cinema

Eighties movies Japanese want to watch again on the big screen

This ranking survey from goo Ranking looked at movies from the 1980s that people want to watch in the cinema again.

I’m familiar with all the Hollywood movies listed here bar Big (I’ve only seen snippets), and about half of the Japanese ones. Top of the list, Back to the Future, interestingly had a now-cancelled Japanese manga version planned:

The Japanese titles of the Hollywood movies are mostly straight transliterations, but some turn out a bit funny; An Officer and a Gentleman is A Journey of Love and Youth, Karate Kid is Best Kid, Coming to America is
Go to New York, Prince of the Stars, and When Harry Met Sally… is Premonition of Lovers.

The Japanese titles are mostly direct translations, but the Kitano film Violent Cop literally translated would be That Man, Being Violent.

What 80s film would you most want to see on the big screen again?
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Japan’s favourite space movies

For a change, today’s ranking is from an @nifty survey into weather, but just to pad it out or something they added an extra question about favourite movies set in space, which has a distinct lack of weather, but let us press on regardless.

Interestingly, those under 39 years old seem to have much less interest in SF movies, or movies in general, perhaps? I could blame it on the internet, where movies might be devalued by their ease of consumption, whether it be legal or illegal access, whereas the older age groups have stronger memories of visiting cinemas to deeply experience the movies.

Depressingly, Armageddon remains rather popular; Rotten Tomatoes gives it a mere 39% rating, although the audience score is a better 73%. I must admit to not having watched it, but I suppose Bruce Willis is rather popular over here…

Here’s a great photo of one of ANA’s Star Wars jets:

Fantastic pan-shot of ANA's freshly delivered Boeing 777-300ER in C3PO Star Wars livery takes off from Kansai International Airport! #AllNipponAirways #KansaiInternationalAirport #KIX #Japan #ANA #c3po #starwars #disney #boeing777 #Repost 凄いかっこいい写真by @soh
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Majority of Japanese did not visit cinema last year

What is the appropriate length of a movie? graph of japanese statisticsAeon Cinema, a cinema operator, recently released the results of a survey into cinema-going habits.

Demographics

Between the 17th and 19th of January 2014 1,204 members of the public from all over Japan completed an internet questionnaire, although it is not specified how the sample was selected. 50.2% of the sample were male, 19.9% in their twenties, 19.9% in their thirties, 19.9% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.1% aged sixty or older.

Last year I probably managed about six or so movies, mostly western human drama stories. I find action and SF movies these days a bit too loud and intense; the one I went to last year was Total Recall, which was pretty atrocious.

From this summer, though, I qualify for the old folks discount at my usual chain, so perhaps I’ll be seeing more movies in the second half of the year? For the first half, I want to see Rush and The Hobbit part two, both of which are not out here yet.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Ruining a movie date in Japan

goo Ranking asked their panellers what behaviours by their date at the movies would ruin the mood.

Demographics

Between the 2nd and 5th of May 2013 1,088 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.2% of the sample were male, 23.3% in their teens, 24.4% in their twenties, 25.5% in their thirties, and 26.8% in their forties; there was no-one older than 49 in this sample. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

what will you watch?

Looking at number 9=, it would seem to be relatively acceptable to fall asleep for a little bit… Funnily enough, even though I go to the cinema about once every two months and am often rather tired, I’ve never actually fallen asleep, even at times when I wanted to. I can however manage to fall asleep at live musical theatre where I’ve paid much more money for a seat that is usually less comfortable than the average cinema one.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Half of Japanese not interested in 3D TV or movies

Do you plan to watch 3D movies and buy a 3D television? graph of japanese statisticsA recent survey from goo Research, reported on by goo Research, looked at 3D movies.

Demographics

Between the 7th and 11th of October 2011 1,085 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.6% of the sample were male, 16.5% in their teens, 18.5% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 15.5% in their fifties, and 11.6% aged sixty or older.

I have absolutely no plan to buy a 3D television, and I always try to find the 2D version of movies, although recently it’s become harder, especially trying to find the combination of both 2D and subtitled instead of dubbed versions.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Best live-action movie adaptations of anime or manga

It seems that just about every other Japanese film coming out these days is based on a cartoon or comic, so it seems a good time to have a look with goo Ranking at how people rate the best live-action movie adaptations of manga and anime.

Demographics

Over the 22nd and 23rd of July 2011 1,114 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 65.4% of the sample were female, 12.3% in their teens, 16.5% in their twenties, 28.6% in their thirties, 24.8% in their forties, 10.1% in their fifties, and 7.7% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

I’ve not seen any of the movies, and I’m not really sure how the list was created – Nodame Cantibile, for instance, seemed quite a popular real-life realisation of the comic, but it doesn’t feature in the list. On the other hand, I am not in the least suprised to see that My Darling is a Foriegner features nowhere on the list.

This coming weekend I have a preview ticket for Tsure ga Utsu ni Narimashite, which I would translate as When My Hubby Became Depressed, a film of the TV series of the manga comic. Let’s have the trailer for that:


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By Ken Y-N, ago

Deflation affecting Japanese cinemas too

Do you support cutting cinema ticket prices to 1,500 yen? graph of japanese statisticsWith one of the biggest cinema chains in Japan, Toho Cinemas, announcing that from next month (March 2011) they will cut the price of an adult ticket from 1,800 yen to 1,500 yen, iShare decided it would be a good time to conduct a survey to see what people thought about multiplex ticket prices.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 24th of January 2011 a mere 284 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.5% of the sample were female, 32.0% in their twenties, 32.4% in their thirties, and 35.6% in their forties. All had watched a movie at a multi-screen theatre, although it would have been useful to see the percentage of people who had been to the cinema.

As I always say, if you’re regularly paying 1,800 yen for the cinema you’d doing it wrong! The first of the month is 1,000 yen, Toho Cinemas have a loyalty card that gives you one free for every six watched, late shows are 1,200 yen or so, advance tickets are usually 1,300 yen, and ticket shops around cinemas often have left-over advance tickets on sale or other discount passes.

I’d like to see them do something about 3D surcharges; Toho Cinemas started off charging 300 yen extra, but last autumn they bumped it up to 400 yen. I’d watch more 3D (actually, I’ve given up now) if it was just 200 yen, or my loyalty card gave me a discount, or if I could buy my own pair.

My next movie will be The King’s Speech, and although I’d be prepared to pay full price for it, I’ll be going on March 1st, 1,000 yen day.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Expectations high for 3D movies, low for 3D television in Japan

What impression did you get from watching a 3D movie? graph of japanese statisticsThe title indicates a perhaps not too surprising result from a recent survey from goo Research, reported on by japan.internet.com, into 3D contents.

Demographics

Between the 21st and 26th of October 2010 1,067 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.4% of the sample were male, 16.6% in their teens, 18.4% in their twenties, 20.3% in their thirties, 16.6% in their forties, 16.1% in their fifties, and 12.0% aged sixty or older.

Last month Toshiba announced that they would be releasing a no-glasses 3D television at the end of the year, and just this week Sharp made a similar announcement. However, the current state of the art is that only up to about a 20 inch television works, and there is only a relatively narrow sweet spot for getting the 3D effect. However, their strategy may be less promoting their new hardware and more trying to cast doubt in the consumer’s mind about the merits of with-glasses 3D, an area where both companies are losing out badly to their Japanese and Korean rivals.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

3D movies: Majority of Japanese viewers satisfied

Would you like to watch another 3D movie at the cinema? graph of japanese statisticsWith 3D movies now becoming the norm, it seems, this detailed look at this subject of 3D movies by DIMSDRIVE Research reveals some interesting attitudes.

Demographics

Between the 20th of January and 4th of February 2010 8.596 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.0% of the sample were male, 1.0% in their teens, 11.3% in their twenties, 32.9% in their thirties, 31.2% in their forties, 16.2% in their fifties, and 7.4% aged sixty or older.

I’ve now been to two 3D movies; first was Up, which would have been better in 2D, quite frankly, as I didn’t see what I was paying the extra 300 yen for, then it was Alice in Wonderland (note that this survey was conducted before the general release in Japan, and I’m surprised that peope claim to have seen it! Toy Story 3 similarly is still not out in Japan), which was a very good movie and was perhaps better in 3D, although the nose pain from the glasses makes me not really keen on going to see 3D movies if I can avoid it. For Alice, the only 2D English versions were either early morning or late at night, so 3D was unavoidable.
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By Ken Y-N, ago

Review: “My Darling is a Foreigner” – one out of five stars

I went on Saturday to the opening day of the new movie, “My Darling is a Foreigner“, a mostly Japanese-language film of the best-selling manga comic series by Saori Ogura, featuring Ms Ogura and her husband Tony Laszlo, and their life together as an international couple in Japan. I’ve read most of the books (there’s even an English translation out now) so I went with high hopes.
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By Ken Y-N, ago