Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 459 Not reading this means you're not Japanese

Some people's every move is under the scrutiny of others.

Gu Ming certainly hadn't reached that point, but what he did did indeed attract some people's attention.

For example, the man in front of me.

Gu Ming sent him to an old friend for questioning, and the answer was easily obtained.

This guy is a loyal reader of the Sankei Shimbun and expressed strong dissatisfaction with Gu Ming's involvement in promoting the distribution of the "Shaolin Temple" film.

"No, that's it? You want to stab me in the back just because of this, but you haven't even managed to stab me."

Gu Ming hung up the phone, looking completely bewildered.

"The key point is that I didn't even distribute the film! I only imported it; Toei distributed it!"

Gu Ming thought to himself that it was time to get Toei to do something for him.

The revenue from importing Shaolin Temple films has historically reached 1.6 billion, plus 2 billion in audio-visual revenue.

In other words, excluding audio-visual revenue, Shaolin Temple's box office in Japan was 3.2 billion yen. Of this 3.2 billion yen, only a few million yen was spent to buy out the copyright of Shaolin Temple from Zhou Guo. Toei also has its own theaters and complete facilities. This means that in addition to the agency fees paid to Gu Ming, Toei can earn at least 2 to 3 billion yen on its own.

Interests of two or three billion will naturally form a vested interest group.

Should we pull the film from theaters based on just a few words from the Sankei Shimbun, or should we get rid of the Sankei Shimbun and then make two or three billion yen at the box office?

The choice couldn't be clearer.

……

……

With the intervention of Toei and its parent company, Hakimi's powerful influence began to exert its influence.

Within a single day, Gu Ming saw different versions of the story in various newspapers and magazines, and it was even mentioned on television programs.

A movie? Yes, we did import a film from Zhou, but doesn't that show that we have a keen eye and can spot a movie that will be a box office hit?

Moreover.

The fact that it sold so many tickets at the box office means that Japanese people like it.

You can control our theatrical releases, but can you control who the Japanese people like to watch?
Mentioning this will wake everyone up from their drowsiness.

Regardless of Akira Furuya's caliber, Japan has Ken Takakura for television dramas, Ken Ogata for films, a plethora of male actors, various female actors, and prolific directors like Kinji Fukasaku. Why should we only like foreign films?

Gu Ming quietly found an alias, called 'Xia Ji Ba Shuo', and stole a newspaper.

The theoretical data in the newspaper were all obtained from Toei.

It mainly describes in detail the highest-grossing films in Japanese theaters in recent years.

For example, in 1974, the highest-grossing film of the year was "The Exorcist," which earned $27.32 billion.

This is a foreign film.

The domestic film, "Japan Sinks," earned 16.4 billion yen, almost doubling the revenue difference.

In 1975, "The Towering Inferno," also an American film, grossed $36.4 billion, while the domestic champion that year was "Tora-san," which grossed $11 billion...

That's a difference of exactly two times.

In 1978, the Japanese poured all their efforts into creating the masterpiece, Space Warrior Yamato, which had a budget of 21 billion yen, seemingly an unattainable sum. However, the film that competed against them that same year was quite unfortunate, being the first and fourth installment of the Star Wars series.

Japan's rationed income was 43.8 billion yen.

That same year, the computer-generated special effects from Star Wars nearly shattered the tokusatsu (special effects) industry.

In short.

A review of the top-grossing films in Japan over the years reveals that they are all foreign films, so much so that a separate ranking is needed to distinguish between foreign and domestic films.

1980 was a watershed year. In Japan, the top-grossing film of the year was "Kagemusha," which was just one step away from Star Wars. Because of Akira Tani, Star Wars was released in Japan a few months later. So, the top-grossing film in 1980 was "Kagemusha." Although the overseas film was still Star Wars, it was 200 million yen less than "Kagemusha."

Gu Ming concluded by giving a summary.

The year's top-grossing films are all foreign films. What right do we have to look down on "Shaolin Temple"? Just because "Shaolin Temple" was made by Asians, while "Star Wars" was made by Americans?
This made Gu Ming think deeply. This must be a problem with Japan's system... He couldn't help but ask, what exactly is wrong with this country!
Gu Ming's data was quite effective, directly igniting a discussion on a different level. Was it opposition to the Shaolin Temple, or opposition to foreign films? Does Japan, a major cultural and entertainment power, really lack films that can amaze foreigners?

no doubt.

No.

……

……

In the break room of TBS, Kinoshita Danjiro was chatting with several colleagues, and naturally, they also talked about recent events.

In fact, Kinoshita Danjiro didn't care about those things.

Forget about Japan, America, Hong Kong, and the rest of the world; making a good life together with his wife and Xiao Ji is the most important thing.

But since the conversation had come to this point, Kinoshita Danjiro didn't want to be an outsider.

He held his coffee cup, listening to several colleagues discuss the matter, pretending to listen attentively, but actually appearing to be daydreaming.

"You've all seen the data in the newspaper, haven't you?"

"Oh, how can Americans be so wicked, selling movies to us to make their dirty money!"

"Don't we have any movies that can fetch a good price?"

"Yes, wasn't 'Kagemusha' from the previous year better than American movies?"

A brief silence fell over everyone.

Speaking of which, who played the Shadow Warrior again?

Kinoshita Danjiro seized the opportunity to speak: "It's Akira Furuya. The director is Akira Kurosawa, the lead actor is Akira Furuya, and Tatsuya Nakadai makes a guest appearance."

"In that case, Mr. Kurosawa Akira really is amazing."

"What's so great about Akira Kurosawa? He was just a great actor. If Kurosawa was that great, how come he couldn't even find investment for his movies?"

Seeing the others looking over, Kinoshita Danjiro was about to agree, but then suddenly remembered something.

In fact, newspapers have published information about Akira Furuya's income from the films he has starred in over the years.

When Japan publishes its rationed income, it usually conducts a round of statistics every year.

He pulled over the whiteboard and scribbled a few lines on it.

The first part of the Nara Scroll earned 600 million yen in rations, the second part earned around 1 billion yen, and the third part earned 1.2 billion yen.

"Sailor Suit and Machine Gun" has only recently finished its theatrical run, and its revenue was also around 1.2 billion.

The champions that year were Elephant Man (24 billion) and United Fleet (19 billion).

However, one is a foreign film, and the other is a big-budget domestic film.

In comparison, the investment in sailor suits was negligible compared to that in machine guns.

"So, he's actually quite impressive!"

"Have you seen the machine gun movie? There were scenes filmed at the Metropolitan Police Department! I heard that the Metropolitan Police Department actually lent out the location, which is quite impressive."

"No way! I heard from the wife of my neighbor's uncle's son's friend that they secretly went into the Metropolitan Police Department to take the photos, and the Metropolitan Police Department had no idea about it."

"But that shot was really beautiful!"

This topic has certainly given everyone some food for thought.

Because it's really beautiful!

Kinoshita Danjiro clicked his tongue in amazement: "I heard there's a new movie coming out this year, what's it called again, 'Violent Man'? No matter what you think, I'll definitely take my kids to see it. We're Japanese, after all! We can't let all our money go to Americans!"

You absolutely have to watch this!
Kinoshita Danjiro thought.

If you don't watch this, you're not Japanese!
As for what supporting Akira Furuya has to do with not knowing whether someone is Japanese or not, he didn't understand; he was just saying it offhand!
(End of this chapter)