[KineJapan] The marketshare of Japanese films in Japan

[Jim Harper]

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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