, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major cities. Starring pop star Tomoya Nagase and Kabukiactor Shichinosuke Nakamura in the title ...
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Ninja title Shinobi set for US remake
In a greeting to the audience on September 17, theopening day of his new film Shinobi, director Ten Shimoyama announcedthat a Hollywood company has offered to remake his ninja actioner - even beforeits release in Japan. Distributor and international sales company Shochiku hadscreened a 10-minute show reel of the film, ...
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Tokyo festival unveils Asian focused line-up
With a sharper focus on Asian and Japanese films, theTokyo International Film Festival (Oct 10-30) has announced its line-up for its18th edition.The opening film will be Riding Alone for Thousands ofMiles, Zhang Yimou's new film about an elderly man embarking a researchtrip in China for his dying son. Star Ken ...
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April Snow blankets Japanese box office
Heo Jin-ho's romantic drama April Snowearned$2,8m on its opening weekend in Japan on 413 screens -- a new record for aKorean film in the Japanese market. Distributor UIP predicts a total take between $22.5m(Y2.5bn) and $27.0m, which would makeApril Snow the highest grossing Korean film ever released in Japan. April ...
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Otani's Nana dominates Japanese entertainment charts
Kentaro Otani's Nana,a female buddy movie based on a best-selling comic and featuring a theme songby the film's co-star Miki Nakajima, has achieved a rare entertainment worldtriple whammy: the film, comic and song are all number one in their respective charts.Produced by Japanesebroadcaster TBS and released on 296 screens on ...
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Japan's Index Corp acquires Nikkatsu
Japan's Index Corp, a company offering mobile phone and internet content services,has announced its acquisition of film producer and distributor Nikkatsu fromits current corporate owner, Namco. The deal, which is expectedto be finalised by mid-September, will result in Index buying a more than 50%stake for $36m-$45.5m (Y4bn-Y5bn). Namco, which currently ...
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Reviews
The Great Goblin War (Yokai Daisenso)
Dir: Takashi Miike. Jap.2005. 124mins.Announcing the production of the $30m The Great Goblin War lastSeptember, Kadokawa Group chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa said the film would'rival Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings in its worldwideappeal".To make its chairman's wordsa reality, Kadokawa hired Takashi Miike, a director best known for hisfull-frontal plunges ...
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The Suspect impresses at Japanese box office
The Suspect, the fourth in the series of films that startedwith the massive local hit Bayside Shakedown, had an impressive opening at the Japanese box office overthe weekend.The Fuji TV film, aboutthe inner workings of the Tokyo police, finished its opening weekend (August 27to 28) with a gross of $5,859,026 ...
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Tokyo governor to produce wartime drama
Tokyo governorShintaro Ishihara will script and executive produce a film about Japanesesuicide pilots in World War II. Called Kimi no tame ni koso Shiniiku (I WillDie for You), the film will be directed by Taku Shinjo and distributed byToei. The cast andrelease date have yet to be decided. The genesis ...
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Japanese film takeover deal collapses
Cable and broadband broadcaster Usen Corp. has revealed itwill not acquire film producer and distributor Nikkatsu from its parentcompany, game maker Namco.The deciding factor was reportedly strong opposition fromthe Nikkatsu labor union. In an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a Usenofficial said that the company no longer "expects to ...
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Zhang Yimou to chair Tokyo Film Festival jury
China's Zhang Yimou will chair the jury for the18th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-30) with hisnew film, Riding Alone ForThousands of Miles, opening the proceedings.Miles stars Ken Takakura as anelderly Japanese man who journeys to a provincial city in China to film a traditional Beijing opera ...
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Japanese producers look to spark animal magic
Animal films are big again in Japan, after the thumpingsuccess last year of Yoichi Sai's Quill. Based on a true story, thisheart-warmer about a lovable blind dog and its grumpy middle-aged mastergrossed $20m (Y2.2bn) in Japan and was a hit across Asia. Japan's first cinematic animal wave -- or rather ...
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Japanese Star Wars opening breaks galactic records
Star WarsEpisode III - Revenge of the Sith has recorded 500,000 admissions for a grossof $6.3m (Y700m) since Saturday'sopening - beating its predecessors in the series.On July 10 and11, the film - making its final debut in a major territory - earned $20m (Y2.22bn) on 1.57 million admissions. Distributor20th Century ...
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Reviews
Ashura (Ashura-jo no Hitomi)
Dir: Yojiro Takita. Jap.2005. 119mins.The film version of a hitplay, Ashura is set in and around the Kabuki world of early 19th-centuryTokyo (then called Edo). It even stars Somegoro Ichikawa, a Kabuki actorreprising his stage role as the demon-slaying hero.Save for its Kabukiperformance scenes, however, the film is, less Kabuki ...
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Reviews
Samurai Commando Mission 1549 (Sengoku Jieitai 1549)
Dir: Masaaki Tezuka.Japan. 2005. 119mins.A remake of Kosei Saito's1979 film about a military Self Defence Forces (SDF) unit that time travelsback to the days of the samurai, Samurai Commando: Mission 1549 hasalready attracted a flood of foreign rights offers for producer KadokawaPictures. Concluded deals totalled 31 at last count - ...
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Kadokawa breaks sales records with Samurai Commando
Kadokawa Pictures has confirmed sales of SamuraiCommando Mission 1549 - a science fiction fantasy about aJapaneseSelf-Defence Forcesunit time-travelling back to the days ofthe samurai - to 31 international territories. This breaks a modern-day recordfor a domestic live-action film held by Hideo Nakata's Ringu, with 30.The film is scheduled for theatricalrelease ...
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Garner to star in Japanese drama remake
Jennifer Garner has committed tostar in a remake of the 2004 Japanese hit drama Be With You, with WarnerBros agreeing to distribute, according to Kei Haruna, one of the film'sproducers. He says Garner attended aprivate screening of a subtitled print in Los Angeles in January. Moved by the film's story ...
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Asian piracy cuts into Japanese film profits
Asian authorities have seized 707,709 items of piratedJapanese entertainment software in the first four months of 2005, incooperation with the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), anorganization representing the Japanese entertainment contents industry.CODA chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, who also heads theKadokawa media group,toldreportersthat the organisationinvestigated 994 stores suspected of selling pirated films, ...
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Negotiator becomes biggest Japanese film of 2005
Negotiator,theKatsuyuki Motohiro thriller spun offfrom his megahit BaysideShakedown films, passed the 2 millionadmissions mark on June 1, the 26th day after its May 7 release. With a gross of $25.6m (Y2.7bn), Negotiator has become the top-earning Japanese film of theyear.Produced by Fuji TV,thefilmstars comedianYusuke Santa Maria as criminal negotiator Masayoshi ...
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Japanese uber-producer lines up Kurosawa remakes
Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho, thecompany of uber-producer Haruki Kadokawa, has acquired the remake rights to theAkira Kurosawa classics Yojimbo and Tsubaki Sanjuro from KurosawaProduction. The purchase price, asannounced by Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho, is $2.8m (Y3000m).The company has indicatedthat, after it remakes the films for the Japanese market, it may makeadditional versions ...