Japan The Crying Game returned 16.9× its production cost, earning $62.5M against a $3.7M budget — one of the highest-return Japan films in our catalog.
Synopsis
“Play At Your Own Risk.”
Irish Republican Army member Fergus forms an unexpected bond with Jody, a kidnapped British soldier in his custody, despite the warnings of fellow IRA members Jude and Maguire. Jody makes Fergus promise he'll visit his girlfriend, Dil, in London, and when Fergus flees to the city, he seeks her out. Hounded by his former IRA colleagues, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the enigmatic, and surprising, Dil.
Audience Engagement
666 audience reviews — more than 95% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 83th percentile among Japan films.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 52m runtime, production spent $33K per minute on screen and earned $558K per minute back.
Crime + Drama in Japan
203 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Crime and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding The Crying Game itself).
The 1991–1993 Japan Window
The Crying Game holds position #47 of 109 Japan films in the 1991–1993 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
#1Slam Dunk
★ 8.6 · 1993
#2Yu Yu Hakusho
★ 8.6 · 1992
#3Tokyo Love Story
★ 8.6 · 1991
#4Sailor Moon
★ 8.4 · 1992
#5Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Overture to a New War
★ 8.3 · 1993
#6Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai
★ 8.2 · 1991
#7Ranma ½: The Movie 2 — The Battle of Togenkyo: Rescue the Brides!
★ 8.1 · 1992
#8Ziggy: Soreyuke! R&R Band
★ 8.1 · 1991
The 1990s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1990s in Japan, 447 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Crying Game premiered alongside 36 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 36 other Japan films in 1992.
The 900th 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 The Crying Game, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- political unrest · 4
- transgender · 4
- transsexuality · 2
- northern ireland · 2
- teenage crush · 2
- gender dysphoria · 1
- lqbtq · 1
- soldier · 29
- hostage · 9
- love of one's life · 8
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,297 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (50th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among Japan Crime productions specifically: #160 of 402 (top 40%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Ireland, Japan, United Kingdom |
| Original Language | En |
| Production Companies | Palace Pictures, Nippon Film Development and Finance Inc., Eurotrustees, British Screen Productions, Film4 Productions |
| Runtime | 1h 52m |
| Release Date | September 2, 1992 |
| IMDb | tt0104036 |
| Official Site | www.miramax.com |