Photo caption: Yamato is only possible
because of the fans, says Nishizaki
Distribution revenues easily reach 1.5 billion
3.6 billion yen in the past three years
Office Academy president Yoshinobu Nishizaki has earned 3.6 billion yen in distribution revenues over the past three years with two Space Battleship Yamato series, two movies, and one compilation film. Be Forever Yamato will be released on August 2nd. The film industry is said to be on the decline, but even a complete film industry novice has proven that someone can make a huge fortune in no time at all.
After more than a dozen job changes
The film industry is a truly mysterious place. But Nishizaki’s path to get to where he is today has been a thorny one.
He has changed jobs a dozen times, including as a waiter, bartender, host, floor show promoter, music producer, and so on. He first became involved with anime ten years ago working as a manager at Osamu Tezuka’s Mushi Pro. He developed Yamato as a TV manga. It became popular on TV, and then the movie became a big hit. Thanks to that, he now owns the fastest cruiser in Japan, and drives around in a black Cadillac with a driver. But it’s not for the sake of luxury.
Preparation for Be Forever Yamato began last year, and Nishizaki has been on site all this time.
“It’s awful,” he says. “There’s physical fatigue, but more than that, the mental stress is building up. I am a producer, but in my case I do everything, including advertising.”
To stay in control of himself, he goes to the sea once or twice a month to scuba dive.
Fan-oriented, privately funded
The Yamato boom is still going strong, and he is spending 50 million yen of his own money on a car ferry to organize a “Yamato Voyage” (July 20th-22nd) for his fans who have supported him so far. It’s been a great success with 14,000 fans applying. Following this, on July 24th, he will hold a large-scale Yamato Fair [concert] at the Budokan in Kudanshita, Tokyo, with free admission.
“I never dreamed it would become this popular. I really want to show the movie for free, but that’s not possible. But I don’t intend to raise the admission fee,” he said, keenly aware that Yamato exists because of his fans.
One step toward walking away from Yamato
However, he was inspired by Toei’s president Okada’s sarcastic comment, “Are you only capable of doing Yamato?” Therefore, he is currently working on a film adaptation of Haruhiko Oyabu’s novel Dirty Hero, and filming has already taken place in Europe.
Be Forever Yamato, which will be released on August 2nd, has already sold over 10,000 advance tickets. It is certain to gross over 1.5 billion yen.
“This is really the last time. I suddenly became famous and for a while I lost sight of myself, but now I’ve learned to control myself,” he said. He has seemingly achieved a state of mind where “rich people don’t fight.” (Morimoto)