Japan Lost in Translation returned 29.9× its production cost, earning $119.7M against a $4.0M budget — one of the highest-return Japan films in our catalog.
Synopsis
“Everyone wants to be found.”
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo — the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial — find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
Audience Engagement
6,734 audience reviews — more than 100% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 90th percentile among Japan films.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 42m runtime, production spent $39K per minute on screen and earned $1.2M per minute back.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Lost in Translation. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From American Zoetrope
Drama + Romance in Japan
270 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Drama and Romance genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Lost in Translation itself).
The 2002–2004 Japan Window
Lost in Translation holds position #71 of 263 Japan films in the 2002–2004 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 2000s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in Japan, 1020 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Lost in Translation premiered alongside 84 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 84 other Japan films in 2003.
The 1537th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Lost in Translation, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- hotel room · 4
- pop star · 4
- midlife crisis · 4
- unsociability · 2
- upper class · 1
- commercial · 1
- karaoke · 1
- homesickness · 1
- jet lag · 1
- unlikely friendship · 1
- aftercreditsstinger · 24
- adultery · 20
- loneliness · 17
- photographer · 15
- age difference · 8
- culture clash · 7
- japan · 454
- japan · 454
- woman director · 246
- tokyo · 78
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #1,338 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (71st percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.5 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #581 of 1,933 (top 30%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Spoken Languages | Japanese, English |
| Production Companies | American Zoetrope, Focus Features, TFC, Elemental Films |
| Runtime | 1h 42m |
| Release Date | September 18, 2003 |
| IMDb | tt0335266 |