All articles by Mark Schilling – Page 10
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News
Walt Disney Japan faces potentially damaging lawsuit
Japanese buyers of the DVD version of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away have filed a potentially damaging suit against distributor Walt Disney Japan, claiming that the colour of the film is "totally different" from that of the theatrical release. The suit, filed by three consumers in Kyoto District Court, asks for ...
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Tokyo FILMex confirms its competitive status
While the Tokyo International Film Festival struggles to regain ground lost to Asian competition, like the recent Pusan Film Festival, a new event has arisen right under its nose. Tokyo FILMeX celebrates its third edition this year with a line-up that definitely, almost defiantly, emphasises culture over commerce. Instead of ...
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Reviews
Out
Dir: Hideyuki Hirayama. Japan. 2002. 119 mins.Every once in a while a Japanese movie comes along that translates well across borders, whether as an original or a remake. Hideo Nakata's Ringu was one, Hideyuki Hirayama's Out, a black comedy about three women who chop up bodies for cash, is another, ...
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Potter sets new Japanese box office record
Launched on a record 858 screens on November 23, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets has become the highest-grossing opener of all-time in Japan, taking $16.7m from 862,958 admissionsThe previous record holder was Star Wars: Episode II - Attacks Of The Clones, with an opening gross of $13m. Third ...
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There's nothing like the present for Japanese cinema
With the economy stagnant and the political situation in turmoil, its no wonder Japanese audiences want to escape the present. Fittingly, there are an extraordinary number of new Japanese live-action films set in the past or in the future. And yet, only a few years ago both the sci-fi and ...
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US remake of The Ring outperforms original in Japan
The Hollywood remake of Hideo Nakata's 1998 horror Ringu has already become a bigger hit in Japan than the original, after just three weeks on release. Topping the box office chart the first week after opening on November 2, Gore Verbinski's The Ring (pictured) has grossed $8.3m (Y1bn) from 800,000 ...
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DreamWorks to remake Kurosawa's Ikiru
Hisao Kurosawa, the president of Kurosawa Productions, has confirmed that he is in discussions with DreamWorks over a remake of his father Akira Kurosawa's 1952 classic Ikiru (pictured). Kurosawa, however, declined to comment on the production, saying that negotiations were still ongoing. According to press reports, DreamWorks' Walter Parkes and ...
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Japan picks Out Oscar nominee
Japan has selected Hideyuki Hirayama's Out as its nominee for the foreign language film category at next year's Academy Awards. A female orientated black comedy, Out was selected from a shortlist of ten films by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan.Based on a recently published novel by best-selling mystery ...
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Scorsese, DiCaprio gang up for Japanese campaign
Director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio are preparing to launch a major push in Japan for the forthcoming release of Gangs Of New York.Both are scheduled to arrive in Japan on November 18, spending five days on a concerted PR tour - as part of a bid to boost ...
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Japan's film industry to get boost from cultural affairs agency
Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs is to raise $20m (Y2.5bn) for a range of activities to support the local film industry and promote Japanese films abroad.In its proposal for the fiscal 2003 budget, the agency detailed a number of new schemes with which to boost national film production and export ...
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Japan bucks Evil box-office trend
After a mediocre performance in North America and most international territories, Resident Evil is taking Japan by storm with a first week gross of $10m.Released on an initial 190 screens nationwide, distributor Amuse Pictures expects the action-horror title, based on the popular video game series, to end up grossing at ...
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Japanese producer/distributor to float on Jasdaq
Tohokushinsha, a leading distributor of foreign films to the Japanese television market, with interests in theatrical film production and distribution, will list its shares on the Jasdaq market on October 8.According to the announcement made by the Japan Securities Dealers Association, the company will make an initial offering of 6.2 ...
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Reviews
Dolls (Pusinky)
Dir: Takeshi Kitano. Jap. 2002. 113 mins.Takeshi Kitano returns to Venice, where he won the Golden Lion with Hana-Bi in 1997, with Dolls, a film about three pairs of star-crossed lovers. The film's unusual 'bunraku' (Japanese puppet play) structure, in which the protagonists of a puppet love story come to ...
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Reviews
Dolls (Pusinky)
Dir: Takeshi Kitano. Jap. 2002. 113 mins.Takeshi Kitano returns to Venice, where he won the Golden Lion with Hana-Bi in 1997, with Dolls, a film about three star-crossed lovers. The film's unusual 'bunraku' (Japanese puppet play) structure, in which the protagonists of a puppet love story come to life, may ...
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News
Japan's Sony Pictures turns cinemagoers into film bookers
Japan's Sony Pictures is to overturn the established practice of film programming by inviting audiences to chose which movies to screen - and at which venues, as well as at what times.Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) will launch a new service offering special screenings of Sony films, based on Internet polls. ...
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Columbia TriStar snaps up rights to Japanese sci-fi Returner
Columbia Tristar Motion Picture Group has bought worldwide rights, outside Asia, to Returner, a sci-fi thriller expected to be one of the big Japanese films of the year.Although Hollywood has taken a greater interest in Japan in recent years, the purchase by a major studio of worlwide rights to a ...
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Japan banks on period dramas to woo international market
Japan is targeting the international market that swooned over Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with at least seven new youth-oriented period dramas in various stages of production.Following 1999's boardroom coup, Shochiku's new management team, led by Nobuyoshi Otani, has dramatically beefed up the company's slate and is now investing $35m to ...
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Japan's film industry sustains growth - over three years
Sustained by the twin engines of multiplex growth and the popularity of anime titles, Japan's film industry has enjoyed a three-year period of growth, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Total revenues from film production and distribution and video sales have risen 5.7%, from $4.2bn in ...
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Reviews
The Sea Watches (Umi Wa Miteita)
Dir: Kei Kumai. Japan. 2002. 119mins.Based on a script by Akira Kurosawa, The Sea Watches (Umi wa Miteita) tries for a Kurosawa look, using the master's continuity drawings and production notes in telling its story of 19th-century era prostitutes. The director, however, is Kei Kumai, a veteran known abroad for ...
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Japan's Kadokawa acquires Daiei film studio
Kadokawa Shoten Publishing, a publishing house with extensive media interests, has reached an agreement to acquire the Daiei studio from Tokuma Publishing.Once a major studio, Daiei went bankrupt in 1971 and later became the wholly owned subsidiary of Tokuma. Over the last 10 years it has staged a corporate ...