By Mark Schilling
It was a very good year for the Japanese film business, according to figures recently released by Eiren (Japan Motion Picture Producers Association). In 2004 the Japanese box office totaled $2.048 billion on 170 million admissions -- a new record. Boosted by the Hayao Miyazaki animation Howl's Moving Castle, Japanese films accounted for Y79.054 billion ($767.5 million) of this total, for a 37.5% share -- the highest since another Miyazaki megahit, Spirited Away, lifted it to 39.0% in 2001.
This figure was achieved in the face of not only the new Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films, but the surprise success of The Last Samurai, which topped the foreign film box office with $133 million. Also, Howl's did not open until November -- four months after the usual July release date for Miyazaki blockbusters.
The numbers confirm two trends often noted by industry observers: the weakening of Hollywood dominance and the steady rise of the Japanese and Asian films, particularly those from Korea. Several big Hollywood titles, including the third Potter film and Spider-Man 2, disappointed expectations, while several Asian titles, including Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers ($22 million) and Kang Je-gyu's Taegukgi (Brotherhood, $14.6 million), either met or exceeded them. Kwak Jae-young's Windstruck, released too late in the year to be included in Eiren's 2004 numbers, has already passed the later mark, setting a new box office record for a Korean film in Japan.
Meanwhile the number of the number of local releases totaled 310, the highest since 1986 and a radical improvement from the postwar low of 230 recorded in 1991. Also, the number grossing Y1.0 billion ($9.7 million) or more reached 20 for the first time since Eiren began announcing such figures in 2000. Just as more Japanese baseball players are succeeding in the US Major Leagues, more Japanese films are holding their own with Hollywood at the local multiplex.
