Cannes’ Marche du Film has renewed its partnership with Tokyo’s TIFFCOM to host the second edition of the Japan IP Market.
Following its inaugural edition earlier this year, the Japan IP Market will return to the Croisette from May 14-15, 2027.
The announcement was made at TIFFCOM in Tokyo today (October 29) during a session titled Beyond Country of Honour: Building the Next Global Partnerships with Japan, which included Alexandra Zakharchenko, head of industry programmes at the Marche du Film.
Japan was featured as the Country of Honour at this year’s Marche and the IP market formed part of those activities, bringing together leading Japanese rights holders with international industry through pitch sessions, one-to-one meetings and discussions.
Taking place over three days on a catamaran docked next to the Palais, seven major Japanese IP holders participated including Kadokawa, Shochiku and Toei Company, bringing a selection of IPs, including book-to-screen adaptation rights for manga and novels, as well as film remake rights. Guest speakers included Tetsu Fujimura, executive producer of Netflix live-action series One Piece and the founder and CEO of Filosophia.
“By bringing together [Japanese rights holders and international companies] in Cannes, we can help turn growing interest in Japanese content into concrete adaptation deals and acquisitions, while fostering new collaboration opportunities,” said Zakharchenko.
TIFFCOM CEO Yasushi Shiina said its partnership with the Marche “plays a significant role for Japan’s audiovisual industry” and is “key to nurturing Japanese IP into global content”.
Further details on participating companies and the 2027 programme will be announced in the coming months.
TIFFCOM is continuing the momentum this week with the return of the Tokyo IP Market: Adaptation & Remake, which has grown to 10 participants since last year’s inaugural edition and will see each company give a pitch on its flagship IP.
Japanese IP has shown significant international growth. Research presented by Fujimura in Cannes highlighted that IP-based films have come to dominate the global box office, growing from 20% of the top 30 box office titles in1978 to nearly 90% by 2024. Blockbusters such as Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Street Fighter and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie are all based on Japanese IP.
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