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London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation is reporting a raft of sales from Berlin on chef drama “Grande Maison Paris,” a standalone feature film from the world of Japanese hit series “La Grande Maison: Tokyo.”

The film has sold in Taiwan (Cai Chang), South Korea (Media Castle), Mainland China (DDDream), Hong Kong and Macau (First Distributors), Thailand (Sf Cinema), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Cis (Arna Media), and Israel (YesDBS), with additional territories in South East Asia, and Eastern Europe in negotiations.

Toho and Sony Pictures Entertainment released the film in Japan early in January, where it has now grossed over $26 million (4 billion yen), making it one of the early local hits of this year.

Sony Pictures Entertainment releases in France, with other international releases beginning in March 2025.

Set in the high-stakes world of Parisian culinary excellence, the film stars Japanese icon Takuya Kimura, reprising his lead role from the series,...

Exclusive: Here’s first-footage of Paris-set chef drama Grande Maison Paris, the standalone feature spinoff from the world of Japanese hit series La Grande Maison: Tokyo.

Set in the high stakes world of Parisian culinary excellence, the film is led by Japanese star Takuya Kimura (Blade of the Immortal) reprising his lead role from the series, and popular Korean actor and rapper from band2PM Ok Taec-yeon (Hansan: Rising Dragon).

Three Michelin star Japanese chef Kei Kobayashi (of Paris restaurant Kei) created the film’s cuisine. Pic gets its world premiere at the upcoming San Sebastián Film Festival.

Toho will release in Japan. Sony Pictures International Productions will release in France, with London and Paris-based finance, production and sales company Film Constellation handling international sales.

The official synopsis reads: “Famous Japanese chef Obana (Takuya Kimura) opens a new restaurant in Paris in the quest for his elusive third Michelin star.

Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for its latest live-action original series from Japan, Burn the House Down, set to launch globally on July 13.

A domestic revenge thriller, the show stars Mei Nagano (My Love Story!, Hanbun, Aoi) as Anzu Murata, a young woman whose childhood was torn apart when her family’s home burned down, prompting her parents to divorce. Convinced that her ailing mother was wrongly accused of the conflagration, Anzu goes undercover to work as a housekeeper for the suspicious woman who married her father in the wake of the blaze — convinced that she can gather evidence and discover the truth of what really happened.

The show is an adaptation of the popular manga Burn the House Down (Mitarai-ke Enjō Suru), which ran in Japan from 2017 to 2021. Kodansha USA Publishing began releasing the manga in English in June 2022.

‘Burn the House Down’

The lead cast includes: Asuka Kudo,...

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Netflix has lined up its next Japanese original series, a mystery thriller adaptation of the hit manga Burn the House Down.

Created by up-and-coming artist Moyashi Fujisawa, the original manga began serialization in Kodansha’s Kiss magazine in 2017 and became an immediate hit, attracting multiple adaptation offers in the year’s since.

The Netflix series, like the manga, will tell the story of Anzu Murata, a young woman who infiltrates the house of the wealthy Mitarai family as a housekeeper in order to reclaim the life that was taken from her. She is greeted by the beautiful and impeccable second wife of Mr. Mitarai, Makiko, and undertakes a mission that will reveal the secrets behind a shocking fire that took place 13 years ago.

Anzu Murata will be played by popular Japanese actress Mei Nagano, while local screen veteran Kyoka Suzuki co-stars as Makiko Mitarai.

Hitoma Iruma’s popular light novel Usotsuki Mii-kun to Kowareta Maa-chan is being turned into a live-action adaptation starring former fashion model Aya Oomasa. The original work has sold over 900,000 copies while pushing the boundaries of content usually found in light novels, which are usually read by young teens.

Oomasa, an up-and-coming young actress who recently garnered attention for her memorable starring role in the TBS drama “Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge”, will play Mayu Misono, aka Maa-chan. The challenging role will require her to drastically shift from grief to cheerfulness to extreme anger. Maa-chan was involved in an incredibly traumatic incident as a child which left her mentally scarred. Because of this, she’s capable of unpredictable cruelty, but also sometimes reverts to a child-like personality when she’s around Mii-kun (Shota Sometani), a childhood acquaintance.

The story takes place in a countryside town where two young siblings have recently disappeared.

I'm constantly grumbling about Americans remaking Asian films -- the idea of Steven Spielberg trying to redo Park Chan-wook's Oldboy with Will Smith is potentially the most cringe-worthy of them all -- so, to be fair, I suppose I should be complaining that a Japanese remake of Alexander Payne's Sideways recently started filming in Napa Valley, California, according to Variety. But an unrelated comic book may hold the key to the remake's appeal.

Payne's superb tale of romantic yearning and mid-life anxiety famously centers on wine snob Paul Giamatti (he praised pinot noir and derided merlot) and his much coarser buddy Thomas Haden Church as they wine, dine, and romance Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh. The movie's success caused a strong surge in sales of pinor noir in the Us.

Japan doesn't seem to have an equivalent wine culture; owing to weather, soil, and scarcity of land, the country is not well-suited to viticulture,...

When you say "Japanese film", your first word association is not likely to be comedy. But this movie pleasingly defies festival expectations. A madcap farce centering on the production of a radio drama, "Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald" is a frothy, "Soapdish" kind of lark. It's zany and fast-paced, with the frantic comic furor of some of Blake Edwards' high-octane mayhem.

While it's not likely to attract notice among mainstream audiences, this deliriously funny film was a hit with festival audiences at last year's Chicago International Film Festival. Cities with significant Asian-American populations could make this one an art house sleeper.

The comic craziness is set against the deadline atmosphere of a Tokyo radio station, where the production "team," including some voice-over artists, is putting on a live radio show. It's a swoony melodrama, much in the style of those golden oldies from American radio such as "Pepper Young" and "Stella Dallas". This scenario is especially drippy, the outcome of a dramatic contest sponsored by the station in which the single entrant, not surprisingly, was the grand-prize winner.

The script is stilted silly, but it's taken deadly seriously by its housewife-writer, a shy, deferential young woman, and it's regarded as high art by the assorted vocal players, each of whom only has one quibble with the script -- it doesn't pay proper justice to their particular character.

In short, the "team" is a wild and idiosyncratic group, from the obsequious producer to the prima donna female star. Included in the mix are a bitter security guard who was a former sound man and the writer's insecure, car-salesman husband. This mix of oddballs, not surprisingly, will ring true to anyone who has ever ventured near the entertainment industry.

Screenwriter-director Koki Mitani's eye for foibles is evident, and he wisely stokes the character clashes to their believable max. Undeniably, the narrative itself is generally predictable, but it's delivered with such speed and skill that the belly laughs overcome the unremarkable story line.

The players are a well-selected screwball group, including Kyoka Suzuki as the serious-minded writer and Toshiaki Karasawa as the cool-and-collected director. Keiko Toda is terrific as the lead actress, vainglorious and conniving.

Technical contributions are smartly realized, with special kudos to editor Hirohide Abe for the fast pacing.

WELCOME BACK, MR. MCDONALD

Lighthouse Entertainment/Group/Fortissima

Producers: Chiaka Matsushita, Hisao Masuda, Takashi Ishihara, Kanjiro Sakura

Screenwriter-director: Koki Mitani

Based on the play "Radio No Jikan" by Mitani and the Tokyo Sunshine Boys

Directors of photography: Kenji Takama, Junichi Tozawa

Editor: Hirohide Abe

Music: Takayuki Hattori

Sound mixer: Tetsuo Segawa

Art director: Tomio Ogawa

Color/stereo

Cast:

Kudo: Toshiaki Karasawa

Miyako Suzuki: Kyoka Suzuki

Ushijima: Masahiko Nishimura

Nokko Senbon: Keiko Toda

Ben Noda: Takehiko Ono

Suhuru Hosaka: Shiro Namiki

Furukawa: Yasukiyo Umeno

Hiromitsu: Jun Inoue

Running time -- 103 minutes

No MPAA rating...