MOVIES/TV Legendary anime director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest movie, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” sold an estimated 1.5 billion yen ($13.9 million) worth of tickets during its three-days opening weekend in Japan last week. (13)

MOVIES/TV Veteran actor Koji Yakusho is directing and starring in a new film titled “Gama no Abura.” The movie, which has been shooting for the past month, marks Yakusho’s first time in the director’s chair. (1)

MOVIES/TV “Shakariki!,” the first manga series by artist Masahito Soda, is being adapted as a live-action film, starring members of the acting group D-BOYS. Serialized in Shonen Champion from 1992 to 1995, the comic focused on high schoolers involved in the sport of bicycle racing. [TOKYOGRAPH]

MOVIES/TV Japan has created an unusual government post to promote animation, and named a perfect figure Wednesday to the position: Doraemon. (3) [INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE]

MOVIES/TV A Tokyo cinema decided against showing a controversial documentary film by a Chinese director on the war-related Yasukuni Shrine, citing the potential “inconvenience” it may cause to other tenants in the same building, an official of movie theater operator T- Joy Co. said Tuesday. [KYODO]

MOVIES/TV Entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. will team up with several Japanese companies to produce animation for television in Japan, a leading market, a Disney official said Thursday. (1) [MAINICHI]

MOVIES/TV After a 22-year hiatus, cult director Yoshihiko Matsui is back with an off-beat love story about a gay shophand and a transsexual bar hostess. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

MOVIES/TV TV coverage given to a previously little-known festival in Iwate Prefecture — because of uproar over a poster deemed sexually harassing - was worth as much as 5 billion yen, according to a broadcast research company. [MAINICHI]

MOVIES/TV Prominent film director Kon Ichikawa died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital early Wednesday. Ichikawa gained fame for films that include “The Burmese Harp” in 1956 and its remake in 1985, and “Fires on the Plain” in 1959. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

MOVIES/TV Leading Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, whose latest film, “Mongol,” was nominated for an Academy Award in the best foreign language film category, said he hopes the flick will win an Oscar later this month. [MAINICHI]

MOVIES/TV NTV is producing a two-night drama special titled “Tokyo Daikushu,” which is a phrase referring to the bombings on Tokyo during World War II. The story will focus on two young pairs and their painful love. [TOKYOGRAPH]

MOVIES/TV The fall 2007 winners of the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix were announced Friday, with TV drama “Yukan Club” taking four of the five awards. [TOKYOGRAPH]

MOVIES/TV Fans of classic movies produced in 1953 may soon be able to stock up on cheap DVD versions courtesy of a Supreme Court ruling Tuesday. [ASAHI]

MOVIES/TV Controversial adult satellite network Paradise TV will continue broadcasting its nude sign language news even though its public money subsidy has been cut, network officials said.

MOVIES/TV Movie studio Toho Company announced Thursday they will produce a screen adaption of Comedian Hiroshi Tamura’s autobiography “The Homeless Junior High School Student.” (1)

MOVIES/TV Mark Schilling reviews the Daigo Udagawa-directed “Sundome” for The Japan Times. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

MOVIES/TV Afro Samurai, the star of an animation series of the same name featuring Samuel L. Jackson, is headed for a second run on U.S. network Spike TV — and finally winning a following in its native Japan, where it recently debuted on the big screen. [USA TODAY]

MOVIES/TV The local government of Tokyo’s Nerima-ku, the birthplace of Japanese animation, started broadcasting its own anime-themed cable TV program this month, with a first run lasting until next spring. [MAINICHI]

MOVIES/TV The Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization criticized Japanese broadcasting companies for the amount of violence and “sexual expressions” in variety shows, when the organization’s committee on “youth and broadcasting” held a press conference on Thursday. (2)

MOVIES/TV The 20th Tokyo International Film Festival began Saturday in Tokyo with some 300 actors, directors and others making the red carpet walk at Roppongi Hills in front of hordes of fans. [KYODO]