'Beck'

Yukihiko Tsutsumi's band drama "Beck" is being hyped as one of the big Japanese movies of the year for the usual reason: The manga on which it's based, by Harold Sakuishi, has sold 15 million copies. Distributor Shochiku justifiably expects monster box office numbers, no doubt thinking of "Nana," another movie adapted from a best-selling band comic that grossed ¥40.3 billion after it was released in 2005.

To further ensure packed houses, the producers have used two tunes by big-name foreign bands — Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis — as theme songs. They also enlisted the cooperation of the organizers of the Fuji Rock Festival for the film's crowd-of-thousands climax.

So how can "Beck" miss? It probably won't, box office-wise, since local films with similar prerelease hype usually breeze past any critical quibbles about patchy plots or hammy acting.