- Let’s go over the Oricon charts first. On the singles chart, the new Koda Kumi “maxi-single” debuts at the top spot with a strong sales figure of 108,000, while “hip-pop” group Ketsumeishi’s latest is fairly far behind in second place with 78,000 sold. However, Monkey Majik’s theme song for the Saiyuki movie (a little more on that later) dies on arrival with a 20th place debut and selling only 5,400 copies. If the daily rankings hold up, then expect Erika Sawajiri’s first single to top the charts next week.

Things are a little more exciting over on the albums side, as Namie Amuro’s new album sells a solid 250,600 copies on its first week of release, making it her first number one album since 2000’s “Genius 2000.” Meanwhile, new band Greeeen, comprised of current dentistry students (That’s what the Oricon website wrote), saw their first album debut at number 2 with 130,000 copies sold, which is pretty damn good for a debut album’s debut (However, Oricon also calls them a hip-hop group, which doesn’t seem right). Also, Zard’s Golden Best compilation album actually saw its sales go up from last week to 52,600 this week despite a drop in ranking, possibly because of the memorial for Izumi Sakai last week. Lastly, Love Psychedelico’s 4th album debuted at 5th place, selling only 48,000 copies probably due to the lack of any notable single this time around. If the daily charts serve as any indication, the album charts next week should be fairly quiet.

- Kumi Koda’s album “Cherry Girl” has now sold over one million copies, and she is the first female artist since Utada Hikaru to have three consecutive million-selling albums. Not to rain on her parade, but two of those albums are technically compilations…

- Eiga Consultant reports about how The Mourning Forest is doing in its limited release, particularly in Cinema Angelica in Shibuya, Tokyo. On the opening weekend of the 23rd, the film only attracted 905 people for a gross of 1.34 million yen. Considering there are 10 shows that wekeend (5 each day), and the capacity is 104 seats, that means the weekend capacity was only 87%. This is fairly disappointing, considering the film’s success at the Cannes Film Festival. Is it because of the art film stigma? The hi-definition broadcast on NHK? How is it doing elsewhere? We’ll explore this a little bit this weekend on the podcast.

- While a Thai court has overruled the ruling government’s ability to shut down websites at will, the Thai cabinet has sadly approved the new film act which actually still allow the film committee to ban films, despite the establishment of a film rating system. Now the legislation will now go to the parliament, where it will be even harder for activists to continue their cause.

- Thanks to Comingsoon.net, I found out that Andrew Lau’s first Hollywood film The Flock will actually open in Japan on August 4th (it has yet to secure an exact release date in the United States), and the Japanese site for it. There’s a trailer on it, which seems to play up the reportedly extended cameo by pop star Avril Lavigne. As for the movie, it just looks like an Andrew Lau movie with better production values. Blah.

- Speaking of websites for potentially crappy movies, no one has really reported on Saiyuki, the big summer film adapted from the “hit” drama. I didn’t even bother seeking it out because it takes a well-known Chinese fairy tale and twists it for cheap entertainment (Jeff Lau would be just as guilty if I didn’t enjoy the Chinese Odyssey films…but he DID make a Chinese Tall Story). Mostly I just didn’t bother looking for it because I hear it’s flat out not very good. Anyway, the website reports that the movie is coming out next weekend, and it has a trailer if you click on 予告.

- Production for the Korean horror film G.P. 506 has been suspended after 70% of shooting has been completed due to the lawsuit and management battles within the production firm. Film is, after all, a business.

I found this site via Hollywood Elsewhere today, and my blog is apparently:

What the fuck? I’m only as good as Shrek 3?

- Then again, maybe it’s not so bad to be Shrek 3 in Hong Kong. On Sunday of the 4-day holiday weekend, the animated sequel made HK$3.01 million on 54 screens for a impressive 4-day total of HK$8.2 million, and probably crossed the HK$10 million mark on Sunday already. Die Hard 4.0 is far behind, making HK$1.28 million on 36 screens on its 4th day of previews. It has made HK$3.58 million and will officially open on naturally July 4th. The biggest local performer, meanwhile, is the Milkyway comedy-drama-handover commemoration film Hooked On You. On Sunday, it made HK$960,000 on 34 screens for a 40-day total of HK$3.14 million.

Golden Scene should be happy that Simply Actors managed to hang on this weekend, making HK$500,000 on 30 screen for a HK$7.81 million cume after 13 days. However, Milkyway’s other release Eye in the Sky failed to retain the male audience, making only HK$210,000 on 25 screens for a 11-day total of just HK$3.4 million. Lastly, the only limited release arthouse film on the top 10 is Julie Delpy’s Two Days in Paris, which made HK$100,000 on 4 screens for a 4-day total of HK$300,000.

- Meanwhile, South Korea saw a invasion of Michael Bay’s Transformers, as it scored 75% of all ticket sales this past weekend. It also attracted 1.3 million people on an unknown number of screens (though I suspect that number is pretty high up there). Meanwhile, Black House (which Korean Film Page’s Kyu Kyun Kim, who teaches at alma mater UC Davis but I have not met before, recently reviewed) stays at second place and has nearly attracted a million admissions already. Go to Korea Pop Wars for the rest of the rankings.

- Global music sales are down, and the industry goes after its favorite scapegoat - piracy. However, not only has digital music sales now responsible for 11% of all music sales, Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and even China saw growth in sales. So much for blaming Asia.

- My new favorite film distributor in North America is Viz Media, who brought non-AzN xtreme Japanese films such as Linda Linda Linda and The Taste of Tea here. Now, they are bringing award-winning crowdpleaser Hula Girl to the States.

- Speaking of picking up aZn-xtreme movies, Media Blasters just picked up Takeshi Miike’s yet-t0-be-finished Crows Zero and a few more cult flicks for North America.

- Takeshi Miike’s all-English “Sukiyaki Western Django” now has a release date of September 15th. Sony financed and will be distributing this one, so Miike doesn’t have to worry.

- My role model Takeshi Kaneshiro (despite my appearance and charisma nowhere near his in any way) is back to Japanese cinema after 2002’s Returner in Shinagami No Seido, which according to Ryuganji, most definitely sounds like a Japanese version of Wings of Desire.

- Japan’s Docomo just started a movie download service for your mobile phones, in their attempt to get people to stop typing so damn much on their phone while riding the trains. Too bad the service is nowhere near free, though.

- In “News that everyone already knows before it got reported” today, Hong Kong’s Big Media, who promises to make 100 films in the next 5 years, is in a co-production deal with Mei-Ah. I kind of figured that out when I found Big Media’s sales fliers through Mei-Ah’s website.

- The Wii has now outsold the Playstation 3 in a ratio of 6:1 in Japan, increased from the 5:1 ratio last month. I suspect PS3 sales will increase when television standards turns completely to digital broadcasting, but that would also mean Sony has a tough couple of years to go.

- Michael Wells checks in with Twitch with yet another set of reviews from the New York Film Festival. This time, he includes major South Korean films Dasepo Naughty Girls, The Show Must Go On, and I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK.

- Hollywood Reporter checks in with two Asian film reviews that I missed out on. First it’s Isshin Inudou’s big commercial release Bizan, which did respectable business in Japan, then the other is the J-horror flick Ghost Train, which somehow got itself a North American distribution deal. It’s worth watching just to see the ridiculously over-the-top finale.

- Moving their efforts away from Japan, the Korean Film Council has opened their first office in North America in Los Angeles. The office will help coordinate festival screenings, do research on the North American market, and of course, give information about Korean cinema in general.

- Speaking of Korean films, Twitch has the first trailer for Korean horror film Epitaph. Honestly, the only thing that might make this film promising is the fact that the director used to work for Park Chan-Wook.

- Salon Film have established itself for many years as THE provider of film equipment throughout Asia. Now they’re taking on the business of selling Asian things back to the rest of the world by taking on international sales. Their first film will be the “supernatural action” film The Painted Skin, the 4th collaboration between Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip.

- Twitch has an interview with Death Note series director Shusuke Kaneko. Am I the only one who still doesn’t think he was fit to direct the Death Note films?

We may be taking a break tomorrow since it’s the Independence Day holiday in the States. At least expect a late entry.

Hong Kong was on public holiday Monday, which means no weekend box office figure until later tonight Pacific Time (Tuesday in HK) or even tomorrow night.

- On the other hand, the Japanese box office numbers are already out, and Box Office Mojo already has the comprehensive chart. Die Hard 4.0 takes the top spot with a strong 603 million yen from 741 screens. Adding the Saturday’s preview screenings’ take of 289 million yen, it has already made 892 million yen to date. However, its 814,000 yen per-screen average is kind of weak for an opening this wide (Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean saw higher per-screen average on even higher screen counts). Meanwhile, Shrek 3 opens at third, making 363.8 million yen on 543 screens, which is much higher than Shrek 2’s opening of 284.8 million yen on 551 screens in 2004. If the performance pattern is similar to Shrek 2, this one should end up doing better than the previous film by about 25%.

Except for The Haunted Samurai, Maiko Haaaan!!!, and Pirates of the Caribbean, everything else took a pretty big hit, especially Spiderman 3’s 52.2% hit, Zodiac’s 40.1% hit, and Dai Nipponjin’s 43% drop (at least it passed the 1 billion yen mark). Lastly, Pedro Almodovar’s Volver missed the top 10 because it’s only playing on 40 screens. It only make 19 million yen.

- By the way, I forgot to report that the Akihi To Kamo No Coin Locker opening in Tokyo also marked the best opening for a Japanese film at that theater after last year’s Mamiya Brothers, and is the 7th best opening ever at the theater.

- After the financial failure of Ichikawa Kon’s self-remake of The Inugami Family earlier in the year, director Nobuhiko Oobayashi’s self-remake of his 1982 film Exchange Students also failed in its limited release. Originally the first part of the “Onomichi Trilogy” (the director’s hometown), the remake, named Tenkousei - Sayonara Anata, takes the film out of its original location to Nagano. On 30 screens, the film made only 5 million yen with only a 166,666 yen per-screen average. Perhaps these self-remakes aren’t very good ideas.

- Meanwhile, Kiroi Namida, the Isshin Inusou film starring Johnny’s boy group Arashi, opened in South Korea to a seemingly weak 16,000 admissions, only because it’s compared to Memories of Tomorrow’s 38,000 admissions and Tears For You’s 64,000 admissions for their respective opening weekends. However, there’s nothing about how many screens it opened on, considering that the film is considered less mainstream than its counterparts in Japan. However, Eiga Consultant also points out that the film actually didn’t even do all that well in Japan. While the film has finally broke the 200 million yen barrier, other films starring individual members of Arashi (such as Letters From Iwo Jima and Honey and Clover) has actually done much better.

- It’s kind of been reported before, but Pirates of the Caribbean has officially surpassed Spiderman 3 in worldwide gross. I’m reporting this because a bulk of that cash comes from Asia.

- Get it here first, the first full-length trailer for Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, starring Tony Leung, Joan Chen, Leehom Wang, and newcomer Tang Wei, is everywhere on Youtube. A Chinese neonoir/political thriller? Sign me up.

Speaking of trailer, the full-length trailer for Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum is up, and it’s looking good. Could this deliver even better old-school movie magic action than Live Free or Die Hard? (HD links can be found at Dave’s Trailer Page)

- Since Shinya Tsukamoto’s Nightmare Detective was recently announced to be in production, I should probably link the latest review for the first film here.

- Lovehkfilm has updated with some reviews. First, Derek Kwok’s directorial debut The Pye-Dog with Eason Chan, then a review for Herman Yau’s direct-to-video film A True Mob Story (also his third release this year), and one for the Japanese heist/romance/true story First Love.

OK, there’s also one for sleazy low-budget exploitation flick Lethal Angels.

- Jason Gray has more about the Japanese documentary Campaign, including his interview with the director on The Midnight Eye and news of nightly English-subtitled screenings.

- Eason Chan and Miriam Yeung win big at the 7th Chinese Music Media Awards in Hong Kong. I’ve never even heard of this award in the first place, let alone the winners for the first 6 ceremonies.

- Naked News, the show where reporters literally remove pieces of clothing while reporting the latest news, is on an adult-oriented channel in Japan. Guess what? It’s also subsidized by the government.

- Variety has a review of the action film Dynamite Warrior, which Michael Wells wrote about after it screened at the New York Asian Film Festival.

- Associated Press, via the Daily Yomiuri, reports further about the death of master filmmaker Edward Yang.

- A while ago I reported about yet another censorship case involving Hong Kong’s Television and Entertainment Licensing Council. An essay in Hong Kong’s inMediaHK site included a picture from Flickr with nudity, prompting a warning from TELA that it might be sent to be classified as a category II indecent material. However, the writer refuses to budge (the irony is that the essay is actually about this Hong Kong witch-hunt of “indecent” material by conservative groups), and a month later, the essay has been classified as category II material, with the writer now at risk to pay fines and serve jail time.

Now, EastSouthWestNorth has translated the latest interview with the writer, who still refuses to give in to the ridiculous and ineffective censorship this government council is doing.

- Reuters introduces the Singaporean documentary Invisible City, featuring footages of a forgotten Singapore from the 1950s.

- Universal Music, one of the few record companies that is actually uploading their own artists’ music videos onto Youtube voluntarily, is refusing to draw a long-term licensing deal with Apple’s iTunes, which takes up 70% of the digital music market, because they pretty much want more money. According to Hongkie Town, Universal Music feels that iTunes isn’t charging enough for songs and is looking for another provider that would make them more money. And corporations wonder why people don’t like giving money to them.

I spent several hours editing the podcast, only to realize I botched it up on Audacity, so it’ll be a few more hours of re-editing the whole thing, and it’ll be up a little later than I originally thought.

- Kanye West’s video for “Sutosoga” (hey, that’s what the title says in Japanese) is up. The big deal about it is that he shot it in Tokyo reportedly in the style of the animated film Akira (it’s been too long since I’ve seen it to remember), and it also features a real biker gang. The song still sounds like nursery rhyme, but the video looks pretty cool.

- This past week, I wrote about the somewhat disappointing performance of the period comedy The Haunted Samurai starring Satoshi Tsumaboki. If you wanted to know more about the film, which is a rare non-horror supernatural samurai film, check out the Daily Yomiuri’s introduction.

- The Weinstein Company, once a group of people who only buy up Asian films to never release them under Miramax, is now entering a production deal with a Korean firm to produce and distribute animated films.

- Under “New York Asian Film Festival” news today - Asian Cinema - While on the Road posted the Q&A with E J-Yong, the director of Untold Scandal and Dasepo Naughty Girls.

Michael Wells also checks in with Twitch with two more reviews from the festival.

- Apparently it took two major Hollywood films to fail enough in order to show Hollywood that it needs more Japanese actors. Why did I already know that when they casted three Chinese women for all the lead roles in Memoirs of a Geisha?

(link via F-ed Gaijin)

- Disney has localized itself in China by producing and releasing the very first Disney film produced for the Chinese market. Filmed in China and partly produced by Hong Kong effects house Centro (they’re the pioneer of CGI in Hong Kong films, having done blockbusters such as Stormriders and A Man Called Hero), the effort is set for release this summer.

- Yojiro Takita, who last made the surprise hit Battery, is taking on Okuribito, the story of a man who prepares dead bodies. Masahiro Motoki and Ryoko Hirosue have taken on the lead roles. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a very dark comedy or a very grim drama.

- Oh yes, it’s July 1st, so while a lot of people are filled with patriotism, especially the writers for TVB’s broadcast of the Hong Kong fireworks, I would rather post a link about Chinese censorship.

(Link via EastSouthWestNorth)

Meanwhile, Yvonne Teh of Webs of Significance has an article in Hong Kong BC Magazine about the archetypes of Mainland Chinese characters in Hong Kong films over the years that shows the love-and-hate relationship Hong Kong really has with the motherland.

First Joel Siegel, then Shinji Nakae, and now, I’m extremely sad to report that Taiwanese director Edward Yang, whose last film was the 2000 masterpiece Yi Yi, has passed away after a battle with colon cancer. He was 59 years old.

Now it’s a good time to pick up a copy of Yi Yi and find out why Asia just lost a great filmmaker.

- I’m obliged to start every entry with some box office news, and this one is no exception. Remember a month and a half ago I mentioned about the success of the indie film Ahini to Kamo No Coin Locker’s limited release in Sendai (Tokyo Times review)? The film has been playing in one Tokyo theater since last weekend, and it’s a genuine hit. In its first weekend, the film made 3.68 million yen, attracting 2192 admissions total. Even last-minute added late shows were completely full in the 232-people theater. Good for them.

- Also playing at the same theater is the haunting documentary The Bridge, which examines why people commit suicide through the examination of several people who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve seen parts of the film when it played on the Independent Film Channel, and anyone looking for shocking footage of people jumping (the crew shot the sides of the bridge for an entire year) will be disappointed because it’s really more about the effects of depression through interviews with friends and family. Anyway, Japan Times has a review of it, as well as an interview with filmmaker Eric Steel.

- Japan Times also has a review of the animated omnibus film Genius Party, featuring seven animated films from established talents not named Miyazaki, Otomo, and Oshii. I’m not going to pretend I know anything about it, so I’ll let Japan Times do that for me.

Lastly, Japan Times also has a review of Kichitaro Negishi’s Side Car Ni Inu starring Yuko Takeuchi.

- Then The Daily Yomiuri reviews the deceptively j-horror-looking thriller Kissho Tennyo, which features a really creepy-looking Anne Suzuki. Click on 予告編 to see the trailer.

- Legendary Hong Kong comic actor Michael Hui, who made a comeback of sorts with Joe Ma’s Three of a Kind (would his cameo in Fantasia count as the start of his comeback?) is making his first film since 1992’s The Magic Touch this October. He openly praised Miriam Yeung, Louis Koo, and Lau Ching-Wan for their comedic skills, though he has not expressed any wish to cast them. As long as it’s better than the immensely disappointing Three of a Kind, I’ll show up.

Original Chinese report here.

- The first Hong Kong film to be in the HD-format war (HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray) is……[drum rolls]Infernal Affairs, and it’s coming on Blu-Ray. I’m sure the film will look nice, but I remember through my subsequent visits on DVD that aurally it’s just really unnecessarily loud.

- Man, those Japanese really know how to sell a movie. Their website for the disappointing Confession of Pain is up, and the url is www.drywhisky.com (trust me, you’ll get it when you see the movie). Hell, they even make the trailer look better than the Hong Kong one by incorporating actual music from the film….well, except for that ridiculous theme song by Ayumi Hamasaki. But the movie is partly funded by Avex (Hamasaki’s record company), so whatever. Man, that trailer actually make me want to see the movie.

- Oh, no, China doesn’t want porn on its internet!!!! No “unpatriotic words,” no foreign news source, and now no porn? Soon they’re going to be able to make a list of what they DO allow on the internet.

- In addition to Tokyograph’s Summer 2007 drama preview, Daily Yomiuri has their own preview of the upcoming season, and they don’t just write about dramas. Did you know Billy “Tae Bo” Blanks is now a hit in Japan?

- Lastly, but very certainly not the least, Shinji Nakae, most famous in recent years as the narrator for the Japanese variety program Trivia No Izumi (Fountain of Trivia), has passed away at the age of 73. His narration, to me, was the perfect match for the silly deadpan humor of the show, and he will be very much missed.

I was messing around with Audacity to plan for this weekend’s podcast, and I’ve already started planning it. Looks like I might put in some music after all. Anyway, review first:

Saw the latest Die Hard movie today in a 65-75% full house. I love the Die Hard franchise, though my love extends to only the first and the third movies. This time, Len “I can’t even make a cool comic idea entertaining” Wiseman takes the helm and actually directs the action quite capably. I’m very appreciative that he actually bothered to make most of the action look real (even the flipping car in the tunnel that you see in the trailer is actually real), although they’re over-the-top to an extreme. Also appreciative to see a few Asian-American actors, though I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with Maggie Q being THE character that can fight well with the generic Asian name.

After a while, I realize just how bored Wiseman was when he filmed all those dialogue scenes. He was probably so bored that in one scene, he just picked up the camera and just moved it a lot in close-ups to make it look “dynamic.” That, plus the unusual instances of obvious ADR (dubbing in post-production), just says how much the crew was into making the non-action stuff, which is not very. The violence, which people were worried about because of the PG-13 rating, actually isn’t all that watered down - the death count is still pretty high and there are a couple of groaners, even though they are mostly bloodless (no, Bruce Willis with a couple of wound doesn’t count as lots of blood. Him walking through a bathroom filled with broken glass on the floor, THAT’S bloody). If anything, it just shows the failure of the PG-13 rating since the Die Hard franchise was never made for kids in the first place, and the violence here is still R-worthy, with or without blood. Plus, the way they toned down his signature line (motherf*cker=instant R-rating!) just feels forced.

I think watching this just ended up proving how great of an action director John McTiernan was, because the third Die Hard film was genuinely funnier, more exciting, better shot, and even smarter than Live Free or Die Hard. Hell, I’ll even forgive him for Basic….though not Rollerball. And I liked The Last Action Hero, sue me. Live Free or Die Hard may be a ton of fun, but Die Hard it ain’t. Well, at least Japan Times loved it, even if it gets a couple of plot details wrong.

In North America, it goes up against the new Disney/Pixar flick Ratatouille this weekend, but it did do fairly well on its opening day, making US$9 million. Since the action flick is appealing to older male, and the Pixar flick is appealing to families, I think they’ll both end up doing well, especially since they are both going to have pretty good word-of-mouth.

Die Hard is having an entire weekend of sneak previews in Hong Kong until it officially opens on July 4th to take advantage of the holiday weekend. However, it only made HK$480,000 on 34 screens, which is a solid but unspectacular opening day. Nevertheless, looking at the Broadway website, the online booking is picking up for the weekend, so it might end up doing pretty well.

No one released the numbers for the sneak previews last weekend in Japan, so I expect this weekend’s numbers to be inflated a little bit since the preview numbers will probably be counted into the opening weekend total as well.

- Judging by the Thursday opening day numbers, this weekend looks to be fairly busy at the Hong Kong box office. In addition to the Die Hard previews, Shrek 3 and the Milkyway comedy Hooked On You are also out to take advantage of the long holiday weekend. Shrek 3 managed to get a very healthy HK$1.29 million gross on 49 screens, though I’m not sure how the screens are split between the Cantonese and English versions. Hooked On You also managed a healthy take of HK$580,000 on 32 screens, which should ensure a solid weekend take. Limited release 2 Days in Paris by Julie Delpy made HK$50,000 on a limited 4-screen release and should pick up the hip 20-40 arthouse audience this weekend.

On the other hand, there’s no telling how holdovers from last weekend will do. Simply Actors made another HK$310,000 on 29 screens for HK$6.47 million after 10 days and should maintain an over-HK$10,000 per-screen average this weekend. However, Eye in the Sky made only HK$120,000 on 27 screens for the current 8-day total of HK$2.86 million. Hopefully, it’ll do solid business over the weekend again to lift it over HK$4 million. But even then, Eye in the Sky remains a commercial failure, any way you look at it.

- The Harry Potter reviews by the two big Hollywood trade papers, and they are both kind of negative. Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt doesn’t have much to say, except that it’s the least enjoyable film of the bunch. Variety’s Todd McCarthy, meanwhile, actually doesn’t seem to have any solid opinion of it.

- Celestial is making their movie channel in Indonesia local by including subtitles and dubbing all on-air promotions in Bahasa Indonesia.

- Miyu Nagase, the lead vocalist of the Japanese pop band ZONE, is branching off on her own years after the popular band disbanded in 2005, now that she’s done with compulsory education. Guess how’s she launching her solo debut? By starting a blog.

- Ryuganji introduces this year’s Pia Film Festival, which is a pretty damn important festival since some of Japan’s best young filmmakers got their first breaks there. At least their Robert Altman retrospective is in English, though I’m sure the overlapping dialogue in his films make them hard to understand too.

- Lastly, famous American film critic Joel Siegel (He’s the on-air reviewer for ABC’s Good Morning America) passed away today at the age of 63 after a battle with colon cancer. I don’t always agree with respectable critics such as Siegal (especially his behavior at the Clerks 2 screening), but I always respect their expertise, and he will be missed.

- Michael Bay’s Transformers have started its rampage around the world in South Korea, where it has seen the best advanced ticket sales so far this year. People seem to love it too. One dubious section in the report regarding the spokesperson of distributor CJ Entertainment:

“‘Movies that do well in South Korea tend to do well in other parts of Asia,’ Kim said, attributing the trend in part to the growing popularity of South Korean movies, TV dramas and music across the region.

‘A movie’s popularity in Asia seems to be affected by its popularity in South Korea,’ she said. ‘In that sense, South Korea has emerged as an important movie market in Asia in recent years.’”

Right, that’s why someone wrote this article. And that’s why Japan has been hosting huge Hollywood world premieres all summer, including the Harry Potter premiere just yesterday.

Meanwhile, Hollywood Reporter just put up their review today (I don’t know why Variety had their review up so early when there’s an embargo on it until today/tomorrow Asia time), and critic Kirk Honeycutt says right out that it’s an extravaganza rather than overwrought excess. I might actually pay to see a Michael Bay movie….well, matinee price, at the most. I only paid US$4 to see The Island.

For more Hollywood news, we’ll be looking at the opening for Die Hard 4 in North America and Asia tomorrow.

- Lovehkfilm updates with a review of Hong Kong’s first summer hit Simply Actors (which, pardon my pun, simply doesn’t sound that good. It also sound like Chan Hing-Ka’s overloaded hit-or-miss comedic trend continues). There’s also a review for Waiting in the Dark, by Daisuke Tengan (the son/screenwriter for legendary director Shohei Imamura) and starring Taiwanese actor Wilson Chen. There’s also a review for the Korean film A Day for an Affair written by yours truly, and I can confess here that yes, I totally mean that it’s watchable.

- As Lovehkfilm reported, Barbara Wong’s Wonder Women has been chosen as the “official handover anniversary film. It opens next week, and a trailer is on the website. It doesn’t really show much, and it’s not subtitled.

- Keita Motohashi’s Tobo Kusotawake, about two misfits who go off on an aimless adventure, is going to the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in Korea. There’s not even an official website for the film yet, but you can read the director’s blog, who reports the film will open in limited release in October.

- I don’t know what the Macao Studio City will be like, but at least I know it’ll have a Playboy Mansion. That means more places for girls like her to go to (don’t worry, link is work-safe…unless you’re an animals rights activist).

- The only Bollywood film I’ve ever seen is Lagaan, the 4-hour epic about Indian farmers playing crickets to beat their oppressive English landlord, and it’s better than it sounds. Anyway, it’s finally coming in a super-duper special edition DVD, and if you have a few hours to spare, I highly recommend it.

- I always complain about how Japanese entertainment producers are so protective about their work and always work too slow to distribute them. Turns out a government advisory panel agrees with me and wants some of those protective rights pulled for easier distribution of content. I would like to think that what I write here makes a difference, but I know it doesn’t. At least someone finally came out and did something.

- But which government isn’t letting uncut movies in? The Chinese! A blogger writes about a possible reason why some Chinese people end up buying pirated works - to see how Chow Yun-Fat vilifies Chinese people. Note that the link is a translation of the original Chinese entry from last week.

- I think it’s been pretty widely reported that Martin Scorsese is working on adapting the Japanese novel Silence, about the persecution of Catholics in 16th century Japan. Apparently, it’s actually a “remake” of the 1971 film by Masahiro Shinoda, and now the Shinoda film is finally coming to the States soon.

- Jason Gray has more about Shaolin Shojo, the Stephen Chow-approved Japanese spin-off of Shaolin Soccer that will move the action to Lacrosse and have a better-looking protagonist.

- Twitch has some more reviews from the New York Asian Film Festival, including the director’s cut of After This, Our Exile.

- In Hong Kong on Sunday, The Fantastic Four sequel ruled the box office for the second week in a row, making HK$1.07 million on 47 screens, bringing its 11-day total to HK$15.47 million, and already surpassing the gross of the first film. Patrick Leung/Chan Hing-Ka’s Simply Actors remained strong over the weekend, making HK$880,000 on 34 screens on Sunday for a 6-day total of HK$4.78 million. Milkyway Production’s Eye in the Sky rebounds with HK$530,000 on 29 screens for a current total of HK$1.96 million. Will it go away quickly like Mr. Cinema and Kidnap, or will it have a bit of legs?

Speaking of which, Mr. Cinema managed another HK$190,000 on 21 screens (many of whom are already limiting it to 2-3 shows a day) for a 11-day total of HK$2.59 million, while Kidnap, which is mostly on one-show-a-day basis already, made another HK$100,000 on 18 screens for the 11-day total of only HK$2.01 million, despite positive response from audiences. Another adult-oriented film, David Fincher’s Zodiac, made HK$250,000 on 11 screens for a 4-day total of HK$820,000. For a 158-minute serial killer film with no stars, I don’t expect this to pass the HK$2-million mark. The weekend’s third opener, the Hollywood comedy Wild Hogs, made only HK$90,000 on just 7 screen for a HK$270,000 4-day total.

- In South Korea, Ocean’s 13 wins in Seoul for a second week in a row, despite seeing 4 other movies on the top 10 with higher screen counts. However, the horror film Black House won the nationwide attendance count. Go over to Korea Pop Wars and check out the rest of the top 10.

- In Japanese audience rankings, Pirates of the Caribbean and Maiko Haaaan retain their top two spots this past weekend. Meanwhile, the period comedy The Haunted Samurai, starring Satoshi Tsumabuki, enters at number 3 (more on that later). Unsurprisingly, everything else falls by a spot.

Eiga Consultant looks at the end of Satoshi Tsumabuki’s box office streak with The Haunted Samurai. At 3rd place, it made only 120 million yen, which is 27% of Dororo (with Kou Shibasaki, 3.4 billion yen total), 31% of Tears for You (with Masami Nagasawa, 3.1 billion yen total), and 65% of Snowy Love Fallin’ in Spring (with Yuko Takeuchi, 1.27 billion yen total). Is this another proof that Japanese films these day can’t be completely reliant on only one star?

- A bulk of this season’s Japanese dramas wrapped up this past week (Here for all Spring 2007 drama information). Only Liar Game managed to end on a high note, scoring a season-high 13.6 rating for its 3-hour finale (about 8.83 million viewers), and ending with a 11.4 season average (about 7.5 million viewers). For a drama on an experimental time slot (11 pm Saturday night), Fuji is smiling happy. On the other hand, Sexy Voice and Robo ends weakly with only a 6.4 (4.15 million viewers) season-low rating, ending with a season average of 7.6 (4.93 million viewers). Another drama that ended with season-low rating is Fufudo, with saw a near-season high last week, only to end with a season low 12.4 rating (8.05 million) and a season average of 13.6 (8.83 million).

Of course, no drama comes close to Kadoku no Kake, which saw a freefall in viewership since week 7, starting from a 11.2 rating (7.27 million) for its premiere all the way down to a 4.5 (2.92 million)for its last episode, and a sad sad 7.0 rating (4.54 million)for its season average. Sequel Kui-Tan 2 ends its season with a solid 14.0 rating (9.09 million) for its finale, but ends weaker than the 17.4 average of the first series with only a 13.7 average (8.89 million). Still, it’s good enough to be the season’s third-highest rated drama. Lastly, the Yuji Oda disappointment Joudan Janai! ends on a somewhat positive note, with the final episode’s rating rising to a tepid 12.7 (8.24 million) for a season average of 13.4 (8.7 million). Will Yuji Oda recover from this? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, Operation Love (Proposal Daisakusen) drops a little bit for its second-to-last episode with a 17.2 rating (11.16 million), though it’s expected to rise for its last episode Monday night Japan time. Also wrapping up this coming week is Bambino, which has seen a consistent increase in ratings since week 7. But this season’s clear winner is Proposal Daisakusen.

- Meanwhile, Tokyograph already has a set of introductions for the busy summer drama season. Nothing has caught my eye yet, though. Will it be a repeat of Spring 2007?

- The major industry papers in Hollywood have their reviews of Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4.0 is my preferred title), and it’s mostly positive. Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt praises it for using real movie magic and stunkwork over cgi. Meanwhile, Variety’s Todd McCarthy calls it a virtual action cartoon…in a good way.

- Filmbrain takes a look at Yoichi Sai’s Blood And Bones, which I liked for Takeshi Kitano’s hard-ass performance as the utterly unlikable main character. However, I do agree with the notion that the film got a little episodic, just stringing episodes of Kim Shunpei’s reign of terror.

- The blog for Benny Chan’s Invisible Target has launched, but it’s in Chinese. Apparently (I haven’t looked at the videos other than the trailer yet) it has a lot of making-of video, one of which includes Jackie Chan’s visit to the set.

- The Shanghai International Film Festival has wrapped up, with German film According to Plan taking the top prize (meaning it’s headed straight for release in China without the import quota blocking its way) and best actress (shared amongst 4 of them). The Go Master won the best director prize for Tian Zhuangzhuang and best cinematography for Wang Yu. The complete list, as well as a wrap-up of the end of the festival, from Variety Asia.

Also at the Shanghai Film Festival, 7 potential filmmakers were given the chance to pitch their projects to major investors and filmmakers, which apparently intimidated some of them (I can’t even pitch my scripts to my own family, let along a sea of major industry people).

- According to a producer on Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino might add additional installments to the series, and the ideas just don’t seem interesting enough to warrant another film, let alone two of them. Because, let’s face it:

SPOILERS

You can’t really continue a franchise named Kill Bill when Bill is dead.

END SPOILERS

- TV Asahi is remaking the Kurosawa film “Tengoku to Jigoku” (which, as the resident Bayside Shakedown expert, I have to point out was also referenced in Bayside Shakedown the Movie) as a mini-series for the fall. Yasuo Tsuruhashi, who last made a hit out of the film Love Never to end, is directing.

- After one lawsuit goes away for Rain, another one comes, as a promoter in Hawaii is taking him to court after he can’t seem to accept the excuse that Rain had to cancel his concert there because he was getting sued. Since when the hell do people use “flimsy” in lawsuits anyway?

- I like the new American TV drama Heroes quite a bit. The season finale had its problems (mostly I’m guessing is of budgetary concerns), but it’s promising quite a bit, including an entire character subplot taking place in feudal Japan. Japanese pop star Eriko Tamura (who was a pop star long ago in Japan…though she still looks very young) is joining the cast (I’m hoping as audience favorite Hiro’s love interest), but David Anders is playing Takezo Kensei….?!!!! Apparently the creators have a good explanation, but it better be a damn good one.

Man, this entry took forever to do. But we’ll be back tomorrow to do it all again.

- Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto went wide to 147 screens last weekend in Japan after a week of exclusive run in a Tokyo theater, and managed to make only 41.13 million yen. According to Eiga Consultant, the opening is only 24% of The Passion of the Christ (which actually made only 1.4 billion, which is pretty kind of weak compared to how much it made elsewhere). That makes people wondering whether people had just mistaken this hardcore action film for another art film, especially since it follows the limited release pattern.

- A trailer has surfaced for Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou’s directorial debut Secrets. I don’t think Jay Chou is very qualified to be a director judging from the music videos he directed before, and the trailer isn’t exactly promising much more than flashy music video stuff. That overdramatic score doesn’t help, either.

Ming Pao’s columnist, which some people say is screenwriter/director Chan Hin-Ka, writes about the commercial potential of Secrets. Specifically, he wonders whether Hong Kong audiences would go for Jay Chou. Excerpts as follows:

香港電影觀眾分得清楚，唱歌與拍電影是兩回事，紅歌手拍戲，不一定捧場，要視乎電影拍得是否好看。

The Hong Kong moviegoing audience separates singing and filmmaking very clearly; When a pop star makes a movie, they only go depending on the quality of the movie.

無論是自導自演的《不能說的．秘密》和《灌籃》，估計在中、台的票房成績一定比香港好。

Regardless whether its self-directorial/starring Secrets or Kung Fu Dunk, the box office gross in China and Taiwan will definitely be better than in Hong Kong.

周杰倫在中、台的「粉絲」多不勝數，他們捧偶像也比香港「粉絲」瘋狂，只要周董做的，一定會捧場。

Jay Chou has an enormous amount of fans in China and Taiwan, and their fandom is often crazier than Hong Kong fans. As long as “Chou Dong” (Chou’s nickname amongst his fans) is in it, they will definitely show up.

難怪行內說，中、台市場，比香港易做。

No wonder industry people say the Chinese and Taiwanese market are easier to do than Hong Kong.

Original Chinese column here.

Of course, I don’t quite get his argument, since a bulk of the people who made Curse of the Golden Flower a HK$20 million hit probably showed up because Jay Chou was in it (and sang the theme song, which I don’t remember off the top of my head anymore), and they’re probably just as willing to see Jay Chou is a youth romance. The very very basic reason why his two films this year will do better in Taiwan and China is that those two places have more screens and more audience.

Then again, I’m not a screenwriter who just co-directed the first Hong Kong hit of the summer, so what do I know?

- I forgot to mention that Lovehkfilm updated at the end of last week with a review of Samson Chiu’s Mr. Cinema. A review of the Japanese blockbuster Star Reformer by this blogger was put on the website as well.

- EastSouthWestNorth actually notes Kozo’s review of Mr. Cinema because it points out the film’s dubious stance on Chinese historical events, particular the events at Tiananmen Square in 1989. I was looking forward to it quite a bit, but now I’m second-guessing my anticipation.

- Jason Gray met up with Ryuganji’s Don Brown and pretty much shot the breeze for his first podcast. For those really into the current Japanese film industry like I am, it’s a fairly entertaining and educational hour to spend at the computer (or on your iPod, which I don’t own one of).

- Dennis Law, who’s currently around my filmmakers shit list for Love@First Note, has announced that he’s going to make yet another martial arts film after Fatal Contact. The triad film Duo Shuai stars Sammo Hung, Wu Jing, and Danny Lee, and will start filming in July. No Gold Label pop stars?! I might just show up for this one.

- The Toronto Film Festival will official announce its lineup this week, but Hollywood Reporter reports that a couple of films that made their debut at Cannes such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Flight of the Red Balloon will show up here as well. The most surprisingly pick is actually the sequel to Elizabeth, which will see original director Shekar Kapoor and star Cate Blanchett reunite.

- Shinji Aoyama’s latest film Sad Vacation has a new trailer up on its website, except it’s still kind of hard to know what to expect from it.

- Actor Takayuki Takuma, who actually also writes dramas such as the Hana Yori Dango series under a different name (for reeeeaaal?), is making his directorial debut. Not only is he writing and directing it, he was also picked to star in it. People who read this blog regularly know I don’t have much love for Hana Yori Dango, but its syrupy gimmicky subject matter is slightly intriguing me.

- Twitch has a review of a new Francis Ng flick Our Last Dance, which co-stars Harvey Keitel. They don’t make the film sound very promising, but I might just search this out to see Francis Ng’s performance.

- During Cannes, the new Hong Kong film production company Big Media announced that they would make 100 movies. Turns out the Mei Ah website has a bunch of promotional posters for some of those projects, though at least half of them don’t even have directors attached. Biggest surprise? Wong Ching-Po taking on Young Men Suddenly in Black. Apparently Eric Tsang really likes to tell stories about men who screw around.

- The Film Center at The National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo is putting on a retrospective in remembrance of important film figures that passed away in the years 2004 to 2006. The page is apparently still under construction, but at least we know it will run from July 27th to September 26th.

- Lastly, there’s a new documentary called Tokyo Cowboys, which again puts an ethnographic eye (Look, it’s kimono! The Harajuku girls! They look stranger than we do!) on privileged Caucasian men who live the Roppongi nightlife, end up scoring Japanese girls, and stick around to complain about racism.

Not that I don’t sympathize with their plights (OK, only just a little bit), but why do these documentaries only focus on Caucasian men, who actually has it the easiest among the foreign minority in Japan? Of course, the Japanese media also perpetrate the stereotypes of foreign=white. But what about Asian-Americans such as myself, who ended up being seen as someone who was supposed to know better because of the color of my skin, but also had to carry this foreign identity once people realized that we actually didn’t know any more than those Americans do? Better yet, how about a Caucasian man who ended up NOT living the nightlife and NOT ended up with a Japanese girl?

Then again, maybe guys like that just aren’t very interesting.