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Domestic films rule Japan's box office in 2006
2006-12-31
Domestic films are set to overtake Hollywood for the first time in 20 years at the Japanese box office in 2006 as subtle or sentimental stories pulled viewers away from Hollywood's brasher fare. The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan estimated that revenue from Japanese movies outpaced Hollywood for the first time since 1985, when US monster movies "Ghostbusters" and "Gremlins" swept the world. "We saw many Japanese films that sold quite well this past year," said movie critic Tadao Sato. "Usually we have only one major hit in a while, like an animation by Hayao Miyazaki." According to the motion picture association, 28 Japanese films earned more than one billion yen (8.42 million dollars) in box-office revenue in 2006 while only 21 non-Japanese films -- all from Hollywood -- cleared the level. "Many Asian movies and independent films are subtle compared with Hollywood and used to have difficulties to attract much of an audience," Sato said. "But they have built their own networks of theaters to gain a stable following from movie lovers." "In addition, the way Hollywood movies attract audiences, such as noisily destroying things from cars to the earth, is getting old and no longer entertains people." To be sure, Hollywood is still doing very well in Japan, which is the world's biggest movie market after the United States. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the latest installment of adventures of the boy wizard, was the year's top performer, earning 11 billion yen (92.5 million dollars). It was followed by Johnny Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," with the much-anticipated bestseller turned movie "The Da Vinci Code" in third place. But the latest "Mission Impossible" film came in fifth, grossing half the amount of "Harry Potter," despite a massive promotional campaign that included star Tom Cruise racing through Tokyo Bay on a speedboat. The biggest hit among Japanese films came in fourth -- "Gedo Senki," the film debut of Goro Miyazaki, the son of animation legend Hayao Miyazaki. Based on US writer Ursula Le Guin's "Earthsea" stories, which were published from 1968 and later compared with J.K. Rowling's smash-hit "Harry Potter" series, the animated film tells the story of a boy who becomes the wizard Ged. Although the most profitable Japanese movie fell short of the top three, the total revenue of Japanese films is expected to slightly surpass that of foreign fare, said Takeshi Otagi, spokesman of the film producers association. Three major distributors in Japan have earned some 79.4 billion yen, or 45.4 percent of the total share, during the 11 months until November, while foreign film providers have made 95.5 billion yen. "But non-Japanese film providers also deal with some Japanese movies," said Otagi. "With those added in, the total share of Japanese productions will reach 51 to 52 percent for the entire 12 months of 2006." Despite science fiction topping the Japanese films, many movie-goers seem to be nostalgic for the past. "Yamato," which at 2.5 billion yen (23 million dollars) was the costliest Japanese film ever made, tells of the world's largest battleship that was sunk in a US air raid in World War II. "Bart no Gakuen," was set during World War I. "Always Sanchome no Yuhi," which came out late last year, describes Japan in late 1950s when people put value in family and community while working hard to recover from wartime poverty. "They may be feeling anxiety at the moral values of today," Sato said. "They may be seeking something solid in the past when social values were clear and simple."
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