- This week, Japan Times reviews the Ryuichi Hiroki(who also made Vibrator) film Koisuru Nichiyoubi - Koi Shita (Thanks to Ryuganji for the link this week, because it wasn’t found from the Japan Times film review listing for some reason). Made under a project for the satellite channel BS-i, the film is currently playing at a Shibuya theatre. However, it actually opened last month at another theater in Shinjuku already, and only saw 1025 admissions/1.37 million yen. Since the theater has a capacity of 330, that means the shows aren’t even half-full on average. However, unlike other television-financed blockbusters, the experimental project is meant to show off new talents with commercial genres.

- Meanwhile, the Daily Yomiuri have reviews of Andrew Lau/Alan Mak’s Confession of Pain (which opens this weekend in Japan with a better trailer, despite some inaccurate subtitles. Japan Times also reviews it, though reviewer Kaori Shoji incorrectly identifies Andrew Lau as the sole director.), Pedro Almodovar’s Volver, and of course - the new Harry Potter movie, which seems to be drawing the most negative reviews of the series. They also give a very enthusiastic review for the new drama “Papa To Musume No Nanakakan,” which seems more like a idea stolen from Walt Disney’s 1976 film Freaky Friday (it was even remade a few years ago, so the TBS guys have no excuse)

- I found a very interesting Chinese blog on Hong Kong cinema that covers everything from films to theaters to ticket inflation. Recently, the blogger looked at why Simply Actors (starring Jim Chim and Charlene Choi) did so much business its opening week, except for the fact that it opened on a public holiday. Turns out the promotional campaign includes three different types of HK$10 off coupons that are good for different days of the opening week, which may mean lower box office gross, but also means more incentive for people to go to the theater. It’s even cheaper than buying a VCD, for crying out loud.

- In DVD news, the Japanese comic adaptation film Nana 2, which flopped pretty horribly at the box office last winter, is coming to an English-subtitled Hong Kong region 3 DVD on July 12th. Also, the DVD for Han Jae-Rim’s The Show Must Go On is coming to Korean region 3 DVD on July 19th.

- Prepare to see Yoji Yakusho everywhere when you head off to the Japan International Contents Festival this fall, because the actor has been chosen as the face of the festival.

- Alexi Tan’s Blood Brothers, also produced by John Woo and Terence Chang, is slates to have its world premiere as the closing film at the Venice Film Festival in September. But what is this whole thing about it being a remake of Woo’s Bullet in the Head?

- In the first half of 2007, Korean cinema took up only a 47.3% share of the total theatrical market at home, which is its lowest since 2001. In comparison, Korean films took a 60% market share in 2006. I’ve said before, plenty of countries outside the United States would kill for that kind of numbers. Yes, even the 47.3 % one.

- Considering that it’s over on Monday, this news is a little late, but this year’s Taipei International Film Festival seems to have the largest Chinese cinema lineup in all of Asia. It even has Hou Hsiao-Hsien sitting on top!

Tomorrow, Podcast and more and more news.

Today’s Song of the Day is a kind of a continuation from yesterday’s song, in that the song is by a French musical group. From the musical duo Air and their 2004 album Talkie Walkie, it’s “Cherry Blossom Girl”

WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS NOT WORK-SAFE

Saw the new Disney/Pixar film Ratatouille today, and had a great time as expected. Of course, I was especially excited to see this because it marked Brad Bird’s first film since The Incredibles, which was also the last Pixar film I wanted to see (I still haven’t seen Cars yet). It’s less “action-packed” than The Incredibles, which can be expected since it’s about a rat who becomes a chef, but there are still some really exciting sequences here that shows how far computer animation has come. The best part is that as excitedly real as it looks at times, the animators still have their feet firmly planted on fantasy land, with rats that walk on two feet and emote as if they’re human. And the writing is again top notch, with great comedy bits and even instances of subverted cliches. The rat clan on the move scenes do get a little goosebump-inducing, but like the usual Pixar films, this is a ton of fun to watch.

- As always, we start with the Hong Kong Thursday opening day box office numbers. The “official” opening day for Die Hard 4.0 was a little lackluster, making “only” HK$740,000 on 51 screens after the weeklong preview made HK$6.36 million. Shrek 3 will remain a viable competitor this weekend, as it made another HK$600,000 on 51 screens for an 8-day total of HK$13.37 million. Hooked On You might seeing a fair drop this weekend, making only HK$350,000 on 32 screens on Thursday. I don’t see it doing any better than HK$500,000 per day over the weekend. After 8 days, it has earned HK$5.46 million, which means it should end up being a moderate earner, but not a homerun by any means.

Remember I said Wonder Woman might be a huge hit? I was dead wrong, especially when I found out it only opened on 12 screens on Thursday. What’s worse is that it only made HK$90,000, despite film critic Shek Ki giving it a very positive review on Ming Pao daily yesterday (no link, sorry). The weekend’s third opener, Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse segment Planet Terror, actually did better than Wonder Women and made HK$140,000 on 15 screens, despite the no-one-under-18 category III rating.

- The Korean summer hit Black House is heading to Japan in October. Unlike other Korean films, this one might actually have a fanbase in Japan because it was based on a Japanese novel. Hell, they’re even putting on a wide release of 250 screens.

- The Tokyo International Film Festival has picked a new programmer for the Winds of Asia section, which promotes young talents from Asia. He wants to expand the scope to South, Middle, and Central Asia. Why doesn’t he just say “the rest of Asia” instead?

- After a theatre in Tokyo found enormous success with their screenings of the hit Korean drama Hotelier, the theatre is going back for some more Yong-sama classics. Starting on Tuesday, the theatre is screening each week two episodes of the complete version of Winter Sonata, THE drama that started the Korean wave in Japan. The theatre first decided to play it on three of their screens simultaneously, but when the tickets were quickly sold out, they will now play it on all their screens except one. The power of Yong-sama prevails.

- On a related note, overseas sales of Korean TV programs, mostly dramas, has seen increase in some markets. However, it also saw a decrease in key markets such as China, Japan, and Taiwan.

- The New York Asian Film Festival is winding down, and Asian Cinema - While on the Road uploads another report, this time about the screening of the Pakistani zombie horror flick Hell’s Ground and hanging out with hip Asian directors on the 4th of July.

More news throughout the weekend as they come in. And remember the Podcast on Sunday.

Today’s song comes from Japanese artist Kahimi Karie, who does her best to imitate a genre mostly exclusive to French music known as “whisper singing.” The songs are usually a strange hybrid of bossa nova, jazz, and electronica, and for some reason, I really dig it. From her first album Larme de Crocodile (which I got at Tokyo Recohan), it’s “Tiny King Kong.”

- Director Satoshi Miki’s The Insects Unlisted in the Encyclopedia (review by Japan Times, and more info from Ryuganji) first got attention because it’s Oscar nominated actress Rinko Kikuchi’s first post-Oscar role (more on her later). But as the release date approached, the film picked up attention due to its director. Miki Satoshi got his start on TV doing variety shows. While he made his film debut in 2005, he went back to TV, writing and directing the cult favorite drama Jikou Keisatsu. At least it was popular enough to bring it back for a second run this past Spring season, and it became the most “satisfying” drama of the season (trust me, those rankings held up throughout the season, although the ranking came from right after its start). The popularity of the show has now come to explain the film’s relative success at one Tokyo theater. Opening on June 23rd, the opening day drew 772 admissions and grossed 1.19 million yen(4 shows a day, with a capacity of 218). For the entire week, it drew 2842 admissions, grossing 4.17 million yen at that theater alone. Even though it’s nowhere near full capacity, this is still better than Miki’s debut film Into the Pool.

- In addition to Insects, Rinko Kikuchi also stars in a new “web movie” for a popular cosmetics brand. However, the idea itself is better than the actual film, and try not to let Rinko’s hair distract you too much.

- In “Who cares Hollywood hasn’t sold us the rights yet?” news today, China’s Zonbo Media is going ahead with production for the Chinese version of the American series Prison Break, except 1) The production company states that it has nothing to do with the hit Fox series, and 2) Fox has denied ever selling the rights to China, even though Zonbo Media said they bought it. Huh…..

- The Bangkok International Film Festival, who hit yet another snag when the government took away its opening film Persepolis to maintain friendly relations with Iran and stave off the Muslim insurgency, decided to put in the Children of Glory as its new opening film. Apparently it’s about “the bloodiest water polo match in history.” What?

- Kenji Uchida, who made a brilliant debut with Unmei Janai Hito (Stranger of Mine), is moving on up with his follow-up film After School, about a teacher who searches for her childhood friend with a private detective. Just started shooting last week, the film has 7 times the budget of Stranger of Mine, though it’s still at a fairly small 180 million yen.

- The first Kansai Film Festival is starting late next month. Don’t worry, you don’t have to make a film about the Kansai region to get in, you just have to be a foreign director making a film in or about Japan.

- In DVD news today, Twitch announces the pre-order for the South Korean sleeper hit Paradise Murdered, and the Hong Kong editions for Japanese films Retribution and Studio Ghibli’s Tales from Earthsea.

- I should have seen this coming. Fuji Television, who managed to milk the novel Tokyo Tower for all its worth by making a made-for-TV movie, a 11-episode drama, and a hit movie, is now bringing the 11 billion yen-hit family drama Bizan(review by Hollywood Reporter) to TV. Starring Takako Tokiwa, Bizan the mini-series will start shooting at the end of the month with no broadcasting date set.

- The South Korean theatre chain Megabox just opened its first multiplex in China, and plans to open two more in Bejing. Sorry, I’m just a nerd for theatre openings everywhere.

- Associated Press’s entertainment writer Min Lee reviews the new Milkyway thriller Eye in the Sky.

- The Cinefan festival in India is putting a focus on Japanese and Arabic films this year, including a tribute to director Kenji Mizoguchi.

- I posted a long time ago that even Japanese music tend to copy each other, but I couldn’t even find the songs. Now I have - check out Porno Graffiti’s Sister, Undergraph’s Tsubasa, and BoA’s Everlasting. I posted these in the order of the release - one copies the same musical pattern, and the other copies the chorus of another. All three were pop hits, and all three are kind of crappy. Then again, the point is that it happens everywhere.

- Let’s go over the Oricon charts first. On the singles chart, the new Koda Kumi “maxi-single” debuts at the top spot with a strong sales figure of 108,000, while “hip-pop” group Ketsumeishi’s latest is fairly far behind in second place with 78,000 sold. However, Monkey Majik’s theme song for the Saiyuki movie (a little more on that later) dies on arrival with a 20th place debut and selling only 5,400 copies. If the daily rankings hold up, then expect Erika Sawajiri’s first single to top the charts next week.

Things are a little more exciting over on the albums side, as Namie Amuro’s new album sells a solid 250,600 copies on its first week of release, making it her first number one album since 2000’s “Genius 2000.” Meanwhile, new band Greeeen, comprised of current dentistry students (That’s what the Oricon website wrote), saw their first album debut at number 2 with 130,000 copies sold, which is pretty damn good for a debut album’s debut (However, Oricon also calls them a hip-hop group, which doesn’t seem right). Also, Zard’s Golden Best compilation album actually saw its sales go up from last week to 52,600 this week despite a drop in ranking, possibly because of the memorial for Izumi Sakai last week. Lastly, Love Psychedelico’s 4th album debuted at 5th place, selling only 48,000 copies probably due to the lack of any notable single this time around. If the daily charts serve as any indication, the album charts next week should be fairly quiet.

- Kumi Koda’s album “Cherry Girl” has now sold over one million copies, and she is the first female artist since Utada Hikaru to have three consecutive million-selling albums. Not to rain on her parade, but two of those albums are technically compilations…

- Eiga Consultant reports about how The Mourning Forest is doing in its limited release, particularly in Cinema Angelica in Shibuya, Tokyo. On the opening weekend of the 23rd, the film only attracted 905 people for a gross of 1.34 million yen. Considering there are 10 shows that wekeend (5 each day), and the capacity is 104 seats, that means the weekend capacity was only 87%. This is fairly disappointing, considering the film’s success at the Cannes Film Festival. Is it because of the art film stigma? The hi-definition broadcast on NHK? How is it doing elsewhere? We’ll explore this a little bit this weekend on the podcast.

- While a Thai court has overruled the ruling government’s ability to shut down websites at will, the Thai cabinet has sadly approved the new film act which actually still allow the film committee to ban films, despite the establishment of a film rating system. Now the legislation will now go to the parliament, where it will be even harder for activists to continue their cause.

- Thanks to Comingsoon.net, I found out that Andrew Lau’s first Hollywood film The Flock will actually open in Japan on August 4th (it has yet to secure an exact release date in the United States), and the Japanese site for it. There’s a trailer on it, which seems to play up the reportedly extended cameo by pop star Avril Lavigne. As for the movie, it just looks like an Andrew Lau movie with better production values. Blah.

- Speaking of websites for potentially crappy movies, no one has really reported on Saiyuki, the big summer film adapted from the “hit” drama. I didn’t even bother seeking it out because it takes a well-known Chinese fairy tale and twists it for cheap entertainment (Jeff Lau would be just as guilty if I didn’t enjoy the Chinese Odyssey films…but he DID make a Chinese Tall Story). Mostly I just didn’t bother looking for it because I hear it’s flat out not very good. Anyway, the website reports that the movie is coming out next weekend, and it has a trailer if you click on 予告.

- Production for the Korean horror film G.P. 506 has been suspended after 70% of shooting has been completed due to the lawsuit and management battles within the production firm. Film is, after all, a business.

Today’s Song of the Day is actually the first Japanese rap I have ever heard, and also the first track on their first widely released album. They are best described as Wu Tang Clan without the Chinese fetish. It’s pretty hard to find now, but from Nitro Microphone Underground, it’s “Nitro Microphone Underground.”

I found this site via Hollywood Elsewhere today, and my blog is apparently:

What the fuck? I’m only as good as Shrek 3?

- Then again, maybe it’s not so bad to be Shrek 3 in Hong Kong. On Sunday of the 4-day holiday weekend, the animated sequel made HK$3.01 million on 54 screens for a impressive 4-day total of HK$8.2 million, and probably crossed the HK$10 million mark on Sunday already. Die Hard 4.0 is far behind, making HK$1.28 million on 36 screens on its 4th day of previews. It has made HK$3.58 million and will officially open on naturally July 4th. The biggest local performer, meanwhile, is the Milkyway comedy-drama-handover commemoration film Hooked On You. On Sunday, it made HK$960,000 on 34 screens for a 40-day total of HK$3.14 million.

Golden Scene should be happy that Simply Actors managed to hang on this weekend, making HK$500,000 on 30 screen for a HK$7.81 million cume after 13 days. However, Milkyway’s other release Eye in the Sky failed to retain the male audience, making only HK$210,000 on 25 screens for a 11-day total of just HK$3.4 million. Lastly, the only limited release arthouse film on the top 10 is Julie Delpy’s Two Days in Paris, which made HK$100,000 on 4 screens for a 4-day total of HK$300,000.

- Meanwhile, South Korea saw a invasion of Michael Bay’s Transformers, as it scored 75% of all ticket sales this past weekend. It also attracted 1.3 million people on an unknown number of screens (though I suspect that number is pretty high up there). Meanwhile, Black House (which Korean Film Page’s Kyu Kyun Kim, who teaches at alma mater UC Davis but I have not met before, recently reviewed) stays at second place and has nearly attracted a million admissions already. Go to Korea Pop Wars for the rest of the rankings.

- Global music sales are down, and the industry goes after its favorite scapegoat - piracy. However, not only has digital music sales now responsible for 11% of all music sales, Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and even China saw growth in sales. So much for blaming Asia.

- My new favorite film distributor in North America is Viz Media, who brought non-AzN xtreme Japanese films such as Linda Linda Linda and The Taste of Tea here. Now, they are bringing award-winning crowdpleaser Hula Girl to the States.

- Speaking of picking up aZn-xtreme movies, Media Blasters just picked up Takeshi Miike’s yet-t0-be-finished Crows Zero and a few more cult flicks for North America.

- Takeshi Miike’s all-English “Sukiyaki Western Django” now has a release date of September 15th. Sony financed and will be distributing this one, so Miike doesn’t have to worry.

- My role model Takeshi Kaneshiro (despite my appearance and charisma nowhere near his in any way) is back to Japanese cinema after 2002’s Returner in Shinagami No Seido, which according to Ryuganji, most definitely sounds like a Japanese version of Wings of Desire.

- Japan’s Docomo just started a movie download service for your mobile phones, in their attempt to get people to stop typing so damn much on their phone while riding the trains. Too bad the service is nowhere near free, though.

- In “News that everyone already knows before it got reported” today, Hong Kong’s Big Media, who promises to make 100 films in the next 5 years, is in a co-production deal with Mei-Ah. I kind of figured that out when I found Big Media’s sales fliers through Mei-Ah’s website.

- The Wii has now outsold the Playstation 3 in a ratio of 6:1 in Japan, increased from the 5:1 ratio last month. I suspect PS3 sales will increase when television standards turns completely to digital broadcasting, but that would also mean Sony has a tough couple of years to go.

- Michael Wells checks in with Twitch with yet another set of reviews from the New York Film Festival. This time, he includes major South Korean films Dasepo Naughty Girls, The Show Must Go On, and I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK.

- Hollywood Reporter checks in with two Asian film reviews that I missed out on. First it’s Isshin Inudou’s big commercial release Bizan, which did respectable business in Japan, then the other is the J-horror flick Ghost Train, which somehow got itself a North American distribution deal. It’s worth watching just to see the ridiculously over-the-top finale.

- Moving their efforts away from Japan, the Korean Film Council has opened their first office in North America in Los Angeles. The office will help coordinate festival screenings, do research on the North American market, and of course, give information about Korean cinema in general.

- Speaking of Korean films, Twitch has the first trailer for Korean horror film Epitaph. Honestly, the only thing that might make this film promising is the fact that the director used to work for Park Chan-Wook.

- Salon Film have established itself for many years as THE provider of film equipment throughout Asia. Now they’re taking on the business of selling Asian things back to the rest of the world by taking on international sales. Their first film will be the “supernatural action” film The Painted Skin, the 4th collaboration between Donnie Yen and Wilson Yip.

- Twitch has an interview with Death Note series director Shusuke Kaneko. Am I the only one who still doesn’t think he was fit to direct the Death Note films?

We may be taking a break tomorrow since it’s the Independence Day holiday in the States. At least expect a late entry.

Continuing the unofficial Golden Rock summer series, today we have the Japanese rap/pop fusion group Ketsumeishi. I’ve been in love with these guys’ music since I checked out their Ketsu No Police album 4 2 years ago, when their single Sakura blew up the charts. So today’s song is their latest single “Mata Kimi Ni Aeru” (Able to Meet You Again).

Considering Yuri Ebihara showed up last week in the suntan lotion ad, it seems like I might have an unconscious crush on the girl. It’s not that hard to see why, though.

Hong Kong was on public holiday Monday, which means no weekend box office figure until later tonight Pacific Time (Tuesday in HK) or even tomorrow night.

- On the other hand, the Japanese box office numbers are already out, and Box Office Mojo already has the comprehensive chart. Die Hard 4.0 takes the top spot with a strong 603 million yen from 741 screens. Adding the Saturday’s preview screenings’ take of 289 million yen, it has already made 892 million yen to date. However, its 814,000 yen per-screen average is kind of weak for an opening this wide (Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean saw higher per-screen average on even higher screen counts). Meanwhile, Shrek 3 opens at third, making 363.8 million yen on 543 screens, which is much higher than Shrek 2’s opening of 284.8 million yen on 551 screens in 2004. If the performance pattern is similar to Shrek 2, this one should end up doing better than the previous film by about 25%.

Except for The Haunted Samurai, Maiko Haaaan!!!, and Pirates of the Caribbean, everything else took a pretty big hit, especially Spiderman 3’s 52.2% hit, Zodiac’s 40.1% hit, and Dai Nipponjin’s 43% drop (at least it passed the 1 billion yen mark). Lastly, Pedro Almodovar’s Volver missed the top 10 because it’s only playing on 40 screens. It only make 19 million yen.

- By the way, I forgot to report that the Akihi To Kamo No Coin Locker opening in Tokyo also marked the best opening for a Japanese film at that theater after last year’s Mamiya Brothers, and is the 7th best opening ever at the theater.

- After the financial failure of Ichikawa Kon’s self-remake of The Inugami Family earlier in the year, director Nobuhiko Oobayashi’s self-remake of his 1982 film Exchange Students also failed in its limited release. Originally the first part of the “Onomichi Trilogy” (the director’s hometown), the remake, named Tenkousei - Sayonara Anata, takes the film out of its original location to Nagano. On 30 screens, the film made only 5 million yen with only a 166,666 yen per-screen average. Perhaps these self-remakes aren’t very good ideas.

- Meanwhile, Kiroi Namida, the Isshin Inusou film starring Johnny’s boy group Arashi, opened in South Korea to a seemingly weak 16,000 admissions, only because it’s compared to Memories of Tomorrow’s 38,000 admissions and Tears For You’s 64,000 admissions for their respective opening weekends. However, there’s nothing about how many screens it opened on, considering that the film is considered less mainstream than its counterparts in Japan. However, Eiga Consultant also points out that the film actually didn’t even do all that well in Japan. While the film has finally broke the 200 million yen barrier, other films starring individual members of Arashi (such as Letters From Iwo Jima and Honey and Clover) has actually done much better.

- It’s kind of been reported before, but Pirates of the Caribbean has officially surpassed Spiderman 3 in worldwide gross. I’m reporting this because a bulk of that cash comes from Asia.

- Get it here first, the first full-length trailer for Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, starring Tony Leung, Joan Chen, Leehom Wang, and newcomer Tang Wei, is everywhere on Youtube. A Chinese neonoir/political thriller? Sign me up.

Speaking of trailer, the full-length trailer for Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum is up, and it’s looking good. Could this deliver even better old-school movie magic action than Live Free or Die Hard? (HD links can be found at Dave’s Trailer Page)

- Since Shinya Tsukamoto’s Nightmare Detective was recently announced to be in production, I should probably link the latest review for the first film here.

- Lovehkfilm has updated with some reviews. First, Derek Kwok’s directorial debut The Pye-Dog with Eason Chan, then a review for Herman Yau’s direct-to-video film A True Mob Story (also his third release this year), and one for the Japanese heist/romance/true story First Love.

OK, there’s also one for sleazy low-budget exploitation flick Lethal Angels.

- Jason Gray has more about the Japanese documentary Campaign, including his interview with the director on The Midnight Eye and news of nightly English-subtitled screenings.

- Eason Chan and Miriam Yeung win big at the 7th Chinese Music Media Awards in Hong Kong. I’ve never even heard of this award in the first place, let alone the winners for the first 6 ceremonies.

- Naked News, the show where reporters literally remove pieces of clothing while reporting the latest news, is on an adult-oriented channel in Japan. Guess what? It’s also subsidized by the government.

- Variety has a review of the action film Dynamite Warrior, which Michael Wells wrote about after it screened at the New York Asian Film Festival.

- Associated Press, via the Daily Yomiuri, reports further about the death of master filmmaker Edward Yang.

- A while ago I reported about yet another censorship case involving Hong Kong’s Television and Entertainment Licensing Council. An essay in Hong Kong’s inMediaHK site included a picture from Flickr with nudity, prompting a warning from TELA that it might be sent to be classified as a category II indecent material. However, the writer refuses to budge (the irony is that the essay is actually about this Hong Kong witch-hunt of “indecent” material by conservative groups), and a month later, the essay has been classified as category II material, with the writer now at risk to pay fines and serve jail time.

Now, EastSouthWestNorth has translated the latest interview with the writer, who still refuses to give in to the ridiculous and ineffective censorship this government council is doing.

- Reuters introduces the Singaporean documentary Invisible City, featuring footages of a forgotten Singapore from the 1950s.

- Universal Music, one of the few record companies that is actually uploading their own artists’ music videos onto Youtube voluntarily, is refusing to draw a long-term licensing deal with Apple’s iTunes, which takes up 70% of the digital music market, because they pretty much want more money. According to Hongkie Town, Universal Music feels that iTunes isn’t charging enough for songs and is looking for another provider that would make them more money. And corporations wonder why people don’t like giving money to them.