[KineJapan] The marketshare of Japanese films in Japan

[John Gorman]

Thanks for all the insights.  Many interesting departure points.

What intrigues me the most, is that even though apparently Japanese films haven't been as rewarding of late, they are capturing an increasingly greater share of Japanese box office receipts. (Bringing in more not-inflation-adjusted money than ever.)

Why is it that Japanese are again spending more of their cinema going money on Japanese films?

Of course it's probably due to a combination of factors. 

Are audiences being force-fed because distributors find it easer and more profitable to offer domestic fare?  Hasn't it always been this way for distributors?

Are Japanese audiences for some cultural, political or economic reason developing a greater affinity for the work of their countrymen?

Have foreign films gotten comparatively worse? (I think it's important to keep in mind that the Eiren figures do not break down Hollywood vs. other foreign cinema.) (My understanding was that Foreign cinema, specifically Hollywood, won Japanese audience share by utilizing its scale to produce a level of spectacle that Japanese studios couldn't compete with.  One would think that Hollywood can still best deliver the spectacle likely sought at the high prices paid by Japanese cinema goers. This, even though Hollywood has increasingly taken the same safe path Jasper mentioned in his Screen Supplement that Japanese studios have, of increasingly relying on bringing proven characters and stories from other media to the screen again and again.)  

Even though the release of Western films is delayed, apparently, from what Mark and Alex mentioned, the diminished interest in foreign cinema is not because Japanese are getting their fill of it on the Internet. 

In past discussions, I've read that the success of other asian cinema led to reawakening of Japanese interest in their own cinema. Could some of the same nationalist factors that have led to Abenomics also be partly responsible for the resurgence of the marketshare of Japanese films? 

It seems reasonable that the bump of Japanese box office market share from 54.9% in  2011 to 65.7% in 2012 could at least partially be explained, as Kim brought up, by a domestic/national/nationalist turn in the wake of the Tohoku disaster.

John


On Nov 18, 2013, at 8:57 PM, Jim Harper <jimharper666 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Your final point is something I've noticed myself, Stephen. Although it's relatively easy to find the films themselves (legally and otherwise), the interest in contemporary Japanese horror has dwindled considerably. Japanese film is no longer considered an essential part of the cult and horror 'scene', although films like '13 Assassins' have attracted interest from the cult crowd. I still 'monitor' the releases and have come to the conclusion that it's partly a result of a drop in quality. The brief interest in the 'cyber-splatter ' and gross humour of Yoshihiro Nishimura, Noboru Iguchi et al has passed, while once reliable directors like Takashi Shimizu are now turning out sub-standard, bloated mainstream projects like the 3D bores 'Shock Labyrinth' and 'Rabbit Horror' or Yukihiko Tsutsumi's '20th Century Boys' franchise. Koji Shiraishi's 'Grotesque' might have attracted plenty of controversy and become the first Japanese film to be banned in Britain
> for some time, but the film itself is terrible. There are still some decent horror films being released, but on a much less regular basis. It seems that the wave of Japanese horror that began with 'Ring' has finally slowed to a halt.
> 
> Apologies for the rant there!
> 
> Jim Harper.
> 
> --------------------------------------------
> On Mon, 18/11/13, Stephen Cremin <stephen at asianfilm.info> wrote:
> 
> Subject: Re: [KineJapan] The marketshare of Japanese films in Japan
> To: "Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum" <kinejapan at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>, "Mark Roberts" <mroberts37 at mail-central.com>
> Date: Monday, 18 November, 2013, 9:57
> 
> The other factor is that
> of ageing audiences.
> I'm in transit, and
> away from numbers (assuming I have any), but isn't there
> data that young people in Japan have lost interest in
> Hollywood cinema. (I think it's telling that the highest
> grossing foreign film in the first half of the year was LES
> MISERABLES.)
> This is worrying for
> exhibitors and distributors because if local audiences lose
> interest in Japanese cinema, then they may not switch to
> watching non-Japanese cinema. And the interest in Hollywood
> cinema hasn't been maintained by illegal downloads/discs
> as in China.
> The audience for other
> Asian cinemas within Japan is also ageing. Despite the
> quality of some of the Asian festival programming in Japan
> in the past decade, new directors and stars haven't
> become marketable. And the 40-something Asian film fans are
> quite conservative.
> Purely anecdotally, when a
> ticket is ¥1800, surely that limits the range of films
> people are willing to pay for. When I was living in London,
> and paying a similar amount, I didn't think I was
> getting value for money when watching drama. I wanted
> spectacle or a "sure thing".
> At the moment,
> that ¥1800 is going to films that audiences are
> confident will give them that "sure thing",
> because they're based on manga/novels/television series
> and/or are heavily marketed at them. I'd like to think
> viewing habits would change at ¥1000.
> From talking to a handful
> of distributors over the years, they're also concerned
> by the ¥1800 prices and say that the exhibitors are
> the problem. And of course, exhibitors don't much care
> what films are filling their cinemas, as long as there are
> bums on seats.
> I'm not sure that the
> lateness is a factor. China is also slow at getting films,
> but they often make huge box office. People do explain
> commercial flops on the late release in China, but
> that's usually an excuse to justify poor performance of
> a film that would never have worked.
> And in China, those late
> films ARE available on DVD for US$1. Cinema tickets in China
> are expensive, and again people want that "sure
> thing", so having friends recommend films that
> they've already seen on DVD can help the theatrical box
> office rather than hinder it.
> South Korea did have a
> problem with illegal downloads, but from talking to buyers
> that is far less of a concern now. The American Film Market
> was full of South Koreans buying IPTV rights because
> there's real money there now. When it's cheap, why
> not just pay for it.
> Fundamentally, the problem
> may be that Japan doesn't give consumers many options
> and gouges cinephiles. It would rather have a cinema 80%
> empty than have it 80% full if revenue was equal, because
> then your maximising the money you squeezing from each
> customer.
> Anecdotally again, but
> didn't the Korean Wave partly come about because
> Japanese drama series sellers wouldn't lower their
> prices, opening up a space for the South Koreans. And
> wasn't it actor agencies who had boxed sets withdrawn
> from HK stores for being priced too low.
> I also feel that Japanese
> cinema is in crisis. At the American Film Market, the
> JETRO/UniJapan section was like a graveyard. One major
> seller said that she also had little business when she had a
> proper exhibiting space the previous year, so it's not
> just about location.
> It's not just that
> Japanese have lost interest in foreign cinema, but
> foreigners have lost interest in Japanese cinema. And those
> two things are connected. If you don't know what foreign
> viewers want, how do you make films that appeal to them
> also.
> Stephen
> Cremin 
> 
> 
> 
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