"The Grudge" exceeded $100 million in earnings at the U.S. box office.

"The Grudge" recorded two weeks at the top spot in the U.S., leaving all the other new films behind.

Produced by Taka Ichise, and Sam Raimi, directed by Takashi Shimizu, director of the original (Ju-on), "The Grudge" opened on 3,245 screens across the U.S., becoming an instant hit, debuting at number one and recording earnings of $40M in the first three days.
"The Grudge" will open in Japan in February, partly presented by EF.

Please visit the official website for further details: www.thejuon.com

"Infection" and "Premonition," the first two films of J-Horror Theater partially funded by EF, were released by Toho on 246 screens across Japan.

The production of "Premonition", the second J-Horror Theater film partially funded by Entertainment Farm, has been completed. The film is scheduled for release by Toho on October 2, 2004.

"Premonition", based on the "Kyofu Shimbun(Newspaper of Terror)" comic book by Jiro Tsunoda, was directed by Norio Tsuruta and produced by Taka Ichise. The screenplay was written by Noboru Takagi and Norio Tsuruta with music by Kenji Kawai. It stars Hiroshi Mikami, Noriko Sakai, Maki Horikita, Mayumi Ono, Kei Yamamoto, and Kazuko Yoshiyuki.

Please visit the official website for more details: http://www.j-horror.com/

A press conference was held announcing the production of "Infection" and "Premonition," two films partially funded by Entertainment Farm. In attendance were "Infection" director Masayuki Ochiai and cast Koichi Sato, Masanobu Takashima and Mari Hoshino, "Premonition" director Norio Tsuruta and cast Hiroshi Mikami, Noriko Sakai, Maki Horikita, as well as producer Taka Ichise, who is producing both films. Toho will release "Infection" and "Premonition" on October 2, 2004.

Principal Photography started for "Premonition" directed by Norio Tsuruta. It is the second film of the J-Horror Theater series partially funded by Entertainment Farm and will be released by Toho on October 2, 2004.

The production of "All About My Dog", a film partially funded by Entertainment Farm, has been completed. The film is scheduled for release next spring.
"All About My Dog" was co-directed by Isshin Inudo, Hideki Kuroda, Yoshio Kuroda, Shinsuke Sato, Atsushi Sanada, Akira Nagai and Tetsuhisa Nezu, and stars Shidou Nakamura, Yuki Amami, Misaki Ito, Aoi Miyazaki, Manami Konishi, Ryuta Sato, Otoha, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Jiei Kabira, Shiro Sano and Eriko Watanabe.

The production of "Kansen (Infection)", directed by Masayuki Ochiai and the first film in the "J-Horror Theater" series partially funded by Entertainment Farm, has been completed. The film will be released by Toho on October 2, 2004.

Lions Gate is the largest independent distribution company in the U.S. It is extremely unusual for foreign distribution rights of Japanese films to be sold before completion. During the festival, the company also announced the sales of distribution rights for the six films to most of the world.

Yasushi Kotani, CEO of Entertainment Farm and producer Taka Ichise held a press conference to announce the establishment of the firm at the 57th Cannes International Film Festival, held from May 12 to 23 in Cannes, France. The announcement drew considerable media attention, since Entertainment Farm is the first Japanese company to specialize in establishing funds that focus on film production.

A press conference to announce the establishment of the "J-Horror Theater" franchise brand, partially funded by Entertainment Farm, was held at Toho Co. Taka Ichise, and label producer, gave details. The franchise will include a total of six horror films produced under the direction of six masters of this genre: Masayuki Ochiai, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Shimizu, Hiroshi Takahashi, Norio Tsuruta and Hideo Nakata, all of whom have helped to fuel the worldwide boom in the domain of J(Japanese)-Horror. The first two films, namely "Kansen (Infection)", directed by Masayuki Ochiai, and "Yogen (Premonition)", directed by Norio Tsuruta, will be released by Toho on October 2, 2004.