Lee Sang-il’s kabuki drama Kokuho has set a new record in Japan, becoming the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever in the market with over $111M at the local box office. The Ken Watanabe-starrer is Japan’s entry for the International Feature Oscar and was released for one-week qualifying runs by GKids in the U.S. on November 14 in Los Angeles and November 21 in New York. The estimated gross for those engagements is more than $60K.
Originally debuting in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last May, the movie hit Japanese cinemas on June 6 and continues to play. As of earlier this week, after 172 days in theaters, the film has sold over 12.3 million tickets and surpassed ¥17,377,394,500 ($111M).
Kokuho’s performance breaks a 22-year-old record previously held by 2003’s Bayside Shakedown 2, according to local reporting service Kogyo Tsushinsha. It is now the No. 11 movie ever in the market. Per the same service, there are only two live-action movies in the Top 10: Titanic and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Kokuho‘s story begins in 1964 Nagasaki when, following the death of his yakuza gang leader father, 14-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wing of famous kabuki actor Hanjiro Hanai (Watanabe). Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, Kikuo decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theater. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – from acting school to the grandest stages – amid scandals and glory, brotherhood and betrayals… one of them will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of kabuki. Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama play the friends/rivals.
During Cannes, Lee told us that “even in Japan, it’s been 80 years since a movie has had Kabuki as the theme. You can see, just by that metric, kabuki is something that is very difficult to adapt to cinema. I think that there’s this very secretive aspect to kabuki between protecting the bloodlines and hierarchy.” Lee also said that training the actors in the art of kabuki took a year-and-a-half. Watanabe concurred, “It’s hard work… The child actors and the adults, I have really deep respect for their commitment… The performance in the theaters is just 30 minutes, but we shot 10 hours more.”
Kokohu is produced by Aniplex in association with Myriagon Studio, Amuse Inc, Toho Co Ltd., Lawson Inc. and Credeus. GKids will release the film wide in North American theaters early next year.
“We’d like to congratulate the Kokuho film team on this incredible milestone,” said GKids’ President Dave Jesteadt. “The historic box office success in Japan demonstrates that the film is a must-see theatrical event, with many Japanese audiences returning to cinemas multiple times to experience its immersive beauty. After our own sold-out previews, we look forward to sharing this deeply emotional modern classic with American audiences early next year.”
The film is based on the novel of the same name by Shuichi Yoshida and written by Satoko Okudera. Other festival play has included TIFF and AFI.