Film, anime export firm to be set up

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A public-private joint investment fund will set up a new company as early as this summer to deal with planning, production and international distribution of Japanese movies and anime, it has been learned.

The new company is designed to boost the international competitiveness of Japanese movies and anime stories, according to sources.

The new company, to be established by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), will be tasked with identifying promising original works and ideas from among Japanese companies or individuals and will be entrusted with holding the sale of rights for film adaptations on behalf of the original copyright holders, the sources said.

While recruiting some experts in Hollywood and gaining their expertise in production and distribution, the new company will attempt to expand distribution channels for Japanese movies and anime abroad, including in emerging markets.

The INCJ will invest about 5 billion yen in the new company, which it will wholly own. The company will have bases of activity in Japan and the United States.

The new company will aim to produce about 10 box-office hits, each making several billion yen, in the initial five years, the sources said.

While being in charge of handling film rights to the works and concepts that companies and individuals have, the new company will also work on projects jointly with its business partners in Hollywood to produce movies and anime. Initially, the company will distribute and release movies and animated dramas in the United States and export them to emerging economies and other countries later.

The purpose of producing, selling and even exporting movies and anime stories from a base in Hollywood is to compensate for a lack of relevant expertise in the Japanese filmmaking and anime content industries.

Japanese-made movies, anime and other content have been quite popular in Western and Asian countries as a symbol of "Cool Japan."

But, according to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, their prices have often been beaten down in negotiations over the original works, with the result that Japanese businesses and individuals who created the content do not receive sufficient profits.