TOKYO -- Leading Japanese distrib Toho has announced 27 pics on its line-up for 2008, headed by the recently unveiled "K-20: Kaijin Niju Menso Den" (The Fiend with Twenty Faces), a mystery starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Takako Matsu and skedded for a December release.

Also on the 2008 line-up is the new Hayao Miyazaki toon, "Ponyo on the Cliff," set for a summer bow, the Koki Mitani laffer "The Magic Hour" (June 7 release), the dramady "Homeless Chugakusei" (Homeless Junior High Schooler), based on a memoir by comic Hiroshi Tamura (June 14), "Shorinji Girl" (Shorin Temple Girl), a kung-fu actioner starring Kou Shibasaki (April 26), "The Hidden Fortress," a remake of the Akira Kurosawa classic starring Masami Nagasawa (May 10) and "Dare mo Mamote Kurenai" (No One Will Protect Me), a detective drama by Fuji TV uber-producer Chihiro Kameyama and scripter Ryoichi Kimizuka of "Bayside Shakedown" series fame (fall, 2008).

On Friday Toho also announced the 20 pics on its 2007 slate that earned one billion yen ($8.85 million) or more -- the mark of a commercial hit at the Japanese BO. Heading the list was the legal actioner "Hero," with Y8.11 billion ($71.8 million), followed by the latest "Pocket Monsters" toon ($44.4 million), the kiddy fantasy "Monkey Magic" ($39.8 million), the nostalgic drama "Always 2" ($38.8 million) and the romantic weeper "Sky of Love" ($33.6 million).

This compares with 15 one-billion-yen-plus pics released by Toho in 2006, although total BO through November was down 4.2 percent compared with the same period the previous year, to $474 million.

Toho accounted for nine of the slots in the year's BO top ten for local pics -- the only exception being the Yoji Yamada period drama "Love and Honor" ($35.6 million), released by Shochiku.

Four of the five biggest pics at the 2007 BO were foreign: "Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End" ($95.8 million), "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ($82.3 million), "Spider-Man 3" ($61.7 million) and "Letters from Iwo Jima" ($44.8 million).

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