Wolverine › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Friday 04th September, 03:00 AM JST

Australian actor Hugh Jackman, actress Naomi Kawashima, left, and actor Ryuta Sato, right, get ready to cut a cake made by the patissier husband of Kawashima during a promotional event for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (titled “X-Men: Zero” for Japan) at Roppongi Hills Arena on Thursday night. Jackman, who rode along the red carpet on a Harley-Davidson, said he looked forward to returning to Japan to film the 5th installment of the series—which is partly set here—and joked that Wolverine’s claws would come in handy eating sashimi. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” opens in Japan on Sept 11.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 33 Total Comments Show All

BuddhismTech at 02:02 PM JST - 4th September

Why did an angel like Naomi Kawashima agree to participate in a promotional event which focused on a violent movie? Naomi Kawashima is so pretty for her age. She looks like a classic Japanese woman of 1960s. Hopefully, her husband or his company will start an international delivery soon, so Naomi Kawashima can fly overseas to deliver a cake to my American home!
Rugbyfan at 03:37 PM JST - 4th September

Hugh Jackman is so cool and is multi-talented. I have really enjoyed watching the X-Men series of movies so far and can't wait to see this latest installment.
noborito at 04:11 PM JST - 4th September

Saw it in Singapore. Wait for the Rental. Not worth 1800 yen. Paid 600 yen in Singapore. It was priced correctly there.
Brainiac at 04:14 PM JST - 4th September

Naomi looks great for a 48-year-old. Japanese women age well.
wibble at 04:44 PM JST - 4th September

smithinjapan "and companies like amazon has contracts with Japan not to export DVDs, etc. " actually they don't. Amazon freely ship any movie you like from the US to Japan, as does AtlanticDVD in Australia, Amazon in the UK etc.

How would Amazon have a "contract with Japan"? The film studios and promoters in Japan are the key players here, who direct distribution and import process. Companies like Toshiba EMI who contract a lot of the dubbing and promotion of overseas content. The work isn't straight forward always because often companies are bidding for the work and distribution rights in countries which cause delays.
Hotbox08 at 05:25 PM JST - 4th September

Not worth 1800 yen.

Good point. This movie seems like it's probably worth a 200 yen rental. I can think of a ton of better things to do than watching your typical "blow em up with no good dialog and plot" movie.
Osakadaz at 05:49 PM JST - 4th September

actually the movie was very entertaining.Hugh rocks.
tshirt at 08:25 PM JST - 4th September

Hollywood movie release dates have to do with the distributors, very simple.

Like in the States, many movies are released at key times to increase ticket sales... so US release dates often don't coincide with ideal Japanese ones.

I believe Ponyo was just released in the US, I doubt most US audience members cared when it was originally released in Japan. Same goes for US movies release in Japan, most people want dubbing or subtitles... they won't pirate.
Weasel at 10:34 PM JST - 4th September

I'll see if this movie was worth the wait, as it comes out on DVD on the 15th.
mechadamuramu at 12:25 AM JST - 5th September

How is this the "5th" installment of x-men? I count X-men 1-3 and wolverine.
tokyochris at 03:13 AM JST - 5th September

How is this the "5th" installment of x-men? I count X-men 1-3 and wolverine.

It's not, read the text again ;-)
tokyochris at 03:16 AM JST - 5th September

Plus they need time to translate the script.

Nothing to do with that....a friend of mine translates movies out here and has scripts before filming has wrapped (later revisions are made due top alterations, reshoots and adlibs.... but 99% of the script translation is usually finalised well before release)
TokyoGas at 05:37 AM JST - 5th September

I have said it before and I will say it again... for the most part Japan movie release dates have nothing to due with US/Global release dates. My feeling is that movies are released around the big 3 holiday periods: New Year's, Golden Week and Obon.

Additionally, some flicks release dates are based on historical dates. I am referring to Star Wars which seems to arrive on Japan's shores in July when most countries seem to release in May. I read that the first Star Wars was released in July and so the sequels/prequels were also. There was a quote from some movie big wig who essentially quoted what I said above.

In plane language, the people in charge of release dates here have absolutely no incentive to release movies earlier. That is why you can see a movie on an airplane which has yet to be released in Japan.

As far as Ponyo and Japanese movies in general... there is not a heavy demand for these flicks.
Hotbox08 at 04:02 PM JST - 5th September

As far as Ponyo and Japanese movies in general... there is not a heavy demand for these flicks.

Well, if you are talking about a country like South Africa, then yes, there isn't a demand for a movie like 'Ponyo'. The same could be said of this Wolverine movie here; there really isn't a great demand to see it. I know I don't want to.
WhiteHawk at 01:31 PM JST - 6th September

Where is Naomi's left hand anyway?

I know where my girlfriend's hand would be if she were standing there... She'd have a firm grip on Jackman's bum!

I liked the movie, but then I went in hoping to see an action film with Wolverine kickin' butt. And that's what I saw. My girlfriend went in hoping to see Jackman with his shirt off. And that's what she saw. And more. So everybody was happy.

Even though movie prices have gone up here in the U.S., it's still cheaper than seeing them in Japan.