The Fair Trade Commission searched the Japanese offices of 20th Century Fox on Thursday to probe whether it violated the Antimonopoly Law by blocking a promoter of "Star Wars Episode 2" from offering discount tickets for the science-fiction hit, industry sources said.
The Tokyo and Osaka offices of the U.S. movie distributor were searched on allegations that it asked the promoter last year not to offer discount tickets on Ladies' Day screenings and credit-card purchases. The film's distributors in Japan declined comment on the investigation.
The FTC is also investigating whether 20th Century Fox sought to prevent discounts for other films, the sources said.
The latest edition in the "Star Wars" series was released in Japan in July and netted 1.6 billion yen at the box office on the first two days.
One fan said, "It's natural that it took in large profits, since no discount tickets were offered."