Each new day since the March 11 earthquake seems to bring something worse, but the Japanese entertainment industry is no stranger to disaster and mayhem. There's a been-there-seen-it-all mindset, nurtured by a long history of alternating repression and liberation, plus natural disasters in between.
While most movie productions have been put on hold until further notice during the crisis, some films already slated for distribution will be aired as scheduled. An unnamed source at Shochiku says that the quake will probably enhance rather than damage sales.
"The Japanese are eager to support anything domestic at this point," he says. "Movies are a great way to connect people with each other, and the theaters are going to put up donation boxes to send to the Tohoku region. So we'll probably see more people coming to the movies than we've seen in the past 10 years."