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The 48th Japan Academy Film Awards ceremony took place on March 14, 2025 at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo on March 14, 2025, with free announcer Shinichi Hatori and actress Sakura Ando hosting the show.

“A Samurai in Time” continued gathering awards after the three it netted from Nikkan Sports, Michihito Fujii cemented his place on the top of the current directors, while Yuumi Kawai highlighted that she is the next super star of the local industry. “Kingdom 4″ Return of the General” expectedly won the majority of the technical awards. Here is the full list

Best Picture

A Samurai in Time Fantasia Film Review: A Samurai in Time (2024) by Junichi Yasuda

Best Animation Film

Look Back Anime Review: Look Back (2024) by Kiyotaka Oshiyama

Best Director

Michihito Fujii – Faceless

Best Screenplay

Akiko Nogi – Last Mile Film Review: Last Mile (2024) by Ayuko Tsukahara

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Ryusei Yokohama – Faceless

Best...

The award ceremony for the 48th Japan Academy Film Prizes was held at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo on March 14. From the five nominees in the animation category, Look Back won the Best Animation of the Year award. Additionally, the eight main animators of Look Back were also selected for the Creative Contribution Award, which was newly established this year to honor engineers who have made particularly outstanding contributions to the films selected for the awards. The eight animators were: Kiyotaka Oshiyama , Toshiyuki Inoue , Yuka Geshi , Takuya Ninuma , Katsuhiko Kitada , Shuichi Ohara , Tasan , and Ayako Hata . Among them, Oshiyama also served as the director, screenplay writer, and character designer of the film. Meanwhile, actor Yuumi Kawai , who voiced one of the film's two protagonists, Fujino, won the Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role award for her role as An Kagawa in the Yu Irie-directed...

The 67th edition of the Blue Ribbon Awards, presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, has announced its winners on January 28, 2025. The nominees and winners are selected from movies released in 2024 by members of the Association who are film reporters from seven sports newspapers in Tokyo. Indie movie “A Samurai in Time” was the surprise hit last year and has picked up a double win for Best Film and Best Actor. Likewise for Yu Irie‘s “A Girl Named Ann” bagging the Best Director and Best Actress awards.

Best Film

A Girl Named Ann

Abudeka Is Back

Let’s Go Karaoke!

52-Hertz Whales

A Samurai in Time

11 Rebels

Faceless

All the Long Nights

Last Mile

Look Back

Best Director

Yu Irie – A Girl Named Ann

Kazuya Shiraishi – 11 Rebels, Bushido

Ayuko Tsukahara – Last Mile, La Grande Maison Paris

Michihito Fujii – Faceless, 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days

Junichi Yasuda – A Samurai in Time

Best...

Anime films claimed six of the top 10 spots in Japan’s 2024 domestic box office rankings, with Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Pentagram taking the top spot by earning 15.8 billion yen, according to a report by Japanese entertainment news website Cinema Today.

The anime film adopted a unique marketing strategy, skipping pre-release screenings and hosting midnight premieres in 23 theaters across 10 prefectures on April 12.

This approach sparked a frenzy, with tickets selling out almost instantly. Upon its nationwide release in 515 theaters, the film drew 2.274 million viewers and earned 3.352 billion yen in its first three days.

It topped the box office for six consecutive weeks, surpassing 14 billion yen by week seven and becoming the first in the series to exceed 10 million admissions.

Taking the second spot is Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle at 11.64 billion yen. The film re-entered the top 10 in its 18th week after a special August screening event.

Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General,...

The biggest celebration of Japanese film, the Japan Academy Prize, is gearing up for its 48th annual ceremony on March 14, 2025. Ahead of then, the Japan Academy Prize Association revealed the nominees for all the top awards today . The Animation category is filled with some of the biggest anime films from 2024, including Look Back , Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, and more! The full list for Animation of the Year includes: Ganbatte Ikimasshoi Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Freedom Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram Look Back Outside of anime, the latest Kingdom live-action film, Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General , is up for Picture of the Year, with director Shinsuke Sato up for Best Director, lead actor and supporting actor Kento Yamazaki and Takao Osawa up for their respective awards as well as many production awards. The Cells at Work live-action film also picked up a few nominations,...

With stout muscles and a domineering presence, the legendary General Ohki (Takao Osawa) has been the one swordsman fans of the Kingdom series have longed to see in action. Now through 2024's Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General, that wish can finally be granted. More interestingly, the relatively unknown (at least on this side of the world) martial arts epic has begun powering itself up the streaming charts of Netflix. Return of the Great General currently holds a spot in the streamer's Top 10, as the eyes of a global audience are drawn to the intensity of the fight, as warring factions seek control of Ancient China.

A lesser-known (at least on this side of the globe) martial arts epic has surged to success on streaming worldwide. The action sequel, 2024’s Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General, has now powered its way into the top 10 on Netflix, with audiences all over the globe tuning in to discover what happens next in this saga of warring factions in ancient China. Here’s a spoiler, what happens is epic in a way that few movies are.

Directed by Shinsuke Sato and led by Alice in Borderland star Kento Yamazaki, the rest of the cast includes Ryo Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, Nana Seino, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Amane Okayama, Takahiro Miura, Takayuki Hamatsu, Riku Hagiwara, Koji Kikkawa, Masami Nagasawa, Shun Oguri, Takao Osawa, Koichi Sato, and Hiroshi Tamaki, Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General is the latest installment in the Kingdom franchise, which is based on the manga by Yasuhisa Hara.

Toho Executive Officer Mitsutaka Yoshida is bullish about the box office prospects of the studio's upcoming Demon Slayer anime film series installment, believing it could be an unprecedented hit that "transcends the industry." Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle will debut in 2025.

Per Mantan Web, Toho announced its 2025 film lineup and 2024 box office revenues at Toho Cinemas Hibiya in Tokyo. Yoshida stated that Infinity Castle's Demon Slayer movie predecessor, Mugen Train, made record amounts of money worldwide for the company. "Demon Slayer recorded box office revenue of about 40.4 billion yen for its predecessor, Mugen Train," he said. The Toho exec believes the company has the capacity to make the upcoming movie even more successful. "With the cooperation of various fields, we would like to make Infinity Castle a major box office hit that transcends the industry," Yoshida added.

Related There's Even More Good News for Demon Slayer...

Domestic features led the Japan box office in 2024 with no live-action titles from outside the country making the top 10.

In the year since December 2023, eight of the Japan’s top 10 highest-grossing films were produced domestically, with only two US features – Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 – making the list.

Significantly, no live-action features from outside the country made the top 10, a sign that Hollywood tentpoles are having difficulty penetrating Japan’s cinematic market.

Recent years have seen titles such as Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Fast & Furious 9 (2021) and Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2020) perform strongly in Japan.

Worldwide box office July 5-7 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) $132.6m $437.8m $88m $226.7m 79 2. Inside Out 2 (Disney) $70.9m $1.4bn $50.2m $777.5m 46 3. A Place Called Silence (Maoyan)

$30.6m $117.5m $30.6m $117.5m 1 4. Longlegs (various) $25.7m $25.7m $3.1m $3.1m 16 5. A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount) $22.2m $220.7m $10.4m $104.5m 68 6. Fly Me To The Moon (Sony) $19m $19m $9m $9m 53 7. Indian 2 (Tamil) (various) $13.7m $13.7m $11.7m $11,7m 26 8. Twisters (Warner Bros) $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m 38 9. Kingdom 4: The Return Of The Great General (Toho) $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m 1 10. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die...

Worldwide box office July 5-7 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) $132.6m $437.8m $88m $226.7m 79 2. Inside Out 2 (Disney) $70.9m $1.4bn $50.2m $777.5m 46 3. A Place Called Silence (Maoyan)

$30.6m $117.5m $30.6m $117.5m 1 4. Longlegs (various) $25.7m $25.7m $3.1m $3.1m 16 5. A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount) $22.2m $220.7m $10.4m $104.5m 68 6. Fly Me To The Moon (Sony) $19m $19m $9m $9m 53 7. Indian 2 (Tamil) (various) $13.7m $13.7m $11.7m $11,7m 26 8. Twisters (Warner Bros) $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m 38 9. Kingdom 4: The Return Of The Great General (Toho) $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m 1 10. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die...