Hoga News

"Sakuran" screening event, going to Berlin

Mika Ninagawa's first work as a movie director, "Sakuran" starring Anna Tsuchiya, held a screening event in Tokyo today.  "Sakuran" is scheduled to be shown in Berlin Film Festival at the opening of Official Selection on February 9.

"Sakuran" is a story of a young and maveric oiran (these terms are so delicate that some people resent if I paraphrase them, so see the definition in Wikipedia) in Edo period Japan, based on a popular manga and made by the team of the coolest women in Japan, including the director, screenplay, music director, and actress.  On the red carpet in Berlin, Tsuchiya is scheduled to perform "oiran parade" wearing the full costume of an oiran.  You can see a glimpse of super-colorful oiran world HERE.

"Sakuran" is scheduled to open in Japan on February 24, 2007.

Source:  Variety, CinemaCafe, SANSPO

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More photos HERE at Cinema Topic Online

It's official - Japanese movies take over foreign films in Japan

2006 Japanese box office official statistics were announced by Eiren (Motion Picture Producers Associations of Japan, this announcement is not available in English yet), and as expected, aggregate revenue from Japanese films surpassed foreign films, for the first time since 1985.

Total revenue was 202.5 bil. yen (102% of 2005), and hogas (Japanese movies) took 53.2% vs. foreign movies 46.8%.  In 2005, the figure was 41.3% vs. 58.7%.

Total number of attendance, number of films released, and number of screens all increased slightly.

As the total revenue grew just slightly and foreign film revenue decreased drastically (lost almost 20% of 2005), the picture is not perfect for the whole industry.  The top box office earners of 2006 in Japan were already reported HERE.

Source:  Eiga.com, Eiren

"Dororo" starts great

Mr. Texas reports that "Dororo", starring Satoshi Tsumabuki and Kou Shiabsaki, earned 450 million yen over the opening weekend, which is 115% of Tsumabuki's "Nada Soso" and 75% of Shibasaki's "Sinking of Japan".

He points out the studio Toho had a hit string of "Suite Dreams", "Doreaemon", "Detective Konan", "Umizaru 2", "Trick 2", "Sinking of Japan" and "Tales from Earthsea", all above 400 million yen opening weekend gross by last summer, but they stopped there.  "Dororo" is their long awaited hit, particularly after the high-profile flops "NANA2" and "Murder of the Inugami Clan" (both Toho + TBS).

Source:  Movie Consultant Blog

"Dororo" opens with a big buzz

Action fantasy based on Osamu Tezuka's manga, "Dororo" opens on Saturday in Japan, with cast members Satoshi Tsumabuki, Kou Shibasaki, Kiichi Nakai and Mieko Harada, and director Akihiko Shiota.  See the photo HERE.

Director said, "Tezuka's manga is a combination of tragedy and comedy.  I wanted to picture it in the film."  Tsumabuki said, "I worked hard on action for more than half a year, and I feel that effort worked out", speaking of filming in New Zealand.  The film has already secured the distribution in 23 countries in the world.

Other than "Dororo", some more new films such as "Yume Juya", "Tamamoe!", and "Kofuku na Shokutaku" are released this weekend.

Source:  Cinema Topic Online

Blue Ribbon Awards Announced - Ken Watanabe won for the first time

Blue Ribbon Awards final result was just announced.  (HERE is the full nominees list.)  As expected, Ken Watanabe won the Best Actor award for the first time, while the Best Actress was a bit of surprise - I thought it would go to Miki Nakatani for "Memories of Matsuko", but instead, went to Yu Aoi, the most visible up-and-coming actress in 2006.  Also as expected, "Hula Girls" won big in many categories.

• Best Picture:  "Hula Girls"
• Best Director:  Miwa Nishikawa ("Sway")
• Best Actor:  Ken Watanabe ("Memories of Tomorrow") (See the article HERE)
• Best Actress:  Yu Aoi ("Hola Girls", "Honey and Clover")  (See the article HERE)
• Best Supporting Actor:  Teruyuki Kagawa ("Sway", "Memories of Tomorrow", "Sea without Exit")
• Best Supporting Actress:  Sumiko Fuji ("Hula Girls", "Murder of the Inugami Clan", "A Hardest Night")
• Best New Face:  Muga Tsukaji ("The Brothers Mamiya"), Rei Dan ("Love and Honor")
• Best Foreign Film:  "Flags of our Fathers"
• Special Awards:  late Shohei Imamura

Best 10 Japanese Movies:  "Memories of Tomorrow", "Kamiya Etsuko no Seishun", "Kamome Diner", "Memories of Matsuko", "Saga no Gabai Bachan", "Professor and his Beloved Equation", "Love and Honor", "Hula Girls", "What the Snow Brings", "Sway"

Best 10 Foreign Movies:  "Letters from Iwo Jima", "King and the Clown", "Capote", "Good Night and Good Luck", "The Sun", "Flags of Our Fathers", "Brokeback Mountain", "Hotel Rwanda", "The Wind That Shakes the Barley", "United 93"

Source:  SANSPO (1) (2)

Rinko Kikuchi interview on Hoga Central

To celebrate her Oscar nomination, I just put up Rinko Kikuchi's interview article on Hoga Central.

I know there is already a great in-depth interview article on Midnight Eye (probably from the same press event), but I had to do my own version for a personal reason, so here it is.  Some additional links, photos and filmography are shown as well.

Please see Hoga Central Rinko Kikuchi Interview.

"Bugmaster" in Sundance, getting offers

Katsuhiro Otomo's manga-based fantasy "Bugmaster", starring Joe Odagiri, is currently shown in Sundance Film Festival in Utah, and the studio Toshiba Entertainment revealed that they are getting offers from more than 10 countries, including US and Australia.  The film was shown at Venice Film Festival last year as well.

Back in Japan, a screening event was held with Otomo and Odagiri appearing on stage.  Odagiri said, "this story is very much Japanese, so I am curious how foreigners feel to watch this movie."

Source:  SANSPO, Cinema Topic Online

Rinko Kikuchi nominated in Oscars

Rinko Kikuchi was nominated in Supporting Actress category in Academy Awards, as expected.  "Letters from Iwo Jima" starring Ken Watanabe was also nominated in 4 categories, including the Best Picture.

See Oscar's website for full list of nominees.

Masayuki Suo's comeback film starts good

Masayuki Suo's "I Just Didn't Do It", a serious court drama about a young man falsely accused of sexual molestation, started last weekend with 116 million yen gross at number 6 in the weekend ranking in Japan.  The final gross is expected to reach 1 billion yen.  "The Departed" and "Marie Antoinette" started at #1 and 2.  Another new hoga in the top ten was "My Sister, My Love" starring Johnny's young idol Jun Matsumoto.

At the opening day, Suo appeared on the stage along with the main cast members Ryo Kase, Asaka Seto, Koji Yakusho, and Masako Motai.  Suo stated, "I don't have any particular feeling about the 11 year blank.  I concentrated on depicting the litigation process that I witnessed as precisely as possible.  It took me 3 and half years to write the script, and before that I spent 6 and half years playing baseball.  (laughs)"  See the photo here.

Source:  Eiga.com, Cinema Topic Online

"Blue Wolf" world premiere held in Ulaanbaatar

The spectacle about the life of historical Mongolian hero Genghis Khan "The Blue Wolf: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea", directed by Shinichiro Sawai and co-produced by Mongolia and Japan, was shown at public screening in Monglia's capitol Ulaanbaatar.  500 people, including 200 Mongolian government officials, gave applause 4 times during the screening, at such scenes as huge cavalry battle and Khan's enthronement ceremony filled with 20,000 real Mongolian people.  See the photo here.

Executive Producer Haruki Kadokawa was very happy by saying, "the biggest hurdle in my mind was the reaction of Mongolian people.  With today's welcome, I felt 'I won!'"

Besides Kadokawa, actresses Mayumi Wakamura, who plays Khan's mother, and Rei Kikukawa, Khan's wife, as well as actor Yusuke Hirayama, Khan's best friend, and producer Ryuhei Chiba were present at the premiere event.  The leading actor Takashi Sorimachi could not make it due to the schedule conflict.

Kadokawa revealed that he is getting offers from more than 30 countries around the world.  Kadokawa, who poured 3 billion yen into the film's production, hopes to draw 100 million attendance all over the world.  The film will be released both in Mongolia and Japan on March 3, and will be marketed at Hong Kong FILMART on March 20.  Japanese release will be on 350 screens, biggest ever for a J-movie.

Source:  SANSPO