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Cuts key to Sony strategy

TOKYO -- Cutbacks at Sony are bearing fruit, but a second year of losses means there is "more work to be done," chief executive Howard Stringer warned Thursday at a pair of briefings for the media and investors.   “Ownership of both content and ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  19 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Sony,  Howard Stringer,  AMC,  New York Times Company,  Nikkei 225

'Inglorious' Tarantino goes 'Soft'

TOKYO – Quentin Tarantino, in town earlier this month to promote “Inglorious Basterds,” took the opportunity to act in some TV commercials for mobile carrier Softbank.   The quirky “White Family” commercials, which feature a talking-dog father, and an ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  11 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Quentin Tarantino,  Brad Pitt

Warners Japan to make version of '47 Ronin'

TOKYO -- Warner Brothers Japan is to make a version of “Chushingura,” known elsewhere as “The 47 Ronin,” starring Koji Yakusho (“Memoirs of a Geisha” “Shall we Dance?”) and Koichi Sato (“Nobody to Watch Over Me”).   The story of the samurai who avenge ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  4 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Warner Brothers,  Universal Pictures,  Keanu Reeves,  Harry Potter

Yoshimoto deal enters final stage

TOKYO – The final stage of Japan’s leading talent agency Yoshimoto Kogyo going private is underway, led by a TV networks consortium in a 54 billion yen ($600 million) deal.   The open tender offer for shares ended last week with the ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  3 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Sony,  Nobuyuki Idei,  TBS,  Yahoo!

'Saru Lock' film set for February

TOKYO – The big screen version of NTV drama series "Saru Lock" is scheduled to open on February 27 next year, just four months after the final episode was broadcast on the small screen.   The filming of the movie, to star much of the original cast ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  2 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Saru

'Boy' bombs in Japan, up in China

TOKYO -- Imagi Entertainment's "Astro Boy" bombed in Japan, but Chinese viewers seem to have taken a liking to the Japanese cartoon character. After opening on just over 200 screens on the three-day weekend of October 10-12, “Astro Boy” pulled in a ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  28 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Pixar

'Eastern Plays' wins Tokyo's top prize

TOKYO -- Bulgaria’s “Eastern Plays” was the big winner at the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival, as it took the Sakura Grand Prix for best film, best director for Kamen Kalev, and best actor for Christo Christov, at the closing ceremony on ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  25 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Pixar

Quiet TIFFCOM wraps with few sales

TOKYO -- Short, specialized and satisfactory seemed to be the verdict of sales agents and distributors attending TIFFCOM, the Tokyo Film Festival's accompanying market. Actual deals, however, were few in number. The three-day mart wrapped on Thursday ...

From PATRICK FRATER AND GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  22 Oct 2009

'The Cove' screens in Tokyo

TOKYO – The Tokyo International Film Festival received drama and media attention on Wednesday, although probably not the kind it had hoped for, as controversial dolphin-hunting documentary “The Cove” grabbed the spotlight with its first public ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR, Hollywood Reporter,  21 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Yukio Hatoyama (politician)

Market opens at Tokyo fest

TOKYO -- If movie industry buyers and sellers are tired of the non-stop caravan of film sales events, they scarcely showed it as the Tokyo festival's three-day market got underway Tuesday, less than a week after Pusan's Asian Film Market wrapped. Held ...

From GAVIN J. BLAIR AND PATRICK FRATER, Hollywood Reporter,  20 Oct 2009

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