Wild Bunch, Gaga to handle sales of Kor-eda Hirokazu’s ‘Monster’
2 min read
Japan’s Gaga Corporation and Wild Bunch International will once again collaborate on the international sales of “Monster,” the upcoming film directed by Japanese auteur Kore-eda Hirokazu.
Gaga will manage the Asian territories. Wild Bunch will operate worldwide except Asia. A promo reel for buyers will be available at the upcoming European Film Market, which runs alongside the Berlin Film Festival.
The two companies previously collaborated on Kore-eda’s 2011 title “I Wish,” which played at the Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals.
“Monster” seems more 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’s screenplay was written by Sakamoto Yuji (“We Made a Beautiful Bouquet”) and has a music score by Sakamoto Ryuichi. Produced by Kawamura Genki and Yamada Kenji, corporate credits are given to Toho, Gaga, Fuji Television Network, AOI Pro and Bun-Buku.
It stars Ando Sakura (“Shoplifter”), Nagayama Ita, Kurokawa Soya, Hiragi Hinata, and Yuko Tanaka.
Corey-Eda won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018 with “Shoplifters.” He subsequently made two films abroad: the 2019 French film “The Truth” and the 2022 Korean film “Broker,” which debuted at Cannes last year. Unlike “Shoplifter,” which grossed $33 million domestically in 2018, neither did much business in Japan. Although little has been revealed about its story, the new film, which has two distribution powerhouses behind it, promises a return to the director’s previous box office form.
Kore-eda also recently completed her first long-form series. “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House” was uploaded to Netflix in December. The series was based on the manga “Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san” by Aiko Kwama (published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday). Set in the geiko district of Kyoto, protagonist Kyo cooks in a house where apprentice geikos live together. The story depicts the daily lives of Kyo and Sumire, his childhood friends, who both travel from Aomori to Kyoto with ambitions of becoming maiko, or courtesan-entertainers.
