Key statistics of the Japanese movie industry in 2018 & list of Japanese movies which crossed the 1 billion yen mark in box office takings

Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Inc. announced key statistics of the Japanese movie industry in 2018 and the list of Japanese movies which crossed the 1 billion yen mark in box office takings during its New Year press conference on 29 Jan 2019:

- Total box office takings for 2018 was 97.3% of 2017's i.e. JPY 222.511 billion.

- "Gekijouban Code Blue Doctor Heli Kinkyuu Kyuumei" was the No.1 Japanese movie in the box office (JPY 9.3bn) but lost to "Bohemian Rhapsody" (JPY 10.46bn) in terms of the overall ranking. Note that the latter is still showing in cinemas as of now so the total takings are set to go even higher.

- 1,192 movies were released in Japan within 2018 of which 613 were domestic productions while there were 579 foreign movies.

- It has been 15 years since 2003's "Odoru Daisousasen THE MOVIE 2 / Rainbow Bridge wo fuusaseyo!" that there was any Japanese movie which achieved box office takings of more than JPY 9 billion. Other than "Code Blue", "Meitantei Conan Zero no Shikkounin" was the other movie at No.2 which achieved this feat.

- There were 31 Japanese movies and 23 foreign movies which crossed the JPY 1 billion mark.

- Total cinema visits was at 97% of 2017's figure i.e. 169.21 million visits.

- 2018's figures were the 3rd best since 2000 even though there wasn't a super hit among the offerings last year.

- Average ticket price was JPY 1,315 which was 0.4% higher than 2017, thanks to more screenings at 4D, IMAX and Dolby Atmos theatres which usually charge higher prices.

Here is the list of Japanese movies which crossed the 1 billion yen mark in 2018 with their box office takings reflected within the brackets (Note that for some films which were shown towards the end of the year and are still being screened, the final total takings are subjected to change):

Gekijouban Code Blue Doctor Heli Kinkyuu Kyuumei (9.3bn)
Meitantei Conan Zero no Shikkounin (9.18bn)
Eiga Doraemon Nobita no Takarajima (5.37bn)
Manbiki Kazoku (4.55bn)
Gintama 2 Okite wa yaburutame ni koso aru (3.7bn)
DESTINY Kamakura Monogatari (3.21bn)
Camera wo tomeruna! (3.12bn)
Gekijouban Pocket Monster Minna no Monogatari (3.09bn)
Kensatsugawa no Zainin (2.96bn)
Mirai no Mirai (2.88bn)
Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (2.82bn)
Eiga Youkai Watch Shadow Side Oniou no Fukkatsu (2.04bn)
Sumaho wo otoshitadake nanoni (1.96bn)
Eiga Crayon Shin-chan Bakushou! Kungfu Boys ~ Ramen Dairan ~ (1.84bn)
Soratobu Taiya (1.74bn)
Chihayafuru - Musubi - (1.73bn)
Boku no Hero Academy THE MOVIE ~ Futari no Eiyuu ~ (1.72bn)
KU-KAI Utsukushiki Ouhi no Nazo (1.7bn)
Inori no maku ga orirutoki (1.59bn)
Koohii ga samenaiuchi ni (1.5bn)
Rapurasu no Majo (1.4bn)
Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FINAL Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Rider (1.28bn)
Nichinichi kore koujitsu (1.28bn)
Kita no Sakuramori (1.27bn)
50 Kaime no First Kiss (1.26bn)
Sensei Kunshu (1.23bn)
Eiga HUGtto! Puri Kyua Futari wa Puri Kyua All Stars Memories (1.15bn)
Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi (1.11bn)
Konya, Romance Gekijou de  / Gekijouban Kamen Rider Build Be The One / Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger en Film (1.02bn)
Ningyo no nemuru ie (1bn)

Source: Natalie

Details about the Singapore Japanese Film Festival 2019

The Singapore Japanese Film Festival 2019 will be held between 18 Jan and 10 Feb 2019 which straddles across the Chinese New Year holidays. However, most of the screenings are in January while there are two "outlier" sessions for the classics in February.

There are also some changes compared to past editions. For example, the commercial films are shown at Shaw Lido this time while the short films and classics will be shown at *SCAPE Gallery and The Projector respectively unlike in the past few years when the Gallery Theatre at National Museum was the primary venue. I actually like the Gallery Theatre for the convenience of its location and the vibe of the place but I guess having a commercial cinema support this film festival will be good especially in terms of the graphics and audio quality in presenting these films.

Do check out the schedule here so that you can plan ahead before ticket sales open from 3 Jan 2019. However, ticket prices have not been announced yet and it's still not clear if the presalewill be done on the respective venue's website or on the film festival's website. And in Shaw Lido's case, it's also unknown whether they will be using bigger or smaller halls for these screenings and if it will be free seating as per in the past.

If you wish to find out more about the films in the contemporary category (some of them have been featured on this blog before), you can click the title tags at the bottom of this post.

In case you are curious, here are the films which I am considering to watch. I probably may not be able to watch everything especially that screening on a Wednesday evening so will have to give some serious thought on what to catch based on my schedule. I usually limit my selection to 3 so I still have some time to consider before tickets go on sale.

Opening Film: Camera wo tomeru na! - NC16
This film was featured during the Singapore International Film Festival where the sole screening was sold out. As such, if you missed this before, you may want to catch it this time where there are two screenings. The opening film screening at 9pm on 18 Jan (Fri) will feature a post-Q&A with the director who will be here. I'm not sure if the director will appear at the other screening on the following day at 3.20pm though.

Sanposuru Shinryakusha - PG13 - 19 Jan (Sat) at 9.30pm
Cast: Nagasawa Masami, Matsuda Ryuuhei, Takasugi Mahiro, Tsunematsu Yuri, Maeda Atsuko, Mitsushima Shinnosuke, Kojima Kazuya, Mitsuishi Ken, Higashide Masahiro, Koizumi Kyoko, Sasano Takashi & Hasegawa Hiroki

Inori no maku ga orirutoki - PG - 20 Jan (Sun) at 7pm
Cast: Abe Hiroshi, Matsushima Nanako, Mizobata Junpei, Tanaka Rena, Kimura Midoriko, Iitoyo Marie, An, Kagawa Teruyuki, Oikawa Mitsuhiro, Ito Ran, Kohinata Fumiyo & Yamazaki Tsutomu etc.

Suteki na Dynamite Scandal - R21 - 23 Jan (Wed) at 6.45pm
Cast: Emoto Tasuku, Maeda Atsuko, Miura Touko, Mineta Kazunobu, Matsushige Yutaka, Murakami Jun & Ono Machiko

Ikiterudake de, Ai - NC16 - 26 Jan (Sat) - 4.30pm
Cast: Shuri, Suda Masaki, Tanaka Tetsushi, Nishida Naomi and Matsushige Yutaka

What are the films you would be interested in watching from this year's film festival? How about sharing your choices with me?

Actually, at first glance, I think the selection this year is pretty impressive so you should be able to find something of interest. In the past, the film festival tended to give the impression that the chosen films were rather indie which attracted a niche audience. Credit ought to be given to the organisers especially seen from the selection of very new movies (some even shown within the same year in Japan) and getting a mix of films with commercial appeal vs. those which tend to be more on the artistic side to attract a wider audience.

If you happen to be in Singapore in January, do support this film festival if you can by watching these movies.

Winners of the 40th Yokohama Film Festival (2018)

Best Ten Movies
1) Netemo Sametemo
2) Korou no Chi
3) Manbiki Kazoku
4) HANAGATAMI
5) Camera wo tomeruna!
6) Kiku to Guillotine
7) Tomerareruka, oretachi wo
8) Suzukike no Uso
10) Mori no iru basho / Nichinichi kore koujitsu

Best Movie: Netemo Sametemo

Best Director: Hamaguchi Ryusuke (Netemo Sametemo) / Zeze Takahisa (Kiku to Guillotine / Yuuzai / Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa)

Morita Yoshimitsu Memorial New Director: Nojiri Katsumi (Suzukike no Uso)

Best Scriptwriter: Okita Shuichi (Mori no iru basho)

Best Cinematography: Sasaki Yasuyuki (Netemo Sametemo / Taisou shiyouyo)

Best Leading Actor: Higashide Masahiro (Netemo Sametemo) / Yakusho Koji (Korou no Chi)

Best Leading Actress: Ando Sakura (Manbiki Kazoku)

Best Supporting Actor: Matsuzaka Toori (Korou no Chi)

Best Supporting Actress: Matsuoka Mayu (Manbiki Kazoku / blank13 / Chihayafuru - Musubi -) / Ito Sairi (Netemo Sametemo / Enokida Bouekidou)

Best Newcomer: Karata Erika (Netemo Sametemo) / Yoshizawa Ryo (River's Edge, Gintama 2 Okite wa yaburutame ni koso aru / Marmalade Boy) / Kiryuu Mai (Kiku to Guillotine / Suzukike no Uso)

Judges' Special Award: Camera wo tomeruna!

Special Award: Yamazaki Tsutomu

Source: Natalie

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 3rd & 4th February 2018

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Inori no maku ga oriru toki (334)

2) Hitsuji no Ki (213)

3) Funouhan (296)

4) Geostorm (348)

5) Paddington 2 (317)

6) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

7) Uso wo aisuru onna (284)

8) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (127)

9) Kingsman: The Golden Circle (369)

10) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

Source: Eiga.com

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 27th & 28th January 2018

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Inori no maku ga oriru toki (334)

2) Geostorm (348)

3) Uso wo aisuru onna (284)

4) Paddington 2 (317)

5) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

6) Kingsman: The Golden Circle (369)

7) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

8) DESTINY Kamakura Monogatari (364)

9) Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2202 Ai no Senshitachi Dai 4 Sho Tenmei Hen (29)

10) The Dark Tower (235)

Source: Eiga.com

First-day-screening event of new movie "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa" was held at Marunouchi Picadilly on 16 December which was attended by the director Zeze Takahisa and cast members Sato Takeru, Tsuchiya Tao, Yakushimaru Hiroko, Sugimoto Tetta, Hamano Kenta and Nakamura Yuri. The movie is based on a true story about Nakahara Takashi and his wife Mai who live in Okayama. At the end of 2006 which was 3 months before the Nakaharas' wedding, Mai was diagnosed with the rare illness anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis which has an occurrence rate of 1 in 3 million people and fell into a coma for an extended period of time. However, Takashi did not give up and continued waiting for Mai to recover. When Mai resumed consciousness, she lost her memories of Takashi who did not give up which led to a miracle happening to them 8 years later when they finally got married in December 2014. The video of their wedding was recorded by the wedding hall's company and uploaded to YouTube in February 2015 thus attracting a lot of attention from the netizens. The Nakaharas' story was also published as a book in July 2015 with the title "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kimi no me ga sameta nara". Sato plays the role of Takashi while Tsuchiya plays Mai in this movie.

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 20th & 21st January 2018

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Geostorm (348)

2) Uso wo aisuru onna (284)

3) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

4) Paddington 2 (317)

5) Kingsman: The Golden Circle (369)

6) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

7) DESTINY Kamakura Monogatari (364)

8) Eiga Yokai Watch Shadowside Oni Ou no Fukkatsu (367)

9) Gekijouban Mazinger Z INFINITY (151)

10) Miseinen dakedo kodomo janai (280)

Source: Eiga.com

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 13th & 14th January 2018

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

2) Kingsman: The Golden Circle (369)

3) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

4) DESTINY Kamakura Monogatari (364)

5) Eiga Yokai Watch Shadowside Oni Ou no Fukkatsu (367)

6) Gekijouban Mazinger Z INFINITY (151)

7) Renegades (155)

8) Miseinen dakedo kodomo janai (280)

9) Eiga Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai! Take On Me (72)

10) Murder on the Orient Express (355)

Source: Eiga.com

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 6th & 7th January 2018

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

2) Kingsman: The Golden Circle (369)

3) DESTINY Kamakura Monogatari (364)

4) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

5) Eiga Yokai Watch Shadowside Oni Ou no Fukkatsu (367)

6) Eiga Chuunibyou demo koi ga shitai! Take On Me (72)

7) Murder on the Orient Express (355)

8) Uso Happyaku (73)

9) Miseinen dakedo kodomo janai (280)

10) Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final: Build & Ex-Aid with Legend Rider (331)

Source: Eiga.com

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 30th & 31st December 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

2) Eiga Yokai Watch Shadowside Oni Ou no Fukkatsu (367)

3) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 23rd & 24th Dec 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

2) Eiga Yokai Watch Shadowside Oni Ou no Fukkatsu (367)

3) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 16th & 17th Dec 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Star Wars: The Last Jedi (377)

2) Eiga Yokai Watch Shadowside Oni Ou no Fukkatsu (364)

3) Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa (320)

Completion screening event of new movie "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa"

The completion screening event of new movie "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kiseki no Jitsuwa" was held at Yurakucho Mullion on 16 November which was attended by the director Zeze Takahisa and cast members Sato Takeru, Tsuchiya Tao, Yakushimaru Hiroko, Sugimoto Tetta, Kitamura Kazuki, Hamano Kenta and Nakamura Yuri. The movie will be shown in cinemas from 16 December.

Sato Takeru & Tsuchiya Tao to star in new movie "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome"

Sato Takeru and Tsuchiya Tao will be starring in the new movie "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome" (A bride over 8 years) which is directed by Zeze Takahisa. The movie is based on a true story about Nakahara Takashi and his wife Mai who live in Okayama. At the end of 2006 which was 3 months before the Nakaharas' wedding, Mai was diagnosed with the rare illness anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis which has an occurrence rate of 1 in 3 million people and fell into a coma for an extended period of time. However, Takashi did not give up and continued waiting for Mai to recover. When Mai resumed consciousness, she lost her memories of Takashi who did not give up which led to a miracle happening to them 8 years later when they finally got married in December 2014. The video of their wedding was recorded by the wedding hall's company and uploaded to YouTube in February 2015 thus attracting a lot of attention from the netizens. The Nakaharas' story was also published as a book in July 2015 with the title "Hachinengoshi no Hanayome Kimi no me ga sameta nara".

Sato will be playing the role of Nishizawa Takashi and recounted that when he watched the wedding video, he felt the love between them and was very touched by how much they had gone through in their lifetime. As such, he hopes to convey their story with the utmost sincerity and respect. On the other hand, Tsuchiya will be playing Nakahara Mai and hopes to work hard to show the gratitude the couple had for the people around them and the love between them through this movie together with Sato who she has always held him in high regard for devoting his all to acting.

Filming begins in January next year and the movie will be shown in winter 2017. The story will be written by Okada Yoshikazu.

Sources: Sponichi / Oricon / Eiga.com