American movies in Japan

[Don Brown]

>Is it a lot more common for American movies to be subbed or dubbed when 
they
>are shown in Japanese theaters? why and why not?

Most theatrical screenings of American releases tend to be the subtitled 
version, with the exception that Eija mentioned of Disney movies and other 
"family" fare.  "Cats And Dogs", "Stuart Little" et al come out in both 
dubbed and subtitled versions, and are usually screened in a staggered 
schedule with the dubbed version being screened the most.  Apparently this 
is to suit kids, who can't read lots of kanji characters at high speed.  
Dubbed versions of big effects movies with a wide appeal such as Jurassic 
Park and Spiderman are also popular, but the subtitled edition is usually 
given priority by the theatres.  In these cases, dubbed prints are usually 
screened in the morning and early afternoon.
  Generally speaking though, subtitled prints are far more widely used.  At 
the video store, for each new film there are always copies of both 
subtitled and dubbed versions in equal quantities, but most stores tend to 
hang on to the subtitled one once it goes off the new release shelf.  With 
the popular big-name titles, you'll often find the subtitled copies all out 
with maybe 2 or 3 copies of the dubbed version left over. 
Don Brown

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