Japan's Box Office Fell 45 Percent to $1.38 Billion in 2020

Also Read: China and Japan Delivered Half of 2020's Top 10 Box Office Hits for First Time EverWhile “Detective Chinatown 3” is not likely to challenge “Endgame”‘s all-time global record of $2.79 billion, it is well on pace to pass the Marvel blockbuster’s Chinese total of $679 million.

Remakes of Japanese movies, particularly horror movies, are nothing new in Hollywood, but it’s rare to see the opposite happen. This is why we are intrigued to see Vincenzo Natali back the upcoming Japanese remake of his cult sci-fi/horror film “Cube” by executive producing it.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK, via its business arm NHK Enterprises, has acquired local rights to Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles. The 8x52’series will air in Japan on AXN Mystery beginning Sunday, Feb.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Boonie Bears: The Wild Life,” the latest feature-length instalment in a long-running Chinese film and TV franchise, is set to open in Japan and Australia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPixar animation “Soul” and Japanese anime “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” held station at the top of the South Korean box office for the second successive weekend.Still heavily under the influence of COVID conditions, nationwide overall takings remained anemic.

Also Read: 'Bring Your Own Brigade' Director Says Climate Change Isn't the Only Reason Wildfires Are Worse (Video)Lindström added, “He said, ‘I made sure no one could listen to these songs.’ And then when we came to Japan and talked to people, they all said, ‘He sings such perfect Japanese,’ and he just started to like them.”Petri said it was an important moment for Andrésen, who was finally able to “reclaim his experience and the place of Japan as another way, as an adult.”Also Read: 'A Glitch

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) will air on the Roku Channel in the U.S., U.K., and Canada under a new television deal, Variety has learned.The professional wrestling promotion will air a one-hour weekly series on the Roku Channel beginning Feb. 11 and will air every Thursday thereafter beginning at 5 p.m.

Davide Abbatescianni Swiss sales outfit Lightdox has acquired Julien Faraut’s documentary “Les Sorcières de l’Orient,” taking part in the Big Screen Competition of the Rotterdam Film Festival.The film follows the former players of the Japanese women’s volleyball team. Now in their 70s, they used to be known as the “The Sorcerers of the East” because of their seemingly supernatural powers on the courts.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic means international film buyers won't be able to travel to Berlin this year for the European Film Market —the 2021 EFM will be a virtual affair—but select distributors will get a chance to watch Berlin titles at their local cinema.

With international buyers unable to travel to Germany to scout movies at year’s Berlin International Film Festival, the event will instead bring a selection of titles from its program to them through new initiative ‘EFM goes global’.

Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5 will be a return to earlier form, providing a more “full” experience, according to game head Kazunori Yamauchi.The classic PlayStation racing game was subject to many changes in its most recent iteration as GT Sport.

So Nic Cage is a bank robber sprung, naked except for a sumo-nappy, from a lengthy stint in jail by the white-hatted, black-hearted Governor (Bill Moseley) of a fake Japanese cowboy town populated exclusively by caged Geisha prostitutes, one of the favorites of whom, Bernice (Sofia Boutella, being bafflingly good again despite the material) recently escaped, so The Governor straps Cage into a leather suit rigged with explosives on the arms, neck and testicles that are primed to explode if they

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentShochiku, a major Japanese film producer and distributor, has announced its remake of “Cube,” a 1997 fantasy-thriller by Vincenzo Natali about six people who find themselves trapped in a maze-like cube and have to figure a way out, while evading fatal traps.A Canadian production that premiered at Toronto, the original film became a cult hit in Japan following its September 1998 local release.The remake stars Suda Masaki, Okada Masaki, Tashiro Hikaru, Saito

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPixar’s “Soul” was joined by Japanese hit sensation “Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train” at the top of the box office rankings in South Korea over the weekend to Jan. 31.

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Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentTheatrical box office takings in Japan fell by 45% in 2020, compared with the previous year, as coronavirus took its toll on cinemagoing. But that makes Japan one of the most resilient major box office territories.Data published Wednesday by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) show that total box office was $1.37 billion (JPY143 billion) 45% down on 2019’s $2.5 billion (JPY261 billion).