K2 Pictures aims to promote investor entry into the Japanese film industry with “K2P Film Fund I”
Film and video production company K2 Pictures announced on Friday that it is establishing the “K2P ME Film Fund.” The company plans to help promote the entry of new investors in Japan and abroad into the Japanese film industry and return profits to the creators. Production is underway with creators including animation studio MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Attack on Titan The Final Season), Shunji Iwai (Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom?), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Air Doll), Kazuya Shiraishi (Shin Ultraman), Miwa Nishikawa (Dear Doctor) and Takashi Miike (live-action Ace Attorney, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable).
Images provided by K2 Pictures
K2 Pictures aims to create a new ecosystem for Japanese films, as it is difficult for new investors to enter the Japanese and foreign markets. The company is creating standards for foreign investment so that investors interested in Japanese content can more easily participate. The fund will also return profits to creators involved in production. Its overall goal is to expand the Japanese film industry worldwide.
The company will hold a press conference at the JW Marriott Cannes on May 18 during the 77th Cannes International Film Festival.
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Former Toei producer Muneyuki Kii founded film and video production company K2Pictures last August. The company primarily produces and contracts produces films and video programs.
Kii is the Representative Director and CEO of the company. Representative Director and CEO of Akatsuki Inc. Tetsurō Kōda and foreign investment fund manager Frederick Katsuro Schmidt are directors.
The company's major shareholders include Akatsuki Inc., which actively invests in game production, Groundworks, which manages the copyright of the Evangelion series, Rockwell Eyes inc., represented by director Shunji Iwai (The Case of Hana & Alice, Fireworks, Should We See it from the Side or the Bottom? original author) and Cine Bazar, which produced live-action films such as Shin Godzilla, Shin Kamen Rider and Shin Ultraman. The new company has not announced any productions yet, but its shareholders expect big developments in the future.
Kii worked for Toei, and is credited with planning and producing the live-action Shin Kamen Rider film. He is also the executive producer of anime films such as LIP×LIP FILM×LIVE: Kono Sekai no Tanoshimikata and The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky. Kii also worked for T-Joy and was an executive producer on the film 009 Re:Cyborg, and is credited as a producer on the films Magical Sisters Yoyo & Nene, and Tiger & Bunny the Movie: The Beginning .
Masao Maruyama founded MAPPA in June 2011 and Manabu Ohtsuka is the company's CEO. The company has studios in Tokyo and Sendai. MAPPA has produced anime such as Chainsaw Man, Bucchigiri?!, Kids on the Slope, In This Corner of the World, Yuri!!! on Ice, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan The Final Season and maboroshi.
Source: Email correspondence