Japan Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent After opening on April 28 in Japan, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has hit the JPY10 billion ($71 million) milestone in just 31 days – the quickest ever by a non-Japanese animation in the Japanese market.In the latest three-day period from May 28 to 28, the film earned JPY632 million ($4.5 million), bringing its cumulative box office to JPY10.1 billion ($71.7 million), according to figures supplied by distributor Toho-Towa. Based on an iconic Japanese game series, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” currently ranks third all-time at the worldwide box office for animated films, behind “Frozen” and Frozen II.” Toho-Towa has not issued a final earnings forecast for the film. And the title still has a way to go to catch Japan’s all-time box office leader, the locally-produced “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train.” That earned JPY40.4 billion ($288 million) in 2020.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, June 9 to 18, has unveiled the titles in contention for awards in its four main feature-length sections: main competition, Asian New Talent, Animation film and documentary. These are eligible for the festival’s prestigious Golden Goblet Awards, winners of which will be announced at the Shanghai Grand Theater on the evening of June 17. While SIFF remains the only mainland China festival to be accredited as a so-called A-list event by the International Federation of Film Producers (FIAPF), its selections are largely separate and distinct from those at other major international festivals.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Martin Scorsese is on a post-Cannes tour of Italy where over the weekend the director, known for having a religious bent, met with Pope Francis and announced that he will make a film about Jesus. “I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus,” Scorsese announced on Saturday during a Rome conference at the Vatican, according to multiple reports. “And I’m about to start making it,” the director added, suggesting that this could be his next film. Also on Saturday, before attending the conference – titled “The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination” – Scorsese and his wife Helen Morris met Pope Francis during a brief private audience at the Vatican.

Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) has unveiled the major competition selections for its 25th edition (June 9-18), which will be the first to be held in a fully physical format with international guests since before the pandemic. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China’s NetEase Games has established PinCool, a Tokyo-based game studio focused on developing titles for game consoles. That is a significant diversification, considering that PC and mobile are the major formats for games play in China. And the company says the company it will also be involved in planning and producing a range of additional forms of entertainment. The new company is headed by representative director and president Ichimura Ryutaro, a 20-year veteran of the games industry and long-time producer of the “Dragon Quest” games franchise. Beyond serving as lead producer for games such as “Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King” and “Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies,” Ichimura also led other areas of the Dragon Quest IP franchise including live events and exhibitions.

K-pop boyband Stray Kids have released a teaser for their upcoming music video for ’S-Class’.On May 29, the JYP Entertainment act shared a first look at their music video for ’S-Class’, the lead single of their upcoming studio album ‘5-Star’. The record and music video are due out later this week on June 2 at 1pm KST/12am ET.Stray Kids appear to be leaders of an uprising in the new visual, with cloaked figures raising their fists towards members of the group in solidarity.

d4vd has shared an exclusive playlist to accompany the launch of NME’s The Cover.The Houston-based artist stars on this week’s cover (May 29) as we renew our commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover, and the full interview with d4vd can be read here.To celebrate, d4vd has curated a ‘songs for tour’ playlist, featuring songs from Holly Humberstone, The Japanese House, Clairo, Billie Eilish and more.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fast X” predictably won a second weekend on top of the mainland China box office, driving its total past the $100 million mark. But the disappointing start for Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” was the bigger talking point. “Fast X” earned $17.6 million in China according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was a 66% drop compared with its opening weekend, but still gave the film a $110 million cumulative after 12 days and has caused estimates to be further revised upwards. Ticketing agency Maoyan is now forecasting that the film will finish with RMB880 million ($126 million), having previously predicted RMB728 million ($104 million), and then RMB840 million.

Long before race car drive Josef Newgarden won the 2023 Indy500, he won the heart of wife Ashley Newgarden (née Welch).

Refresh for latest…: Apart from big new opener The Little Mermaid, which we detailed here, this weekend was notable for propelling Universal’s Fast X past the $500M mark globally, and Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to over $730M worldwide.

It’s a wrap for the 2023 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, where French director Justine Triet’s courtroom thriller “Anatomy of a Fall” has won this year’s Palme d’Or for best film.

Daft Punk‘s ‘Random Access Memories’ has returned to the top of the Billboard Dance/Electronic albums chart.The legendary French duo, who broke up in 2021, released a new anniversary edition of their fourth and final album, which first came out a decade ago last week.Since the release of the anniversary edition, streams of ‘Random Access Memories’ have gone up by over 1,000 per cent, as Billboard report, with the album now sitting atop the Dance/Electronic albums chart.Released as part of the anniversary edition is a previously unreleased song featuring The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas, titled ‘Infinity Repeating’.The new version of the album also includes studio outtakes of the album opener ‘Give Live Back To Music’, vocoder tests of ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’ and the song ‘Horizon’, which previously only appeared on the Japanese version of the CD.NME recently explored how ‘Random Access Memories’ became the most hyped album of its era in a special retrospective feature.In other Daft Punk news, earlier this year Thomas Bangalter explained the reasons behind the duo’s split in 2021. “My concerns about the rise of artificial intelligence go beyond its use in music creation,” he said, explaining that fans often misunderstood their music.“[In Daft Punk,] we tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can.

The official synopsis for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” is one of those rare occasions when a tightly-described premise encapsulates the immensity of a film: a janitor in Japan drives between jobs listening to rock music. In this case, the janitor is Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), an older man whose job is cleaning Tokyo’s elegantly designed public toilets.

linked to Taylor Swift, 33, following her April split from Joe Alwyn. With that spotlight comes increased scrutiny, and an old podcast episode has surfaced in which the British musician has made controversial remarks that have sparked backlash. The podcast, released in February, was an episode of “The Adam Friedland Show.” It’s since been deleted from Apple and Spotify, but The Post obtained a copy via YouTube. Swift has not made any comment about it, even though many of her fans have expressed outrage and slammed her rumored relationship with Healy, saying things like “I’m about to vomit.” She’s also seemingly responded to it, in the form of a collaboration with Ice Spice, who was discussed in an unflattering way on the podcast. The Post reached out to reps for Swift and The 1975 for comment.So, what exactly did he say on this controversial podcast episode? Here’s a breakdown.While he was a guest on this podcast episode, Healy laughed as the hosts, Friedland and Nick Mullen, made fun of rapper Ice Spice, 23, using derogatory terms about her body and ethnicity.

Idina Menzel, who will perform music from her upcoming dance album Drama Queen, and pop artists Debbie Gibson and Shanice.The concert takes place from noon to 10 p.m. on the Main Stage, on Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 3rd Street, in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.It coincides with the Capital Pride Festival, featuring booths highlighting local D.C.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy, whose absurdist social satire “Feathers” won the Cannes Critics’ Week prize in 2021 and went on to make a major splash, is set to helm “Mammals,” an English-language drama that will be a reflection on Western capitalism and family ties. El Zohairy’s sophomore film, which will feature still unspecified actors from different countries, is being co-written by the buzzed-about auteur with British Egyptian writer-director Mohamed Adeeb, who wrote the hit Egyptian TV series “Bimbo,” directed by Amr Salama. “Mammals” is partly inspired by the biography of El Zohairy’s father, who died in 2016 in the United States, where he was an immigrant living under difficult conditions. In the film, a young man visits his distant father in one of the world’s most lavish resorts. When he arrives there he discovers that, unbeknownst to him, his father has locked him into a business deal that he cannot reject. The young man rebels, but also starts to like his new life and eventually loses his sanity. 

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Jonathan Glazer’s Nazi drama “The Zone of Interest” has sold into major international territories following its buzzy Cannes world premiere. The film centers on the family of a high-ranking SS official that lives next door to Auschwitz concentration camp. The pic has sold into: Austria and Germany (Leonine), Benelux (Cineart), France (BAC), Greece (Spentzos), Italy (I Wonder), Japan (Happinet Phantom Studios), Scandinavia (SF Studios), Spain (Elastica) and Switzerland (Filmcoopi). In Poland — a significant sales market for the film given it is set there — Gutek has come on board as distributor. (A24 was selling worldwide rights for the film, but did not handle the Polish sale.)

A24 has unveiled a raft of key territory deals for Jonathan Glazer’s hotly tipped Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or frontrunner The Zone Of Interest ahead of the awards ceremony on Saturday.

Carrie, which starred Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead role. She passed away on May 14 at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, after being diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer.After battling with the illness since 2021, her death was announced on her Instagram page by her family.Sharing images of Weinstein peacefully floating against a celestial background, they wrote: “After two and a half years of cancer treatment, and a lifetime of jet setting around the world, voicing a plethora of cartoon animals, making music, and knowing more about life than most people ever will, she is off on her next adventure.”In October last year, the Canadian actress married her partner Michael Knutson, and the two ventured on a belated honeymoon in Japan last month.Launching her career as an actress in 2003, the child actor got her first television role on the Canadian series The Red Green Show.

A third Wings of Desire centering on the angels that watch over us, is not in the cards, German director Wim Wenders said today at the Cannes press conference for his latest in competition title at the fest, Perfect Days.

Sugababes fans have been left shocked after Heidi Range celebrated a milestone birthday. The singer, who was in the pop group from 2001 until 2011, shared several pictures from a night out. She looked sensational as she posed for snaps in an elegant red and white spotty maxi dress with ruffles, which she paired with oversized heart-shaped earrings.

EXCLUSIVE: Neon is nearing a deal for North American rights to Cannes competition entry Perfect Days from The Match Factory in a deal pegged in the mid-to-high six figures.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Wscripted, the talent platform sourcing women and non-binary writers, has unveiled the nominees for its third Cannes Screenplay List, an initiative launched in partnership with MUBI. The final selection was curated by an inaugural jury of international female filmmakers, including Mounia Meddour (“Papicha”, “Houria”), Funa Maduka (“Waiting for Hassana”), and Camille Griffin (“Silent Night”). The list features 10 English-language and two French-language film projects by women and non-binary screenwriters and celebrates original projects from development to early financing stages.

Matty Healy has been catching strays from all sides recently. The 1975 frontman continues to face blowback over some racially-tinged jokes on a podcast, with fans of his rumored new girlfriend Taylor Swift writing her an open letter decrying their unconfirmed coupling.

The dignity of labor is explored with gentle humor and a very melancholy sense of joie de vivre in Wim Wenders’ second 2023 Cannes entry after his 3D documentary Anselm. Shot entirely in Japan, with very little English spoken, Perfect Days is an unusual film from a westerner since it does nothing to “other” a country that is often romanticized as a series of specific cultural signifiers (as in the well-meaning Lost in Translation, for example). It’s a compliment to say that Jim Jarmusch could have made it.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Before you ask, yes, Lou Reed’s rock standard “Perfect Day” does indeed make an appearance in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days”: on the protagonist’s stereo as suitably ideal sunlight pours into his small, neat Tokyo apartment, before swarming the soundtrack as we head out into the city on a calm weekend afternoon. If that sounds a little obvious, basic even, said protagonist Hirayama — a mellow, soft-spoken toilet cleaner beautifully played by Kōji Yakusho — would probably agree with a shrug. He’s into simple pleasures, not deep cuts. His solitary life is built around the things that make him happy and the work that keeps him solvent. He’s not inclined to wonder what other people make of it. Wenders’ film, in turn, is sincere and unassuming, and owns its sentimentality with good humor.

and who leant her voice to a variety of cartoons, had died after a lengthy battle with cancer.«Sam died on May 14th at 11:25am surrounded by her loved ones at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto,» the Instagram post, which featured smiling photos of Weinstein edited to look like she was floating in a galaxy, read.

and who leant her voice to a variety of cartoons, had died after a lengthy battle with cancer.«Sam died on May 14th at 11:25am surrounded by her loved ones at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto,» the Instagram post, which featured smiling photos of Weinstein edited to look like she was floating in a galaxy, read.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent Ichikawa Ennosuke, a leading Japanese Kabuki actor, was discovered in a semi-conscious state in the family home in Tokyo’s Meguro district by his manager on the morning of Thursday last week (May 18). First responders found his father, Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danshiro IV, and his mother lying together in a separate room. Both have since been pronounced dead. A note, apparently written by Ichikawa Ennosuke, was found. Authorities have not confirmed a cause of death for the two parents.Shochiku, a leading Japanese film studio and Kabuki theater management company that also serves as Ichikawa’s management agency, said in a statement Friday that, “We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Mr. Ichikawa Danshiro, who had supported the Kabuki world for many years, and his wife.”

Naman Ramachandran Multinational cinema operator Cineworld‘s proposed restructuring now has the backing of most of its lenders, the company said on Thursday. The restructuring, which was announced in April, “now has the support of lenders holding and controlling approximately 99% of the legacy facilities and at least 69% of the outstanding indebtedness under the debtor-in-possession facility of Cineworld and certain of its subsidiaries,” the group said in a statement. Cineworld Group and its subsidiaries had commenced Chapter 11 cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court in September 2022. The group now expects to emerge from the Chapter 11 cases in July and will continue to operate its cinemas as usual without interruption, it said.

Disney’s return to live-action takes of their animated vault in the fullest theatrical form happens this weekend with Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid which is eyeing a $180M worldwide start.

For three decades, filmmaker Takeshi Kitano was fixated on a period of Japanese history, in which Lord Oda Nobunaga was inexplicably betrayed by one of his closest allies, Akechi Mitsuhide, in an ambush at Honno-ji Temple. The reasons behind Mitsuhide’s deception are unknown, but Kitano dedicated years to concocting his own theories, going so far as to pen a novel imagining the events that led to the incident.  Adapted from his own book, “Kubi” is an outrageously exhilarating update of the samurai epic, dialing up the blood and guts and sprinkling in the sick humor to match.

Keanu Reeves and Sofia Coppola arrive at The House of Suntory 100 Year Anniversary Global Event on Tuesday (May 23) in New York City.

EXCLUSIVE: Max has boarded Mermicorno: Starfall, an animated series from Canada’s Thunderbird Entertainment.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Live sports streaming service DAZN and social analytics firm Videocites have forged a partnership to fight rampant sports content piracy in the social media sphere. Dubbed “The Netflix of Sports,” DAZN is a leading premium live sports platform with a footprint comprising Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Japan, Canada, U.S. and the U.K. The company boasts that Videocities’ cutting-edge technology will now enable DAZN to automatically remove 98% of the thousands of pirated streams detected on social media within minutes with unprecedented efficiency, it said in a statement. NBA Equity is an investor in Videocites which has several offices around the world, including in Tel Aviv and one recently opened in New York.  

Kim Kardashian has shared how the one place where she isn’t as recognised or mobbed by fans. Kim, 42, recently enjoyed a family holiday to an Asian country and while there, she says she didn’t find herself being pestered for photos as much, which allowed her and her loved ones some much-needed time away from the limelight. Speaking on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, Kim discussed personal topics including parenting, healing trauma, navigating the dating world as a celebrity, and what it's like to travel with her family.