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K2 Pictures Video Production Company Establishes Film Fund With Creators Including MAPPA (Updated)
posted on by Alex Mateo
The K2 Pictures movie and video works company announced on Friday that it is setting up the "K2P Film Fund I." The company plans to help promote the entry of new investors in Japan and overseas into the Japanese film industry and return the profits to creators. Film production is underway with creators including animation production studio MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Attack on Titan The Final Season), Shunji Iwai (Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom?), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Air Doll), Kazuya Shiraishi (Shin Ultraman), Miwa Nishikawa (Dear Doctor), and Takashi Miike (live-action Ace Attorney, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable).
K2 Pictures aims to create a new ecosystem for Japanese films, as it has been difficult for new investors to enter the market in Japan and abroad. The company is creating standards with foreign investment in mind, so that investors interested in Japanese content can more readily participate. The fund will also return profits to creators involved in production. Its overall goal is to expand the Japanese film industry worldwide.
The company will hold a press conference at JW Marriott Cannes on May 18 during the time of the 77th Cannes International Film Festival to announce its debut slate. The debut slate will feature films by Koreeda, Iwai, and Nishikawa.
Kii is the company's Representative Director and CEO. Akatsuki Inc. Representative Director and CEO Tetsurō Kōda and foreign investment fund manager Frederick Katsuro Schmidt are directors.
The company's major shareholders include Akatsuki Inc., which actively invests in game productions; Groundworks, which manages the copyright of the Evangelion series; Rockwell Eyes inc.; represented by director Shunji Iwai (The Case of Hana & Alice, Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom? original creator); and Cine Bazar, which produced live-action films such as Shin Godzilla, Shin Kamen Rider, and Shin Ultraman.
Kii worked for Toei, and was credited for the planning and production of the Shin Kamen Rider live-action film. He is also the executive producer of anime films such as LIP×LIP FILM×LIVE: Kono Sekai no Tanoshimikata, and The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky. Kii also worked for T-Joy and was the executive producer for the 009 Re:Cyborg film, and was credited for the production of the Magical Sisters Yoyo & Nene, and Tiger & Bunny the Movie: The Beginning films.
Masao Maruyama founded MAPPA in June 2011, and Manabu Ohtsuka is the company's CEO. The company has studios in Tokyo and Sendai. MAPPA has produced such anime as Chainsaw Man, Bucchigiri?!, Kids on the Slope, In This Corner of the World, Yuri!!! on Ice, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan The Final Season, and maboroshi.
Update: Variety additionally reported on Friday that K2 Pictures stated the company seeks "to create a new method [of filmmaking], evolving this film ecosystem into one of ‘film production funds’ following an approach used in Hollywood and around the world," upending the traditional production committee-based system used in Japan. The "K2P Film Fund I" will invest in both live-action and animated works.
Source: Email correspondence
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