Japanese Block Buster Coming To The Philippines Cinemas This Week.

Exit 8 is the movie adaptation of the horror stimulation game that received an 8 minutes standing ovation during the 2025 Cannes Films Festival. In Japan, the movie earned 15 Million USD in Box Office after 11 days. The movie will be released exclusively in SM Cinemas on September 17. 

Based on the global hit eponymous video game created by KOTAKE CREATE. A man trapped in an endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?

STAYING TRUE TO TO THE ORIGIN 

The movie is praised for staying true to its origin with the perfect castings. This is the second movie directed by Genki Kawamura, who was eager to create a movie that blur the boundaries between dream and reality, space and time, and was captivated by the Indie game title “Exit 8”. The leading casts were selected from auditions whose merits are already recognized by audiences worldwide. 

Left to right: The Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya - Letters from Iwo Jima, member of legendary band Arashi), The Woman (Nana Komatsu - The World of Kanako), and The Walking Man (Yamato Kochi - Richard III, Macbeth (theater).

The Lost Man played by Kazunari Ninomiya 

Kazunari Ninomiya as The Lost Man in Exit 8 

The member of the legendary band Arashi made his Hollywood debut in 2006 under the direction of Clint Eastwood in "Letters from Iwo Jima". Since then, he has firmly established himself as a leading actor, winning the Best Actor Award at the 39th Japan Academy Prize for "Nagasaki: Memories of My Son" (2015), and earning the Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role at both the 44th Japan Academy Prize for "The Asadas" (2021) and the 46th for "Fragments of The Last Will" (2022).

The Woman played by Nana Komatsu

Nana Komatsu as The Woman in Exit 8. 

Debuted as a model in 2008 and has since appeared in numerous fashion magazines. She has been an ambassador for Chanel since 2016. She made her feature film debut in “The World of Kanako (2014)”, which earned her the Newcomer of the Year Award at the 38th Japan Academy Prize and several other accolades. She made her Hollywood debut in “Silence (2016)”. She received the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 43rd Japan Academy Prize for “Family of Strangers (2019)”, and the Best Leading Actress Award at the 44th Japan Academy Prize for “Threads: Our Tapestry of Love (2020)”.

EXIT 8 FOUND SUCCESSFUL ON BOTH FESTIVAL AND COMMERCIAL RELEASES

Footage from the trailer. 

The movie received a 96% from Rotten Tomatoes, will be screening at TIFF and Busan after the 2025 Cannes Films Festival. The movie was released in Japan on August 28 and earned 15 Million USD after 11 days. In the Philippines, Exit 8 will be released exclusively in SM cinemas on September 17, with high expectations from the gaming audiences and movie lovers.