Japanese films losing luster once again

[Davey]

A small article about Japanese movies I found and wanted to share. Hope that there will come out some nice Japanese movies again this year.

Japanese films losing luster once again

In 2006, for the first time in 21 years, Japanese movies generated more revenue than foreign films released in this country. But this was short-lived.

A survey by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan Inc. of 2007 ticket sales, released Thursday, shows that foreign movies accounted for 52.3 percent of combined box office revenue.

The survey also showed that the domestic movie industry relied heavily on tie-ups with TV networks.

The highest-grossing film of 2007 was "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" with 10.9 billion yen.

Meanwhile, "HERO" brought in the most box office revenue for a Japanese movie with 8.15 billion yen. The film, starring popular actor Takuya Kimura, ranked third overall.

More than half of the top 10 grossing Japanese movies had TV networks as their main producer.

About 60 percent of moviegoers said that TV had helped decide their choice, according to one survey.

Read the whole article

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

A small article about Japanese movies I found and wanted to share. Hope that there will come out some nice Japanese movies again this year.

American movies have bigger budgets and are highly escapist. They are certainly pretty to look at, generally speaking. Why not go to a foreign flick?

Besides, people are still infatuated with America, where most of these films come from. They're a break from everyday life. Japanese films are closer to home, so they are less interesting at a certain level.

I think that if Japanese movies were consistently made with the same budgets that American movies are along with the same advertising blitzes, they could compete better, but on the other hand, I think it's a huge waste of money.

Although most people don't really go to movies for the story, that is what truly matters in the end. You don't need large budgets for excellent stories.

 

[Elizabeth van Kampen]

As a European I can see many films in different languages on top of that I have a digital box, so I can see round and about 110 transmitting stations.

But most of them send out American films. So I can watch Germany and see a American film speaking in German.
We have some good Dutch films in Holland, but just like in Japan, the majority comes from the U.S. But in Holland we have subtitles so that is less interfering.

All together I am sorry about not seeing many French, British, Italian and German films, I used to enjoy them very much.

So I can understand those Japanese who would like to see more Japanese films now and then