Japan’s Gaga Corporation and Wild Bunch International will collaborate once again for the international sales of “Monster,” a film directed by Japanese auteur Kore-eda Hirokazu.
Gaga will handle the Asian territories. WildBanch will operate worldwide, excluding Asia. A promo reel will be available to buyers at the upcoming European Film Market, which runs alongside the Berlin Film Festival.
The two companies previously collaborated on Kore-Ada’s 2011 title “I Wish,” which played at the Toronto and San Sebastian Film Festivals.
It seems that “Monster” is most likely to debut at Cannes. Its theatrical release in Japan through Toho and Gaga is scheduled for June 2, right after the festival.
The film is scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (“We Made a Beautiful Bouquet”) and has a musical score by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Production is by Kawamura Genki and Yamada Kenji, with corporate credits to Toho, Gaga, Fuji Television Network, AOI Pro and Bun-Buku.
It stars Ando Sakura (“Shoplifters”), Nagayama Eita, Kurokawa Soya, Hiraigi Hinata and Yoko Tanaka.
Kore-eda won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018 with “Shoplifters.” He has since made two films overseas: the 2019 French film “The Truth” and the 2022 Korean film “Broker,” which debuted in competition at Cannes last year. Neither did much business in Japan, unlike “Shoplifters,” which grossed $33 million domestically in 2018. Although little has been revealed about its story, the new film, which has two distribution powerhouses behind it, promises to be a return to the director’s first box office. Office form
Kore-Ada also recently completed its first long-form series. “The Maknai: Cooking for the Miku House” was uploaded to Netflix in December. The series was based on the manga “Miko-san Chi no Maknai-san” by Eko Koyama (published in Weekly Shonen Sunday). Set in Kyoto’s Geiko District, the protagonist Kiyo becomes a cook in a house where apprentice Geikos live together. The story depicts the daily lives of Kyo and Sameer, his childhood friends, who both travel from Omori to Kyoto with ambitions to become maikos.
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