Japan Synopsis
“What went down on the way to the top.”
In this adaptation of the best-selling roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House, the young and gifted Henry Burton is tapped to oversee the presidential campaign of Governor Jack Stanton. Burton is pulled into the politician's colorful world and looks on as Stanton — who has a wandering eye that could be his downfall — contends with his ambitious wife, Susan, and an outspoken adviser, Richard Jemmons.
Other Titles From Mutual Film Company
The 1997–1999 Japan Window
Primary Colors holds position #111 of 162 Japan films in the 1997–1999 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1990s Japan Landscape
1998 was the decade’s peak output year for Japan — 62 titles released, including Primary Colors. Bars below show how the 1990s stacked up year by year (447 total).
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 2h 23m runtime, production spent $455K per minute on screen and earned $364K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 61 other Japan films in 1998.
The 1146th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
279 audience reviews — more than 89% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (89th percentile) outruns trending popularity (61th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Primary Colors, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- usa president · 3
- scandal · 3
- presidential election · 2
- new hampshire · 2
- the white house · 1
- presidential candidate · 1
- extramarital affair · 21
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #3,418 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (25th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.6 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #1,511 of 1,933 (top 78%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America |
| Original Language | En |
| Production Companies | Mutual Film Company, Universal Pictures |
| Runtime | 2h 23m |
| Release Date | March 20, 1998 |
| IMDb | tt0119942 |