The Japanese film industry has long been notoriously insular, a tendency the pandemic only exacerbated. As the Hollywood pipeline shut down in 2020, local audiences flocked to local films. In 2021, “Fast & Furious 9” was the only non-Japanese film to break into the year’s box office top 10, in the number 10 slot; in pre-pandemic 2019, six of the 10 highest-earning films were foreign, all from Hollywood.
Also, Japanese mainstream films, nearly all of which are based on pre-existing domestic properties, be they comics or TV series, rarely recoup any significant part of their budgets abroad. “The Japanese film industry has been self-sustaining and self-sufficient for decades, so selling overseas was never a necessity,” says producer Jason Gray, who together with wife Eiko Mizuno-Gray runs Tokyo-based production company Loaded Films.
The industry is slowly venturing out of its domestic comfort zone, as indicated by the Japanese-helmed titles at Cannes. One is “Broker,” a competition entry by Kore-eda Hirokazu,...
Also, Japanese mainstream films, nearly all of which are based on pre-existing domestic properties, be they comics or TV series, rarely recoup any significant part of their budgets abroad. “The Japanese film industry has been self-sustaining and self-sufficient for decades, so selling overseas was never a necessity,” says producer Jason Gray, who together with wife Eiko Mizuno-Gray runs Tokyo-based production company Loaded Films.
The industry is slowly venturing out of its domestic comfort zone, as indicated by the Japanese-helmed titles at Cannes. One is “Broker,” a competition entry by Kore-eda Hirokazu,...
- 5/20/2022
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
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