Netflix in Exclusive Five-Year Deal With Japanese Director Hitoshi One

Netflix is getting deeper into enterprise with the hitmaking Japanese director Hitoshi One. The streamer on Monday revealed that it has inked an unique five-year take care of the filmmaker, whose most up-to-date undertaking, Tokyo Swindlers, turned a global sensation over the summer time. Underneath the settlement, Netflix will completely produce and distribute One’s collection and movie output for the subsequent half-decade.

Tokyo Swindlers debuted on Netflix in July and ranked on the platform’s international prime 10 record for non-English TV for 5 consecutive weeks. At house in Japan — a market Netflix has been courting aggressively — it held the No.1 spot for all TV collection for six consecutive weeks.

“Mr. One has generously demonstrated his artistic abilities in Tokyo Swindlers, an exhilarating story with quirky characters stuffed with humanity,” mentioned Kaata Sakamoto, Netflix’s head of content material in Japan.

A flashy, over-the-top heist saga, the present follows a crew of actual property con artists — together with stars Go Ayano, Etsushi Toyokawa and Kazuki Kitamura — as they attempt to pull off their largest heist but after catching wind of a main piece of property value 10 billion yen.

Hitoshi One made his movie directorial debut in 2011 with a well-received movie adaptation of the bestselling manga, Moteki. The film earned him the “Most Well-liked Title” award at thirty fifth Japan Academy Awards. Different profession highlights embody the hit coming-of-age comedy Bakuman. Tailored from a manga of the identical identify, the movie gained the most effective director prize on the thirty ninth Japan Academy Awards. On the small display screen, he gained the grand prize within the TV class at Japan’s sixtieth Galaxy Awards — a ceremony organized by Japan’s Broadcast Critics Affiliation — for the 2020 Fuji TV drama Elpis: Hope or Disaster.

“Two weeks after Tokyo Swindlers began streaming, I obtained a proposal from Netflix for an unique contract. I used to be shocked at how shortly I responded, however I noticed that I used to be drawn to the distribution medium, a style that’s not but as established as movie and TV dramas,” One mentioned in a press release.

He continued: “The excessive degree of consciousness towards filmmaking among the many Netflix employees, whom I labored with for the primary time on Tokyo Swindlers, and the perfect artistic setting they introduced, which I had by no means skilled in movies or TV dramas earlier than, left a powerful impression. I’m very excited in regards to the new initiatives and productions that I’ll create with Netflix.”

Over the previous few years, Netflix has been steadily constructing out its Japanese live-action pipeline, increasing past the bankable anime class that served as its early native content material emphasis in Tokyo. Alongside Tokyo Swindlers, different profitable Netflix titles out of Japan this yr embody motion hits Metropolis Hunter and Home of Ninjas, in addition to the truth collection smash The Boyfriend. Nonetheless to return this yr is Past Goodbye, a romance collection impressed by a real story skilled by Netflix government producer Makiko Okano. The title will premiere subsequent month on the Busan Worldwide Movie Competition.