Lee Sang-il ’s kabuki drama Kokuho has set a new record in Japan, becoming the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever in the market with over $111M at the local box office. The Ken Watanabe -starrer is Japan’s entry for the International Feature Oscar and was released for one-week qualifying runs by GKids in the U.S. on November 14 in Los Angeles and November 21 in New York. The estimated gross for those engagements is more than $60K.

Originally debuting in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last May, the movie hit Japanese cinemas on June 6 and continues to play. As of earlier this week, after 172 days in theaters, the film has sold over 12.3 million tickets and surpassed ¥17,377,394,500 ($111M).

Kokuho ’s performance breaks a 22-year-old record previously held by 2003’s

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