Inter-Office Memo
CONFIDENTIAL
To: David Kaminow, Debbie McCurry, Abe Recio
Sony Pictures
From: Neil Harrison, Sean Steele, Juley Remily, Chloe Wild, Tracy Powell, Stuart Grant, Kathleen Sauve
Subject: Summary of Japan Tracking: 1 September – 7 September 2008
Date: 8 September 2008
Japan - Market Overview
PLEASE SEE ACCOMPANYING DATA TABLES FOR FULL BREAKDOWN OF TITLES
PLEASE NOTE THAT “DEFINITE” INTEREST IS BASED ON THOSE AWARE, SO BASE SIZES CAN BE SMALL
OPENING THIS WEEK (13 September 2008):
|[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |
|ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS |DAI KESSEN CHO ULTRA… |DEPARTURES |FLYING RABBITS |PACO AND THE MAGICAL… |
Of this week’s openers, Roadshow’s kids’ fantasy Paco And The Magical Picture Book and Shochiku’s drama Departure (Okuribito) are the only titles to track above normative levels. However, with strong holdovers in the market, neither are likely to challenge the top few titles at the Japanese box office.
• Departure has the slight edge in terms of total awareness, but Paco And The Magical Picture Book leads on the interest measures:
o A similar 8%-9% name these two films spontaneously, while slightly more moviegoers are aware of Departure than Paco overall (45% vs. 39%).
o However, Paco generates a higher level of “definite” interest (12% vs. Departure’s 7%) and first choice among those opening/in release (5% vs. Departure’s 3%).
o Of note, featuring in the press last week, Departure won the grand prize at the 32nd Montreal World Film Festival that ended last Monday (see picture below).
• Awareness of Shochiku’s latest ‘Super 8 Ultra Brothers’ film, Dai Kessen Cho Ultra 8Kyodai, is almost at norm (2% unaided and 24% total awareness, against respective norms of 5% and 25%), while 2% pick the film as their first choice (opening/release).
• The remaining two titles register just 0%-1% first choice (opening/release), with awareness falling below the norm: 14% are familiar with Toei’s female basketball comedy Flying Rabbits and just 6% are familiar with Alvin And The Chipmunks (Fox).
• [pic] Japan MARKET OVERVIEW
OPENING NEXT WEEK (20 September 2008):
• Releasing next week, Toho’s Wanted is best placed with strong “definite” interest and above average unaided awareness and first choice levels (despite total awareness being higher for Takeshi Kitano’s Achilles And The Tortoise and novel adaptation Hebi Ni Piasu):
o Awareness of the Angelina Jolie starrer increased this week, with unaided rising from 4% to 6% and total awareness increasing from 15% to 23% (norms are 3% and 21%, respectively).
o “Definite” interest in seeing Wanted is also up on last week (from 24% to 28%), and is well above the 11% norm. First choice is at 3%, rising to 5% among older females.
o Awareness of both Achilles And The Tortoise (40%) and Hebi Ni Piasu (32%) is above the norm (21%), but “definite” interest in seeing both titles is muted (at 4% each). However, Achilles And The Tortoise is registering 2% first choice (Hebi Ni Piasu is at 0%).
o James McAvoy was in Japan for the premiere of Wanted last week (see right).
OTHER PRE-RELEASE TITLES:
• Two weeks out, Sony’s Iron Man and Toho’s Ikigami (a thriller based on a manga of the same name) made gains in awareness since last week, with total awareness of both titles standing at a similar level (29%-30%). However, this week Iron Man leads Ikigami in terms of unaided awareness (6% vs. 4%), “definite” interest (13% vs. 8%) and first choice (3% vs. 1%).
• One week later, Toho’s TV drama and best-selling mystery novel adaptation The Devotion of Suspect X (Yogisha X No Kenshin) is tracking very well with awareness increasing 8% points (to 34%) and first choice rising from 6% to 10%. “Definite” interest in seeing the movie remains at a strong 23% (was 22%).
• Six weeks out, Toho’s Homeless Chugakusei (based on the TV drama series and best-selling autobiography of local comedian Hiroshi Tamura) has seen little change since last week, but remains well ahead of its fellow releases and above norms (71% total awareness and 4% first choice).
• John Woo’s Chinese epic Red Cliff (Toho-Towa) made gains in awareness seven weeks out (unaided is up from 1% to 2% and total awareness rose from 12% to 17%). Fellow release Handsome Suits (Asmik Ace) also made gains in awareness (up from 14% to 18%), but the local comedy lags Red Cliff in terms of “definite” interest (5% vs. Red Cliff’s 14%) and first choice (less than 1% vs. Red Cliff’s 2%).
• Fox’s sequel X-Files: I Want To Believe returns to tracking with less than 1% unaided, 25% total awareness, 11% “definite” interest and an above average 3% first choice (rising to 6% among older males).
|Iron Man |
|Opening week |Market |Summary |
|September 27 |[pic] |Two weeks pre-release, Iron Man has made gains in awareness, and first choice levels are up on last week. |
| | |Unaided awareness doubled from 3% to 6%, and total awareness increased from 21% to 29%. Awareness skews male, |
| | |especially towards younger males (9% unaided and 38% total awareness), while among the segments, frequent moviegoers |
| | |are the most aware (14% unaided and 47% total awareness). |
| | |On par with last week, “definite” interest is at 13%, skewing strongly male (17% vs. 7% among females). |
| | |First choice rose from 1% to 3%, driven by a 4% point increase among younger males (to 5%). First choice among older |
| | |males is at 4%, while females lag on this measure (1%). |
| | |In comparison, Iron Man’s awareness (29%) remains above The Dark Knight (15%) and The Incredible Hulk (17%), but below |
| | |Transformers (41%). In terms of “definite” interest, Iron Man (13%) is above The Incredible Hulk (9%), but slightly |
| | |below Transformers (16%) and well below The Dark Knight (21%). |
| | |On the 27th September release date, Iron Man and fellow release Ikigami (a thriller based on a manga of the same name) |
| | |continue to lead the week in terms of awareness, but Iron Man has the edge in terms of interest (“definite” interest in|
| | |seeing Ikigami is at 8%, while first choice is at 1%). |
APPENDIX NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE TITLE INFORMATION
Non-English language title information
(JP126)
ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE
Comedy directed by and starring Kitano Takeshi. Kitano plays as a talentless-but-dedicated artist, who plugs along with the support of his long-suffering wife and their kids. As such, Kitano continues the thematic exploration of the artist he began with Takeshis' in Akiresu to Kami, commenting that even people without talent should live for all they're worth, facing reality, and Kitano continued, that "it's a story about the harshness of the artistic life."
Buta ga Ita Kyoushitsu
Based on a documentary which aired on television in 1993 in which a teacher had a class full of students raise a pig with the intention of eventually eating it. The children reacted to the project in different ways, and the disagreements were caught on camera. The film version will repeat the entire scenario without set script, hoping to capture the children’s natural reactions.
CHEER CHEER CHEER!
Momoko is a quiet and lonely high school girl whose only passion is to cheer traditional cheer squad, but all she could gather were good for nothing guys, who could not find places in school. They start the cheer squad with a disaster, but when they finally find the true meaning of "cheering" someone, their passion becomes power and gives strength to those that are cheered.
DAI KESSEN CHO ULTRA 8KYODAI
Family live action - The movie is the latest in the long-running Super 8 Ultra Brothers superhero series (based on TV series) and is being directed by Takeshi Yagi. While the protagonist of this film is Tiga, the story will happen in the universe of Mebius. Além do Tiga, teremos ainda Ultraman , Ultraman Jack , Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Dyna, Ultraman Gaia eo Ultraseven.As filmagens, que iniciaram esta semana, deverão estar encerradas até Novembro ea data de exibição do filme marcará o aniversário de 150 anos da abertura do porto da cidade de Yokohama.The theme developed in the film will be having the courage to believe in the future and to never give up your dream.
DEPARTURE (OKURIBITO)
Drama - Masahiro Motoki and Ryoko Hirosue star in Yojiro Takita's latest film, ‘Okuribito’ (‘Departure’). The story is inspired by author Shinmon Aoki's "Coffinman," the tale of a man coming to grips with his new job of preparing bodies for coffins.
Detroit Metal City
Live action film based on a manga that has gained immense popularity in the indies scene. The tongue-in-cheek story tells the indie rock rise to glory of a Japanese death metal band. The members take on appropriately Teutonic and European stage names (guitarist and vocalist Sōichi Negishi becomes Johannes Krauser II, Masayuki Wada becomes Alexander Jagi, and Terumichi Nishida becomes Camus) and perform with face paint, similar to that of the American glam metal rock band Kiss. (The band and manga's name is an apparent homage to the "Detroit Rock City" song by Kiss.)
FLYING RABBITS
Comedy directed by Takahisa Zeze. The story revolves around a girl who splits her time between working as a JAL stewardess and playing for the Rabbits basketball team.
Gake no Ue no Ponyo
Ponyo on the Cliff is an animated film by the Japanese anime studio Studio Ghibli, to be written and directed by famed anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The plot centers on a goldfish princess named Ponyo who desperately wants to be a human. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sōsuke.
Gou-Gou Datte Neko Dearu
Kyoko Koizumi plays a mangaka who raises a cat named Gou-Gou after her previous cat dies.
HANDSOME SUITS
Handsome Suit revolves around a magical suit that makes its wearer more attractive.
HOMELESS CHUGAKUSEI
Movie based on Hiroshi Tamura's record best-selling 2007 autobiography. When Hiroshi Tamura was was just ten, his mother died of an illness, which was a terrible shock to his family. A bigger surprise was in store five years later, however, when Hiroshi and his older brother and sister arrived home to find their house repossessed. Their father appeared soon after, explaining the situation: the family was penniless and had lost everything. "So we'll all go our separate ways now. Family, dismissed!" Determined not to drop out of school, he moved to a nearby park where he lived, sleeping on a sliding board for several months, eating rice when he could get it and cardboard boxes when he couldn't and washing himself with rain water. Through hard work, he was eventually able to graduate from high schoo, and now he's part of a successful Japanese comedian duo called Kirin.
HEBI NI PIASU
‘Snakes and Earrings’ (‘Hebi ni Piasu’) is a novel written by the Japanese author Hitomi Kanehara in 2003, and it won the 2003 Akutagawa Prize for literature. It was translated into English by David Karashima. The film-version, directed by Yukio Ninagawa, follows several months in the life of Lui, a young woman who, while exploring body modification, decides to split her tongue. It follows her feelings at this time, and follows her slow spiral downwards into alcoholism. The story ends with Lui's own tragic discovery about her lover and the mysterious tattoo artist she has grown to become entranced by.
ICHI
Ayase plays a blind woman who roams about town with her shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese guitar), but she has exceptional sword skills with which she fights off yakuza and other villains.
IKIGAMI
A Japanese drama/horror based on the manga of the same name by Motoro Mase. The movie takes place in a fictional world where a new policy instilled by the government randomly selects citizens of a certain standing to receive their own "Ikigami" (death notice). The problem is that once they receive this, they only have 24 hours to live. The film focuses on the people who deliver the Ikigamis.
JIROCHO SANGOKUSHI
Jirocho is a gambler who's forced to leave his wife Ocho in Shimizu for 3 years as he trains as a professional gambler. When he finally returns to Shimizu with his own crew of loyal gangsters he finds Ocho has fallen ill and he has several rivals to contend with.
Maboroshi no Yamataikoku
Maboroshi no Yamataikoku is based on a 1967 Kohei Miyazaki best-selling novel and directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi. Yamataikoku was an ancient country within Japan during the late Yayoi period. The historical film centers around a couple who are searching for this country even though the husband is blind.
OROCHI
Orochi is a manga adaptation about two sisters, one of whom lives in the shadow of the other. A tragic accident sets things in motion and so appears the mysterious young girl named Orochi.
Paco and the magic picture book
A young girl named Pako becomes hospitalized with some kind of brain damage after she and her parents are in a traffic accident and they're killed. Suffering from problems with her memory, she's only able to remember things for a day.
As a result she becomes obsessed with a picture book that she likes to look at while sitting on a bench... and some sort of insanity ensues.
PANDAFUL LIFE
Documentary - In the peaceful and happy life that the pandas seem to be leading, we see that they are not just cuddly and cute animals. With only 1,600 pandas left on earth, every minute of their life is important, and every second leads to their next generation. Co-produced with China, it is the first time ever to be able to shoot the new born baby panda in the mother's arms. Spending over a year of shooting to follow each panda, the crew were able to shoot an extremely rare material on the "way of life" for the pandas.
POKEMON THE MOVIE 2008
Pokémon (abbreviated from Pocket Monsters) is an award winning anime, noted for its constant evolution and rising popularity amongst new comers. It is somewhat based on the Pokémon video game series and a part of the Pokémon franchise. It was created in Japan and was then adapted for the North American television market. The 2008 movie is called ‘Giratina and the Boquet of the Sky’.
RED CLIFF
It's A.D. 208 China. Rival states Shu and Wu join hands against their common enemy, the evil and ambitious General Cao Cao of the Wei kingdom, but are seriously outnumbered by his million-strong army. But with the charismatic leadership of Gen. Zhou Yu the perfect strategy of scholar Zhuge Liang and the support of Emperor Sun Quan they manage to declare a small victory. While Cao Cao scoffs at this as no big deal, it adds fuel to his fury.
SANBONGI NOUGYOU HIGHSCHOOL (Sanbongi Agricultural School Equestrian Club)
Based on a true story, takes place at an agricultural high school in Aomori Prefecture where a schoolgirl participates in equestrian games with a blind horse.
SHAKARIKI
Cycling enthusiast Teru tries to revive his school's bicycle club along with the club's new manager, Sakura Nagata
sakura no sono
A teen drama that takes place in a girl school which is celebrating its anniversary by staging a play. However, the play may be cancelled because of the misbehaving conduct by some of the senior girls.
Tokyo Sonata
An ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company
Tsuribaka nisshi 19
Long running movie series,Tsuribaka nisshi, is based on a fishing manga by Juzo Yamasaki and Kenichi Kitami published in Big Comic Original since 1979. The story focuses on salaryman Densuke Hamasaki (a.k.a Hama-chan), whom his supervisor Sasaki has dubbed the "Fishing Baka" because of his passion for fishing. One day Hama-chan meets and befriends an older fisherman named Su-san, who turns out to be Ichinosuke Suzuki, the CEO of the "Suzuki Construction" company that Hama-chan works for. The stories tend to focus on their relathionship inside and outside of the office.
TWENTIETH CENTURY BOYS
Live action movie based on a popular manga mystery series. Kenji and his friends start to notice a series of odd occurrences related to their childhood. A mysterious cult-leader named "friend" is out to destroy the world, and it has something to do with Kenji's childhood memories.
YES! precure 5 the Movie
The latest in the PreCure 5 (Pretty Cure 5) series. The Cure Rose Garden has always been concealed from human eye. Flora, the area's guardian, watches over it and makes sure the path to the secret area doesn't appear. However Eternal, an art organization known for amassing treasure and artwork from many worlds, is trying to get to the garden. To do this, they first invade the Palmier Kingdom and four other kingdoms. Flora senses her approaching danger and sends a letter to Nozomi and the Pretty Cure 5. Their new mission is to find the four rulers that have fled from their kingdoms since they hold the Rose Garden Keys.To perform this mission, Nozomi and the others regain their ability to transform into PreCure Five and a new heroine; Milky Rose, appears.
yogisha x no kenshin (The Devotion of Suspect X)
A genius mathematics teacher comes up with a plan to cover up a crime committed by a woman he is in love with.
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Customers of Pizza-La can get a Prince Gama soft toy (character from Paco And The Magical Picture Book).
Departure awarded Grand Prix prize at Montreal World Film Festival.
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