Japan box office hit ‘Silent Love’ sells across Asia (exclusive)

Eiji Uchida’s romantic drama Silent Love has been snapped up by a raft of distributors throughout Asia after a bumper opening box office weekend in Japan.

Leading Japanese indie studio Gaga Corporation has closed deals for South Korea (Media Castle), Taiwan (Big Art) and Vietnam (NK Contents) as well as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia (Dream Express).

It follows a strong start for the film in Japan, where Gaga also handles distribution. Released on Friday (January 26), Silent Love ranked third nationwide and was the leading live-action title at the Japanese box office, which is regularly dominated by animated features.

The film took $1.44m (¥212.2m) across its opening weekend, more than twice as much as Oscar-nominated Poor Things, starring Emma Stone, which also opened through Walt Disney Pictures and ranked eighth.

Silent Love centres on a young janitor at a music college, who is mute, and an aspiring pianist who lost her eyesight in an accident. After a chance encounter between the two, the janitor pretends to be an accomplished musician by paying a piano teacher to play in his place. But as a connection grows, all three soon find themselves in trouble.

The two central roles are played by Minami Hamabe, who also stars in box office smash Godzilla Minus One, and Ryosuke Yamada, known as a member of boy band Hey! Say! Jump.

The score is from acclaimed composer Joe Hisaishi, whose credits include Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and more recently The Boy And The Heron, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.

Director Uchida is known for musical comedy Offbeat Cops and Netflix comedy-drama series The Naked Director as well as drama Midnight Swan, which won best film at the Japanese Academy Awards in 2021 and took more than $7m at the box office.

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