Asia seems steamy season
Local competish simmers in summer
China starts its summer season in early June with a "blackout" -- a five-week period in which foreign films are not allowed to open, and Japan's summer season only really gets going in the latter half of July. So "MI3" ends up getting its release in these two major territories almost simultaneously, weeks after the rest of the world.
South Korea, which has its own local blockbusters to challenge Hollywood, peaks from from mid-June to mid-July when schools are on holiday.
Football-crazy Hong Kong started its summer early with "MI3" on May 5, and now goes on a hiatus without big releases until the World Cup is over in the first week of July. That sets two of the biggest films of the year, Warner's "Superman Returns" and Buena Vista Intl.'s "Cars" for a head-to-head release on July 13. Some exhibs are already predicting that the rivals will damage each other and that "Da Vinci Code," with HK$30 million already ($4 million), will by default emerge as the summer's champion.
China
This summer the Chinese government went to enormous trouble to help foster the domestic industry -- and please the ruling Communist party -- by setting aside a month especially for homegrown pics.
"Ice Age 2" squeezed in on June 9, just beating the ban, while Chinese moviegoers are eagerly awaiting the arrival of "Superman Returns" on July 11, one day after the end of the ban, and later "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Miami Vice."
China's film industry is more focused on the weeklong holidays around Chinese New Year, which falls in spring, and May Day as well as the lengthy National Day holiday in the fall than it is on the summer season, so it's less a key a period than in other markets.
The all-powerful State Film Bureau called a hiatus on foreign releases from June 10 to July 10 , ostensibly to boost Chinese films, though most commentators said it was timed to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Other industry observers reckoned the China film month provided a handy excuse for pushing through a few difficult censorship decisions, such as pulling the plug on the highly successful "Da Vinci Code" and, for a while at least, banning "MI3," which had seemed sure to get approval because much of it was shot in China.
Ultimately the ban on foreign and revenue-share movies failed to make an impact, stymied largely by a lack of decent Chinese product. Qi Jian's "The Forest Ranger," which will take part in the Shanghai Film Festival, is due to bow on June 20, while "Dragon Tiger Gate," a Hong Kong-Chinese movie starring Donnie Yen, preems mid-July.
The next big movie in China will be the much heralded "Banquet" by Feng Xiaogang, which is expected in late September.
Chinese distributors bought full copyright to imported movies such as South Africa's "Tsotsi" and the French "Les chevaliers du ciel" (Sky Fighters). That means they no longer count as revenue-share movies, and thereby sidestepped the ban, the first time this has happened.
There's also curiosity about "The 601st Phone Call," a Zhang Guoli-helmed pic starring Hong Kong thesp Cecilia Cheung and Zhou Bichang, to be released by Warner China in August. Pic is about the real-life media frenzy last year when the phone numbers of more than 600 celebrities were posted online.
Industry experts reckon Chinese movie revenues have dropped by 10% since the start of the World Cup.
Japan
"The Da Vinci Code" has passed the $50 million mark in Japan, not even three weeks after its release, and is well on its way to the $100 million heights occupied by "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter." But as summer takes off, "Da Vinci" will likely be beaten by "MI3," "Cars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
The two most highly anticipated Japanese releases this summer are July toon releases "Brave Story" and "Tales From Earthsea." The latter is from Studio Ghibli, whose co-founder and resident genius is Hayao Miyazaki, maker of the megahits "Spirited Away" and "Howl's Moving Castle." Based on the Ursula LeGuin novel, "Earthsea" is helmed by Miyazaki's son Goro -- a first-timer with zero animation experience.
"Brave Story," from a best-selling fantasy novel from Gonzo and Fuji TV, will be Warner Bros. Pictures first local toon release July 8. Summer in Japan is kid time, though, and on July 15 Toho goes up against the toons with the latest installment of the "Pocket Monsters" series, which still draws fans after nearly a decade.
South Korea
With school vacation starting in late June/early July, early summer ranks as Korea's peak season for film attendance, particularly for Hollywood product. August tends to be considerably quieter, with kids returning to school mid-month, although last year's release of local hit "Welcome to Dongmakgol" resulted in boffo returns for the month as a whole.
Nonetheless, recent summers have seen intense competition between bigger budgeted local fare and Hollywood tentpoles, with the result that few releases have been able to truly break out.
This year adds the complication of the World Cup, which most local distributors are striving to avoid, following a steep drop in attendance during the 2002 games (which were co-hosted by Korea).
Two local releases that look to have serious blockbuster potential are Kang Woo-suk's "Hanbando" (July 13) which plays off political tensions between Korea and Japan; and Bong Joon-ho's monster movie "The Host" (July 27), which is coming off a successful bow at the Directors Fortnight section at Cannes.
Summer in Korea is also considered peak season for the horror genre, with local titles "APT" and "Arang" joining "Silent Hill," "The Omen" and a host of Japanese horror pics.
Hong Kong
A few years back, distribs in Hong Kong underestimated "Pirates of The Caribbean" which went on to be a worldwide hit. There is no danger of that mistake being repeated, and the sequel, released Aug. 3, is sure to be bigger than the original. It will likely be one of the top summer titles, especially if "Cars" and "Superman" (both released July 20) mutually destruct.
Summer season, which once meant July and August, now tracks the U.S. quite closely, with a start in May, and Hollywood blockbusters largely dominant. Antipiracy measures make day-and-date releases common. But with annual Hong Kong B.O. stagnating, there is little to suggest that practice is making overall revs any bigger. A gross of $5 million used to be considered the mark of a summer hit, but now few will be lucky to pass $4 million.
The biggest exception to U.S. domination is tipped to be "Dragon Tiger Gate," an explosive martial arts actioner whose promo campaign goes critical after the Shanghai Film Festival. Producer Mandarin set its simultaneous greater-China date for June, then shifted it to July 28 to avoid the World Cup. The other big Chinese title of the season is the Pang brothers' horror "Re-cycle," out in Hong Kong on July 1.
Intercontinental, which now handles Buena Vista and UIP titles, is hoping its relationship with Japan's Kadokawa will deliver a third stream of titles. One for the summer is "Keroro," a kids' toon based on a Japanese comic series, which is skedded for release July 20, backed by lots of outdoor advertising. Going out the same day is another Japanese feature, "Helen the Baby Fox," which did boffo biz in Japan. And after the Hong Kong success of doggy tale "Eight Below" earlier this year, few would rule it out as a sleeper hit.
(Clifford Coonan in Beijing, Darcy Paquet in Seoul and Mark Schilling in Japan contributed to this report.)
