Japan Box Office uncertainty forces Hollywood to withdraw movies

The Japanese box office is a lucrative overseas market representing close to 10% of international ticket sales but the recent earthquake has 'forced' Hollywood out of town.

Japan is the world s third largest economy and tech centre for gadgets like the Canon DSLRs and Toshiba microchips. It s Box Office is a great overseas market for Hollywood movies, but the recent disaster has forced films like Clint Eastwood s Hereafter and Anthony Hopkins The Rite out of cinemas. Both films touched on the supernatural, with Eastwood s featuring a tsunami.

The grim reality for the Japanese nuclear and post-tsunami crisis has sent the stock market on a near record-breaking plunge and has made Hollywood studios rethink their cinema releases.

Will this be a short-term bump for international film distribution, and will consumer demand at the Box Office also fall? For now, the real danger lies in the potential nuclear fallout of a failed power plant that could force audiences away from cinemas as they have to ride out the threat of radiation clouds.

Clint Eastwood Hereafter trailer