Japan’s Gaga Boards Its First Ever 3D Animated Film, ‘Ryoma! The Prince Of Tennis’ – Filmart

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefIs it crunch time for Sony’s takeover of Crunchyroll? The proposed acquisition of specialized streaming platform Crunchyroll by the Japanese hardware and entertainment giant may now be facing an additional degree of regulatory uncertainty and delay.Tech website The Information reported that the U.S. Justice Department has extended its anti-trust review into the deal.

The more contagious Covid-19 variant known as P.1 has hit New York, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo. The patient affected is a Brooklyn resident in their 90s with no history of travel.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentA film studio since 1920, Japan’s Shochiku has a back catalogue filled with works by master directors including Ozu Yasujiro and Kinoshita Keisuke as well as 1960s New Wave leaders Oshima Nagisa and Shinoda Masahiro and studio stalwart Yamada Yoji, maker of the enduringly popular Tora-san series.Shochiku has been digitally remastering its classics in 4K for some time now and is bringing to FilMart four of the most recently restored titles in this ongoing

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentA late addition to the Nikkatsu lineup for FilMart is “First Gentleman,” a local co-production between Nikkatsu, Toei and Nippon TV.

Japanese Breakfast made her late-night TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (March 15) – you can watch it below.The first of two performances saw Michelle Zauner deliver a one-take performance of her new single ‘Be Sweet’, featuring some familiar extraterrestrial faces that appear in the song’s video.She also shared an online performance of her track ‘Jimmy Fallon Big!’ from her 2017 album ‘Soft Sounds From Another Planet’.Originally written after a bandmate from her old

Japanese Breakfast was the musical guest on Monday night's episode of The Tonight Show. This gave Michelle Zauner the opportunity to perform new song "Be Sweet" as well as revive "Jimmy Fallon Big!" a song from her 2017 album Soft Sounds From Another Planet that references the show's host.

Charli XCX, The 1975 and No Rome have shared an animated video for their debut single ‘Spinning’ – watch below.The newly-formed supergroup shared their first song at the start of the month after Charli announced that she was “forming a supergroup” with the Dirty Hit acts.The new video, created by Japanese artist Hideyuki Tanaka and designer Samuel Burgess-Johnson, is “a video inspired by the art that inspires me,” according to Rome.Watch the video, an animated wonderland that sees the trio

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe pandemic has led to changes in production that could well be permanent, but its effect on content going forward is less clear.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentSales agency Pony Canyon is bringing some of the biggest upcoming Japanese live-action films to FilMart, including genre titles with global ambitions.One is “Office Royale,” whose title references the 2000 Fukasaku Kinji classic “Battle Royale,” but is an action comedy scripted by popular funnyman Bakarhythm and directed by TV drama veteran Seki Kazuaki. Nakano Mei (“Park”) stars as an ordinary “office lady” (OL or clerk) in a humdrum company.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent“Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time,” the fourth film in the Rebuild of Evangelion sci-fi anime series created and co-directed by Anno Hideaki, has earned $30.6 million from 2.2 million admissions in its first week on release, according to distributor figures released on Monday.Bowing on March 8 on 466 screens, the film has grabbed 45% more at the box office than the third “Rebuild of Evangelion” film, “Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo,” which had a

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentFollowing his win of the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the recently concluded Berlin Film Festival for “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” 42-year-old Hamaguchi Ryusuke suddenly finds himself catapulted to the directorial front ranks in his native Japan.It’s not that he’s exactly obscure there: Hamaguchi’s 2018 romantic drama “Asako I & II” was selected for the Cannes competition while his 2015 breakthrough, the five-hour-plus drama “Happy Hour,” won a group best

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe Japanese film industry has been relatively quick to recover from the pandemic, despite the slow rollout of vaccinations in Japan. So industry leaders are bringing lineups to FilMart packed with titles that will hopefully play to packed theaters at home in the coming months.One is Gaga Corporation, which is bringing “Junk Head,” a first feature by stop-motion animator Takahide Hori that has won kudos around the international festival circuit.

Japan, and possibly with the world.“Demon Slayer” has become the biggest grossing film for Japan, surpassing live-action films and even Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away.”The 2020 film, directed by Haruo Sotozaki, got a limited run in Miami, starting last month. A U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: New Line is scratching at a start date on Hello Kitty. The studio, which set the rights to make a film based on the global brand in 2019, has set Jennifer Coyle and Leo Matsuda to direct what will be an animated/live-action hybrid effort.

Thanks in no small part to the presence in of its lead actor in Potsdamer Platz, Minamata was among the starrier titles premiering at the 2020 Berlinale (which was, incredibly, an in-person event just a year ago). The drama, directed by Andrew Levitas, featured Johnny Depp asnoted American photographer Eugene Smith, who in the 1970s would document the devastating effects of mercury poisoning in coastal Japan.