Hollywood Movies Losing Appeal In Japan

It appears that Hollywood movies are losing their appeal in Japan, according to a recent Reuters India story.

Reuters India reports:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toho Co., Ltd., Japan's largest movie company, said the country's fading interest in Hollywood movies has cast a cloud over its growth prospects and it was aiming to cut costs to offset sluggish box office sales.

Reuters India photo.

Toho President Hideyuki Takai (above) told Reuters in an interview the recent resurgence in popularity of Japanese films, including last year's animation hit "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea", would not be enough to achieve profit growth.

"The popularity of Japanese movies is a very good thing for us as a distributor, but in terms of our cinema operations the drop-off in Hollywood movies is not something to smile about," Takai said.

While Japan's total box office revenue fell 1.8 percent to 195 billion yen last year, the take from Japanese movies actually jumped 22 percent to a record 116 billion yen, according to data from the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan.

Will this resurgence in popularity of home-grown movies also extend to Godzilla as well? Only time will tell.

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