Producer ready to hitch up with H'wood

Featured Player: Chihiro Kameyama

By PATRICK FRATER

He's in Los Angeles for the AFI Fest with a hit film and he's looking for a Stateside business partner. But he can afford to be picky.

Fuji TV's Chihiro Kameyama doesn't look like he's been in the film business 25 years, and still wears the enthusiasm and hippyish clothes of a newcomer. s Japan's most successful film producer, he's able to override the territory's unique system of production partnerships that involve advertising and talent agencies, TV nets and multiplex owners -- which can be a recipe for protracted decisionmaking.

Kameyama's track record as a hitmaker is such that he can now easily turn cast and crew wish lists into reality, based on little more than a few lines of synopsis. And the most conservative players in the industry, such as distributor-exhibitor Toho, sign up to be a part of Kameyama's vision. The filmmaker's hits this year include "Densha Otoko" ("Train Man"), grossing $35 million and $25 million-grossing submarine drama "Lorelei."

It's no wonder, then, that three years ago, parent company Fuji TV gave his stand-alone movie division unparalleled corporate freedom.

With $30 million in production investment funds available annually and the luxury of not having to kick every funding decision upstairs for approval, Kameyama has delivered a broad slate of commercial properties. These have accounted for half the top 10 local movies of the year and are expected to push profits this year from last year's $30 million to $40 million in the fiscal year to March 2006.

Kameyama's first taste of feature success came when he adapted the moderately successful TV show "Bayside Shakedown" into a multi-genre franchise eight years ago.

The first two "Bayside Shakedown" movies took their cue from the comedy-drama TV series that focused on everyday details of policing rather than spectacular case-solving. (The pic grossed $84 million, and five years later, sequel "Bayside Shakedown 2" grossed an extraordinary $160 million.) This year's two follow-ups have been spin-offs rather than sequels. "Negotiator" is a fantasy disaster actioner set in a subway, and "The Suspect" a lower-key drama.

Inspired by Kameyama, the Japanese industry is seeing budgets balloon and auds discover a new taste for local fare. Total box office this year looks set to be down, but in that shrinking market, Japanese titles have gained in relative terms. Whereas a couple of years ago there were only five or six local films per year grossing more than $20 million, now a $20 million B.O. may not qualify for the top 10.

Bigger budgets are delivering onscreen benefits. "Japanese films used to look cheap. It became a stigma making people feel bad about buying a ticket. We've made going to a Japanese movie a reasonable option," Kameyama says. "The difference is not more explosions or more action, but about making things look more gorgeous. In the past, we might have tried to shoot a scene in a hotel; now we will build a set. And it shows."

After grossing $35 million in Japan since its September release, "The Suspect" was invited to screen in the Asian New Classics section at the AFI Fest. Precedent suggests these pics, no matter how successful at home, won't have a huge overseas career. Asian films that are neither genre spectacles nor arthouse fare have had trouble connecting with Western auds. But if he can continue his current run of hometown success, Kameyama may make it harder for Hollywood pics to find their place in Japan.

The filmmaker insists that's not his goal. "The number of active cinemagoers is dropping, some 60% of the population never go at all. My role is to promote movies -- Japanese films and Hollywood films."

"My aim is for us to bring our projects to partners in the U.S., and for us to co-develop material. Then we bring them home and promote them in Japan."