Inter-Office Memo

CONFIDENTIAL

To: Sony Pictures - David Kaminow, Abe Recio, Sabrina Yamaguchi

From: Neil Harrison, Sean Steele, Sarah McDonnell, Paul Eldon, Yvette Choudry

Subject: Summary of Japanese Tracking: 6th - 12th December 2010

Date: 13th December

Japan - Market Overview

PLEASE SEE ACCOMPANYING DATA TABLES FOR FULL BREAKDOWN OF TITLES

PLEASE NOTE THAT “DEFINITE” INTEREST IS BASED ON THOSE AWARE, SO BASE SIZES CAN BE SMALL

OPENING THIS WEEK (18th December 2010)

burlesque

cheburashika/ kumano gakkou

masked rider

saigo no chushingura

shrek forever after

Tron: legacy

· Of this week’s releases Tron: Legacy (Disney) and Shrek Forever After (Paramount) look the best placed to open well.

· Both titles are on a par for unaided awareness at 13%, with Shrek 4 showing the most momentum to become the better known title overall; at 49% total awareness vs. 32% for Tron: Legacy. “Definite” interest is higher for Tron at 16%, whilst among this core audience Shrek 4 picks up 8% “definite” interest.

· The titles are appealing to different markets – while both have 6% opening/in release first choice, this skews strongly to the key audience of younger females for Shrek 4 (at 14%, the other quads are at 3-4%). Measures for Tron are led by older males, who hold 9% op/rel first choice – but the film also leads the picks of the week for older females (at 7%) and younger males (at 5%).

· Also attracting awareness levels above norm is Saigo No Chushingura (WB), which picks up 7% unaided awareness and 38% total aware (led by older females at 51%), but “definite” interest is low at 7%, and first choice op/rel falls just below norm at 3% overall. First choice mentions do reach 7% among older males – although this falls below the levels seen for Tron (see above).

· The latest Masked Rider (Toei) installment is tracking below norm, but does reach a normative 4% first choice (op/rel) among younger males).

Japan MARKET OVERVIEW

OPENING NEXT WEEK (25th December 2010):

· Aibô: Gekijô-ban II (Toei) is the film of the week. 8% continue to name the film top of mind, whilst 57% are aware overall. Awareness measures skew older, but remain strong across the quads. “Definite” interest is at 13%, reaching 16% for older males and first choice is at 9% overall – again led by older males at 13%.

OTHER PRE-RELEASE TITLES:

· Few of the films on Japanese tracking are showing momentum this week. Looking at strongly tracking titles, Gantz (6 weeks pre-release) holds 4% unaided and 35% total awareness this week, with “definite” interest at 16%. First choice is at 5%, skewing younger at 6-7%. Also in the 6 week window Byakuyako (Gaga) is familiar to 27% (1% unaided) but has lower first choice at 1%, peaking at 3% for younger females.

· Shochiku’s Mainichi Kaasan holds 29% total aware, reaching 43% for older females. “Definite” interest is low however - at 3%, but the title does pick up 1% first choice.

· Entering tracking in the eight week window, local title Ashita No Jo (Toho) already holds 49% total awareness (2% name it unaided). First choice is at 3%, skewing to younger males at 8%. The film is a live action adaptation of a popular and critically acclaimed boxing manga, which was made in to a TV anime series and movie.

· Also entering at 8 weeks out Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 2 is familiar to a normative 12%, with 1% naming the title top of mind. The horror sequel picks up 1% first choice among the older quads.

Burlesque
Opening week / Market / Summary
18 December / / This Week
· Releasing this week Burlesque continues to track below norm.
· 1% are aware unaided, reaching 2% among the older quads. 7% (up from 5%) are aware in total, highest at 10% among older females.
· First choice op/rel is at 1%, peaking among older females at 3%.
· Shrek 4 and Tron: Legacy led the week, with both picking up 6% first choice mentions (op/rel). Shrek 4 appeals most strongly to younger females at 14%, whilst Tron leads older audiences; at 9% for older males, 7% for older females.
The Social Network
Opening week / Market / Summary
15 January / / This Week
· Awareness measures are within a point of last week, at 1% unaided and 9% total. Older males lead awareness measures at 2% unaided and 14% total aware.
· First choice is at 1%, reaching 2% for older females this week.
· Boku To Tsuma No 1778 No Monogatari is the best known title of the week, familiar to 15% and skewing strongly to older females at 25% awareness and 3% first choice.
The Green Hornet
Opening week / Market / Summary
22 January / / This Week
· The Green Hornet remains at a similar level to last week, at 7% total awareness – highest at 9% among older males, with 1% naming the film top of mind (at less than 1% overall).
· 1% of older males make the film their first choice.
· Inu to Anata no Monogatari: Inu no Eiga leads the week with 11% total awareness and 1% first choice.

APPENDIX NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE TITLE INFORMATION

(JP244)

Non-English language title information

AIBO -GEKIJOUBAN II

Sugishita Ukyo (Yutaka Mizutani) and Kameyama Kaoru (Yasufumi Terawaki), are guarding a female Diet member, Katayama Hinako (Yoshino Kimura). The pair identifies explosives and saves her life. From the clues left at the scene, Sugishita builds up his case and finds a connection between the murder of the TV presenter and the attempted murder of the Diet member. During a painstaking investigation, the savage murder case of a young overseas volunteer five years earlier emerges in the background, and the pair prevents indiscriminate murder at the Tokyo Big City Marathon event by suppressing the perpetrator. The two arrest the true culprit, Kisahara Yoshinobu (Nishida Toshiyuki), who has concocted everything behind the scenes. Kisahara is the father of the murdered young volunteer, and he committed the crimes in order to expose the "S File", which was buried by the government. Subsequently, the file is published by Katayama.

ASHITA NO JO

Troubled young orphan Joe Yabuki (Tomohisa Yamashita) runs away and bumps into former boxing trainer Danpei Tange (Teruyuki Kagawa). Joe is later imprisoned and turns to boxing as a way out. A rivalry develops between Joe Yabuki and Toru Rikiishi (Yusuke Iseya) ...

BYAKUYAKO

As children, Yukiho (Horikita Maki) and Ryoji (Kengo Kora) each murder one of their parents to protect the other. Now young adults, they go to extreme measures to protect their mutual secret, even if it means bringing misery to those around them. Eiichiro Funakoshi plays a detective who was involved in the original case and has been closely monitoring the pair as they’ve grown up.

BOKU TO TSUMA NO 1778 STORIES

After sci-fi writer Sakutaro (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) learns that his wife Setsuko (Yuko Takeuchi) has colon cancer, he takes the advice from his doctor that laughter helps the immune system. Sakutaro then writes a short story for his wife every day. At first, Setsuko was expected to live for only 1 more year, but she lived for 5 more years and Sakutaro wrote 1,778 short stories for his wife

CHEBURASHIKA/KUMANO GAKKOU

Double bill featuring CHEBURASHIKA; which is a stop-motion animated film based on Russia's Cheburashka character (which is popular in Japan) and KUMA NO GAKKOU (The Bears School) that is a story about 12 bear cubs living in a dormitory on the top of a mountain. Kuma no Gakkou is based on picture books.

GANTZ

The original manga has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump magazine since 2000 and is about to enter its “Final Phase”. The story revolves around two college students named Kei Kurono (Ninomiya) and Masaru Kato (Matsuyama). Both of them die in a train accident, but are brought back to life by a mysterious entity known as “Gantz”. They’re subsequently fitted with enhancement suits, equipped with advanced weaponry, and sent on a variety of dangerous alien assassination missions in which their own lives are expendable. The goal is the earn enough “points” through missions to win their freedom, but various unforeseen incidents along the way complicate matters.

GEKIJOUBAN INAZUMA ELEVEN SAIKYOU GUNDAN OGA RAISHU

A weak soccer team of junior high school (INAZUMA) aims to achieve no.1 in Japan with their incredible special technique, lead by a fireball captain. In the finals the team faces “OGA school,” the strongest team sent from the future.

GOSEIJA VS SHINKENJA EPIC ON GINMAKU

GISEIJA and SINKENJA are included in the super soldier series.

GISEIJA is comprised of 5 heroes who came from the heavenly world. They fight against the evil to protect the earth.

SINKENJA, 7 samurai soldier group, alsofight against the evil living in death's river.

Before battles, GISEIJA and SINKENJA transfigure themselves into armed fighters with different color costumes.

Normally they appear in a film separately, but in this film they appear at the same time, and fight against heavy odds.

INU TO ANATA NO MONOGATARI INU NO EIGA

Shinoda’s story is a comedy piece titled “Aikenka wo Tazunete ~ Orikou.” She plays a dog lover named Sudo, who appears on television when her dog is featured as a “genius” that can answer any of her questions. However, she attempts to prove its abilities in a surprising way.

MAINICHI KAASAN

Based on Rieko Saibara's humorous semi-autobiographical manga about her life raising her two children.

PATISSERIE COIN DE RUE

Tomura (Yosuke Eguchi) was once widely lauded as a legendary patissier, but some 8 years ago he inexplicably left the field. Since that time, Tomura has lectured at culinary schools and wrote a guidebook for pastry critics. Natsume (Yu Aoi) is a young woman who travels from Kagoshima to Tokyo to find her boyfriend. Natsume fins a job at "Patisserie Coin de rue" - a pastry shop run by husband & wife tandem Yuriko (Keiko Toda) and Julian (Nathan Berg). At "Patisserie Coin de rue" Natsume works with talented patissier Mariko (Noriko Eguchi) & her fascinating creations. Meanwhile, Tomura is now a regular at "Patisserie Coin de rue" & his encounters with Natsume brings about changes in both of their lives …

SAIGO NO CHUSHINGURA

"Saigo no Chushingura" is adapted from Shoichiro Ikemiya's 1994 novel "Saigo no Chushingura" which is a fictionalized account of the true story of the 47 Ronins that took place in the early 18th century.

TAIHEIYOU NO KISEKI

The film, set near the end of World War II, has Takenouchi playing a feared Japanese soldier known as "Fox," who relentlessly fights against the American forces even after Japan's severe loss in the Battle of Saipan. The movie is based on Sakae Oba, the Japanese captain whose story was told in the book "Oba, the Last Samurai," written by former U.S. soldier Don Jones. Oba, who was a geography teacher before the war, was the leader of the last remaining Japanese unit in Saipan. He and his small group of men used guerrilla warfare tactics against the American forces, including Jones' unit, until finally surrendering in December 1945, a few months after Japan surrendered.