BEST. MOVIE. EVER.

In the 1970's the preeminent Japanese disaster flick was THE SINKING OF JAPAN. Based on a blockbuster 1973 novel by Sakyo Komatsu, it followed the horrible events that occur when it is revealed that the Japanese islands are sinking into the ocean. 2006 sees a huge, special-effects-loaded remake hit screens on July 15, directed by Shinji Higuchi. This flick has received major coverage and there's even a good-looking trailer out there to take a look at.

But that is not the best movie ever.

The best movie ever is the parody version, EVERYONE OTHER THAN JAPAN SINKS. Based on a short novel written by Japan's extremely famous sci fi parodist, Yasutaka Tsutsui, which was conceived during a drunken evening out back in 1973, it is now being made into a feature film by Minoru Kawasaki (director of CALAMARI WRESTLER and BEETLE, THE HORN KING - which is playing at this year's New York Asian Film Festival). The plot is about what happens when every country in the world except Japan sinks into the sea.

On May 15, the crew of EVERYONE OTHER THAN JAPAN SINKS held a press conference. According to HogaCentral, TBS (the television station investing in THE SINKING OF JAPAN remake) attended and asked, "What will you do if your version is a bigger hit than ours?"

Director Kawasaki apologized "I am very sorry!" but the novelist Tsutsui screams out "you have to make the original a hit, otherwise we will sink too!".

Set to film between May 7 and 17, EVERYONE OTHER THAN JAPAN SINKS will be released in the fall. HogaCentral admits to having no idea what the above photo means, but it is definitely a photo from the press conference of the novelist with a very dodgy Bruce Willis impersonator and a slightly more successful Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator.