IWO JIMA FLIES; NANA 2 FLOPS

Over in Japan, Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima pic, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, has been doing quite well at the box office. Total weekend attendance was 393,000 (493 million yen) with the box office being only 86% of THE LAST SAMURAI but 263% of FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, Clint Eastwood's companion film told from the American perspective.

NANA 2, on the other hand, was a movie that a lot of folks (myself included) thought would turn out to be the year's final feather in the "Japan rules the Japanese box office" cap. Unfortunately, it's tanking hard and fast. It opened over the weekend and made 170 million yen, a mere 31% of the original NANA's opening. Bloggers in Japan suspect that it has less to do with Yui Ichikawa replacing Aoi Miyazaki and more to do with the near-constant reports of strife and tension on the set as well as the lack of TV advertising.

(Thanks to HogaCentral for the news)