EXCLUSIVE: Japanese kabuki epic Kokuho has racked up a wave of fresh sales worldwide through Pyramide International.
The film has been acquired for UK and Ireland (Vue Lumière), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Films), Spain (Filmin), Italy (Tucker Films), Brazil (Imovision), Latin America excluding Brazil (Madness), Turkey (Vagon), Israel (Lev), Greece (One From The Heart), Finland (Cinema Mondo), and ex-Yugoslavia (Fivia and MCF). It adds to previous sales to Benelux (September Films) and Switzerland (Trigon).
Japan’s Aniplex, which oversees sales in Asia, has sold the film to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei (Media Prima), Vietnam (Aeon Entertainment) and Thailand (Sahamongkolfilm International). Previous acquisitions in Asia included South Korea (Media Castle), Hong Kong (Edko) and Taiwan (Filmware).
Directed by Lee-Sang-il, the film is Japan’s Oscar submission and highest-grossing local live-action film ever. It plays this week at Red Sea International Film Festival.
Kokuho centres on the son of a yakuza gangster in Nagasaki in the 1960s who is taken under the wing of a renowned kabuki actor following the death of the former’s father alongside the actor’s own son. Set against post-war Japan’s economic boom, the story spans 50 years as the two men perform on the biggest stages and experience glory, downfall, scandal and triumph.
The cast is led by Ryo Yoshizawa, Ryusei Yokohama and Ken Watanabe. It is produced by Aniplex in association with Myriagon Studio, Amuse, Toho Co., Lawson, and Credeus.
Toho released the film in Japan on June 6 where it is still showing and has sold more than 12.3 million tickets and taken $111m (¥17.3m), making it Japan’s top grossing live-action film in history.
GKids acquired the film for North America and released it in New York and Los Angeles last month for an Oscars-qualifying run. Pyramide will release the film in France on December 24.
Kokuho first premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in May and has gone on to screen at a slew of festivals including Toronto and Shanghai. It plays in the Festival Favorites section of Red Sea this week.
The story is adapted from Shuichi Yoshida’s 2017 novel of the same name. Korean Japanese filmmaker Lee previously directed Yoshida’s novel Villain, which won five awards from the Japan Academy following its 2010 release, in addition to The Wandering Moon that also starred Yokohama, plus episodes of hit Apple TV+ series Pachinko.
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