Japanese films, Q3 2024: the quarter in review

Released on July 12 by Toho and Sony Pictures. It is the fourth film in the live-action series adapted from Yasuhisa Hara's manga. Amid all-out war between Qin and Zhao, the great general Ouki (Takao Osawa) confronts his archrival Hou Ken (Koji Kikkawa), while Shin (Kento Yamazaki) learns on the battlefield what it means to be a great general. Shinsuke Sato directed from a screenplay by Tsutomu Kuroiwa and Yasuhisa Hara. Ryo Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, Nana Seino, Shun Oguri and Masami Nagasawa co-star.

Its first three days, Friday through Sunday, drew 1,065,000 admissions and 1.629 billion yen, the biggest opening ever for a Japanese live-action film by three-day gross, and it passed 5 billion yen on August 1. With 8.03 billion yen, it was the No. 1 Japanese live-action film of 2024 and No. 3 among all Japanese films including animation, making it the series' fourth consecutive film to pass 5 billion yen. At the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize, Takao Osawa won Best Supporting Actor and the film received an Award of Excellence for Picture of the Year. It opened in South Korea on November 20. After its overseas release on Netflix, it ranked No. 4 worldwide among non-English films in January 2025 (two weeks in the Top 10).

Released on August 23 by Toho. On the eve of Black Friday, packages shipped from the distribution center of a giant online retailer explode one after another, and newly appointed center manager Elena Funato (Hikari Mitsushima) sets out to bring the crisis under control. Ayuko Tsukahara directed Akiko Nogi's original screenplay, and the film shares a universe with the dramas Unnatural and MIU404. Masaki Okada, Dean Fujioka, Shohei Hino and Sadao Abe co-star, and the theme song is Kenshi Yonezu's "Garakuta."

With 5.96 billion yen, it ranked second among live-action films in the association's 2024 tally, after Kingdom: Return of the Great General. At the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize it won Best Screenplay (Akiko Nogi) and received an Award of Excellence for Picture of the Year. Ayuko Tsukahara won Best Director at the Hochi Film Awards, and the film placed ninth in the Kinema Junpo Best Ten. It opened in South Korea on March 26, 2025.

It opened on August 17 at a single theater, Cinema Rosa in Ikebukuro, Tokyo; after GAGA joined as distributor in September, it expanded nationwide and had played in a cumulative 344 theaters by November 29. In this period comedy, Shinzaemon Kosaka (Makiya Yamaguchi), a samurai of the Aizu domain in the last years of the shogunate, is struck by lightning and lands in a period-drama film studio in present-day Kyoto, where he makes a living as an actor who plays men cut down by the sword. Junichi Yasuda directed it as an independent production from his own original screenplay, with Norimasa Fuke and Yuno Sakura co-starring.

It passed 200 million yen in October and 1 billion yen on March 23, 2025. It won Picture of the Year and Best Film Editing at the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize and Best Film at the 67th Blue Ribbon Awards. It opened in South Korea on June 24, 2026.

Released on September 13 by Toho in 372 theaters. In this single-location comedy, Suomi (Masami Nagasawa), the wife of a famous poet, goes missing, and her former husbands gather at the mansion, each beginning to describe an entirely different "Suomi." It is Koki Mitani's ninth film as director and his first in five years, made from his own original screenplay. Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tori Matsuzaka, Koji Seto and Kenichi Endo star.

It opened at No. 1 with 313,000 admissions and 439 million yen on its first weekend, and earned 1.14 billion yen in 12 days. With 1.77 billion yen, it is the third-highest-grossing Japanese live-action film released in the third quarter.

Released on September 27 by Nikkatsu and Tokyo Theatres. In this suspense film, Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda), a young man who works as a reseller under the handle "Ratel," becomes the target of hatred from a faceless group and is hunted down. Kiyoshi Kurosawa directed from his own original screenplay. Kotone Furukawa, Daiken Okudaira, Amane Okayama, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa and Masataka Kubota co-star.

It premiered out of competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival and also screened at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected as Japan's entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards and tied for fourth in the Kinema Junpo Best Ten.