The Golden Rock just finished his first short film in Hong Kong yesterday, so we decided to take a little break yesterday. Plus, there’s just not enough news to spread out over three days anyway.

- After last reporting that the US-based Viz Media picked up the two Death Note movies, they have also announced that they picked up the film festival-favorite/weirdfest Funky Forest.

In a related note, Grady Hendrix also has an interview with Manami Iiboshi, the Director of Marketing for Viz Pictures, who mentions that Viz is actually building their own arthouse theater is San Francisco to push their Japanese live-action film acquisitions.

- It’s not a first in terms of film, but I guess it’s a first for him. Korean actor Kim Rae Won will be starring in his first Japanese film alongside Japanese actress Mirai Yamamoto. As always, it’s yet another love story between characters whom I presume to be Korean and Japanese, and hey, you won’t have to wait long: the filming already took place this past Spring.

- Two more Asian countries decide on what film to submit to compete for the Academy Awards for the best foreign film - Singapore will send the hit musical 881, while the Philippines will send Donsol, which has won awards at several film festivals.

- This weekend, the Japan Times’ Mark Schilling has a review of Naoko Ogigami’s Megane, her long-awaited follow-up to the indie hit The Seagull Diner.

That’s it for today, but look for a long-awaited entry in the spin-off

You know when I said the Hong Kong box office was really quiet last week? If the figures on Thursday opening day hold up, then get ready for an even quieter weekend in Hong Kong. This week sees 5 new movies opening, with only two of them wide releases. Neil Jordan’s The Brave One, starring Jodie Foster, opened with the number 1 spot. The bad news is that it only made HK$190,000 from 30 screens for that top spot. In fact, Pang Ho-Cheung’s Exodus actually also made HK$190,000, but since it was from 33 screens, that means it just didn’t do as well as Jodie Vigilante. After 8 days, the art film has made HK$2.5 million.

The week’s other wide release is the Disney film Underdog. From 20 screens, it made just HK$110,000, although business is expected to pick up over the weekend since kids don’t go to the movies until the weekend. As for the limited release, Jiang Wen’s The Sun Also Rises made HK$30,000 from 5 screens. Starring Hong Kong actors such as Anthony Wong and Jaycee Chan, the Mainland Chinese art film may see bigger business when we go over the Sunday box office. Also, in two theaters is the Japanese animated film 5 Centimeters Per Second, which made roughly HK$10,000 from its opening day. The only opening film missing is the Japanese film Udon, which is playing in just one theater after it sold out at the summer edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

- After Park Chan-Wook’s Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance got relatively wide releases in Japan, his latest I’m a Cyborg but That’s OK is seeing only a limited release in Japan. However, that didn’t stop fans of those involved, as the film managed to attract 821 people/1.26 million yen on opening day, meaning all 6 shows were over full house. With Sunday added, the first two days earned the film 3 million yen on one screen alone. With 2680 advance tickets sold, could this be the year’s limited release hit?