- This weekend’s big release over in Japan is the manga adaptation Dororo. Long considered as the first major blockbuster of 2007, it’s adapted from legendary artist Osamu Tezuka, stars rumored romantic couple Shibasaki Kou and Satoshi Tsumabuki, and features the talent of Hero choreographer Ching Siu-Tung. A review (link thanks to Ryuganji) by the Daily Yomiuri is out and it’s here.

- Saw Blood and Bones last night (review by Twitch here), and it’s all true - Takeshi Kitano does play a bastard with almost no redeeming quality and there’s no Hollywood comeuppance here, he’s pretty much like that all the way up to the end. It’s an unflinching portrait of a monster who rules his Korean-Japanese neighborhood with an iron fist, and yet it’s compelling enough to hold my attention for all of its 144 minutes, but it’s compelling because it’s so unflinching. There’s no doubt that it’s not an easy movie to watch - “Beat” Takeshi literally spends his first scene raping his wife in front of their young daughter - but it’s a tragic journey worth watching. Considered yourself warned - it earns its category-III rating pretty early on.

- In the Japanese box office this past weekend, the biggest Japanese film opening was “Shall We Dance” director Masayuki Suo’s first film in 11 years “Soredemo Boku wa yattenai” (Even then, I Still Didn’t Do It). It’s gotten some strong reviews , but it garnered only a 116 million yen opening on 203 screens for a 5th place opening. However, Hoga Central reports that it’s expected to hit that ever-important billion yen mark. We’ll see if the power of word of mouth will work as well as it has for Yoji Yamada’s “Bushi no Ichibun”

source: Box Office Mojo, Hoga Central.

- Meanwhile, Johnnie To’s Election is being released is one theatre in Japan, and Japan Times has a very positive review for it.

source: Japan Times.

- Thursday numbers are out for Hong Kong. Look for Blood Diamond and Happy Birthday to lead the pack again. The biggest performer of this week’s opening, and the widest release, is Tom Tykwer’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, which did HK$160,000 on 21 screens (with a 7619 per-screen average) for third place. The Japanese film “Taiyo no Uta” (or called Midnight Sun in Hong Kong) opened with only $90,000 on 16 screens, despite advertising around the city and radio play for the theme song. Taiwanese film “Eternal Summer” (nicknamed as the male version of “Blue Gate Crossing”) opened with a decent HK$70,000 on 8 screens (a decent 8750 per-screen), bringing its total to $HK100,000 (including the advance screenings this past weekend). It’ll do strong but limited numbers for the weekend, thanks to the category-III rating and the limited amount of theatres.

source: mov3.com

So the winner of the Hong Kong box office holiday battle is actually Casino Royale. However, this is only winner in dollar amount because it seems that any films longer than 140 minutes would mean an increase of HK$10 in admissions (Casino Royale runs a hefty 146 minutes, and Babel gets the same treatment since its running time is 142 minutes). If an average ticket price in Hong Kong is HK$50, this would mean the final gross have been inflated as much as 20%. If the actual attendance number is counted a la Korean box office figures, Curse of the Golden Flower may’ve won the final battle. We’ll never know.

When I was in Japan, I saw right-wing political groups with a van and a microphone standing in the middle of crowded areas making crazy right-wing nationalist statements. People tend to ignore it, or even mock it. Rightfully so, I’d say.

In that vein, a shocking report this morning came out. Apparently in response to the new documentary “Nanking,” based on the controversial Iris Chang book “The Rape of Nanking” and premiered recently at Sundance, Japanese filmmaker Satoru Mizushima has announced that he will make his own documentary to present his own version of “what really happened” in Nanking. The film, titled “The Truth about Nanking,” will be released in December for the anniversary of the massacre, where it’s been generally acknowledged that over 200,000 Chinese were killed in an invasion by the Japanese Imperial Army. The film has the support of several conservative house members and Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, who also wrote his own nationalist film to be released in May - “Ore wa Kimi no Tame ni Shi ni Iku” (”For You, I Go To My Death”).

Sources:
Japan Times
Variety Asia
Daily Mainichi
Ryuganji

Note that around that time, there will also be a film adaptation of “The Rape of Nanking,” co-produced by China released.

And we complain about right-wingers in America.

Back from a very long vacation to find a few shocking things happened in the Asian film world:

- The death of Grady Hendrix’s Kaiju Shakedown. This is probably one of favorite sites on the net, and major news outlet for this blog. Grady, I hope you’re on the way to bigger and better things as I type. Rest assured, though, the news reported on this website should not decrease by much, thanks for strong sites such as Twitch and the newly discovered Variety Asia. The link section will be duly corrected.

- The choices for This year’s Hong Kong Critics Society Awards seems rather strange, with a Mainland sweep of the acting awards, and some strange omissions of excellent films such as Isabella and My Name is Fame (for Confession of Pain and Wo Hu instead?)

- Marie Antoinette getting second place in the first weekend’s box office in Japan with the highest per-screen average for a wide release (The Departed may be the box office winner, but it’s in a limited 61-screen release). It’s also doing very well in limited release in Hong Kong, where I watched a 2:50 pm show on a tuesday afternoon in an almost-full house. As of Tuesday the 23rd, it’s earned HK$440,000 after 4 days of release on 4 screens.

That’s it for now. Tomorrow, some reviews of the 8 movies I saw on this trip, and some more number crunching.

First of all, happy new year to everyone out there. I’m currently in Japan, and since I’m staying with my girlfriend’s family, and it’s new years in Japan, I don’t have much chance to write entries. Which is also why I won’t be elborating on much of the news today:

-Hong Kong holiday box office is dying down a little bit, and after the lead by Curse of the Golden Flowers, Confession of Pain is making a bit of a comeback. As of Tuesday’s numbers, Confession of Pain is leading with HK$560,000 on 41 screens versus CURSE’s HK$450,000 on 44 screens. The total, however, is still led by CURSE’s 17.25 million vs. CONFESSION 16.26 million. The overall winner of the holiday box office race is so far Casino Royale, still going strong on Tuesday with HK$530,000 on 34 screens and a HK$18.16 million total.

Of course, all of could, but not likely, change with the release of The Holiday, Deja Vu, and Nana 2. The two American films may impact the Casino Royale business, and since the first NANA only did moderate numbers when it opened in Hong Kong, it should simply place a small wedge between the current leaders.

-Went to a half-full English-subtitled showing of Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima. While it needed some editing towards the end, and a bit more historical context (maybe the American print would have this?), I thought it was a very powerful exploration into the futility of both war and the glorification of it. It asks question of what is honor at the time of war, and it is fairly diplomatic by not asking which side is more evil. Overall a good film with very strong acting, very strong directing, but albeit a slightly detaching film as well. I’m glad it’s doing well in Japan, but a little disappointed the numbers aren’t better in America. This deserves to be seen in a big screen and loud speakers. I will also try and catch Flags of Our Fathers in Hong Kong.

In conclusion, it’s not better than Babel, but it’s still one of the best films of the year.

I usually talk about wide releases, so I figure it’s time we recognize some films in limited release around the world.

Olivier Marchal’s 36 Quai des Orfevres, which I saw in Hong Kong in March 2005 (and was quick to be compared to Infernal Affairs), is currently in fairly successful limited run in Tokyo. Playing in one theater, it found an audience of 1200 over its two-day opening weekend, earning 1,700,000 yen. If that doesn’t sound very impressive by pure numbers, look at the theater - one-screen, 150-seat theater, showing the film 4 times a day. 1200 people, divided by 8 shows (over two days), and that an average of 150 people per showing. Personally, I think the film had a very good script supported by strong performances, but bogged down by a lack of fluid pacing and distracting music cues. Still, it’s great to see any film score such a strong opening weekend.

(source: Eiga Consultant)

Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima and Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower also faced off in limited release this past weekend in America. Since CURSE was on 60 screens and LETTERS was only on 5, the only way to declare a winner is to look at per-screen average. While the estimates show a LETTERS win with a US$15, 300 per-screen average (and CURSE getting only 8,150), both films can be considered disappointments. LETTERS is nowhere near some of the biggest limited opening weekends for foreign films - Motorcycle Diaries had a 53, 273 per-screen, and even House of Flying Daggers had a 26498 per-screen in 15 theaters. Maybe as the awards continue to roll in for LETTERS, its performance will get better. I would’ve seen it on Wednesday, but I didn’t even know it had come out in San Francisco because I haven’t seen one ad for it.

(source: Box Office Mojo)

- As I hinted in my last entry, I will be on vacation starting next week. I’ll be in Japan from 12/26 through the new year to 1/11, and then Hong Kong from 1/11-1/24 (life of a new college graduate - travel). I tried to find a concert to go to in Japan, to no avail. It seems like the concerts I want to go to are all desperately out of reach. Luckily, I scored some tickets, thanks to the good folks at HK’s URBTIX, to the Denise Ho (AKA HOCC) concert on 1/20. Then, of course, I found just now that AT17 is holding a concert on from 1/3-1/5 in Hong Kong. Disappointment is me.

Oh, well, I’ll just buy this to make up for it.

- The Thursday opening day box office numbers are in, and it’s no contest - Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower is in first with HK$1.07 million on 43 screens (That’s a HK$24,883 per-screen), Confessions of Pain in a far second with HK$830,000 on 45 screens (a HK$18444 per-screen), Casino Royale at third with HK$700,000 on 36 screens (a HK$19444 per-screen), Happy Feet at fourth with HK$460,000 on 34 screens (HK$13,529 per-screen - don’t let this one fool you, though. Those numbers will pick up by the weekend), and Eragon with a measly 160,000 on 31 screens.

Except for Casino Royale and Happy Feet possibly switching places by the end of the weekend, the top 4 films should continue to do very strong numbers over the 3-day weekend.

(source: mov3.com)

- The official numbers from the Japanese box office also came in. Looks like NANA2 may still have a chance at hitting the all-important 10 billion yen mark after dropping only 20%, but it’s not going to be that 6th big Japanese film like everyone had predicted. Letters From Iwo Jima will probably stay strong through the new year with only a 26.5% drop in its second weekend. Hopefully, it’ll be strong enough so I can catch an English-subtitled version next week when I travel to Japan.

(source: Box Office Mojo)

- And the controversal Japanese drama of the season, 14 Sai no Haha (or 14-year old Mother), broadcasted its last episode to its highest ratings yet - 22.4%., and a final average of 18.4%, much much stronger than the drama from the same timeslot the previous season. I think most of the ratings came from the thematic controversy, since the show itself is tame with its subject matter, turning its wagging finger on rich moms and nosy neighbors. This season’s strongest drama, Clinic of Dr. Koto 2006, wrapped up last night in Japan time, and ratings should be in any time now.

(source: Dramanews.net)

And here comes another new blog on Asian cinema that the internet doesn’t need. Let’s just dive right into it, shall we?

- The big Christmas movies are opening this weekend in Hong Kong. On the Chinese corner is Zhang Yimou-Chow Yun-Fat-Gong Li-and-her-cleavage-and-overrated Jay Chou’s Curse of the Golden Flower vs. Andrew Lau-Alan-Mak-Tony Leung Chiu-Wai-Takeshi Kaneshiro’s murder mystery Confessions of Pain. This one is hard to call - both films should attract teenage girl-worthy audiences (thanks to the films’ respective idol power), but Golden Flower will also be attracting the over-40 crowd (thanks to Chow Yun-Fat AND Gong Li), while Confessions will be bringing in the all-important 25-40 crowd (thanks to the Infernal Affairs team’s presence).

On the half-American/half-Hong Kong side, we have Penguin-dancing Happy Feet, with the Hong Kong voice talents of Justin Lo, Stephy Tang, and Vincent Kok. It certainly doesn’t match up to the English version’s talent roster of Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, and Robin Williams, but look for the family and teenage girl crowd to flock to this one.

Kind of continuing, maybe opening once and for all, we have the new James Bond flick Casino Royale. It had a pretty strong preview week, playing in less theaters than Eragon (thus a lower gross), but it maintained a higher per-screen average as of Tuesday’s gross is concerned (CASINO’s HK$10,000 on 33 screens vs. ERAGON’s HK$7600 on 50 screens. US$1=HK$7.78). With a full-on opening, it should have a fairly strong weekend.

We also have the second weekend of Eragon, which may take away some of the family-friendly business away, but Happy Feet will probably come in and make Eragon’s second weekend pretty miserable. Again, Thursday’s gross will be the biggest indicator.

In limited release, there is no new limited release this weekend. Hence, Paris je t’aime, which already had two strong weekends playing on 3 screens, should hang in there with only 2 screens/3 showings a day. Little Miss Sunshine dwindles down to two screens with two showings a day, it may still have a fighting chance at the top ten come Sunday, but it looks like it’s going to be between Confessions of Pain, Curse of the Golden Flower, Happy Feet, Casino Royale, and Eragon.

The Nativity Story is still playing on quite a few screens, and Christmas is coming up. But honestly, who am I kidding? It’ll be pretty much gone this weekend.

(source: mov3.com)

- In DVD news, Johnnie To’s box-office disappointment and critically acclaimed Exiled is out, and there’s no doubt that come March, Johnnie To will be holding a Hong Kong Film Award. The only question is for which film - Election 2 or Exiled?

- In Japan, TBS-Toho has been dealt with a double blow after NANA2 flopped last weekend. This weekend, the legendary Kon Ichikawa’s remake of his own film Murder of the Inugami Clan also flopped, grossing only 130 million yen over the weekend (US$1=118 yen). Looks like Japanese’s film only hope left at the holiday box office (I’m not counting Letters from Iwo Jima because of its Hollywood connections) is Fuji’s TV-drama adaptation Ooku, starring Nakama Yukie. Look for the usual anime film versions and Letters from Iwo Jima to rule again.
(sources: Eiga Consultant, MovieWalker)