Japan Extends Rebate Scheme Through 2025; ‘Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters S2’ Among Projects Approved In 2024​on March 27, 2025 at 6:55 am

Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO) and the Japan Film Commission have announced that the country’s 50% rebate scheme, aimed at attracting international productions, will be extended through 2025. 

Administered by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the scheme had selected ten projects by the end of 2024, including Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters Season 2.

In 2025, the scheme remains mostly the same, but the number of application periods have been increased from three to four, with the first period running from March 27 until April 10.

Aimed at large-scale international film and TV projects, the scheme offers a cash rebate of up to 50% of the costs incurred during production and post-production in Japan. 

In order to apply, projects need to have a Japanese production partner and fall into one of three categories – either have direct production costs in Japan exceeding $3.3M (JPY400M); have total production costs of more than $6.6M (JPY1BN) and direct production costs in Japan exceeding $1.3M (JPY200M); or be projects that are scheduled to be released, broadcast or distributed in more than ten countries with direct production costs in Japan exceeding $1.3M (JPY200M).

Other productions to have received the rebate include Searchlight Pictures’ Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, and Neuromancer, adapted from the William Gibson novel and produced by Anonymous Content and Skydance Television.

Max/Fifth Season’s Tokyo Vice, which filmed two seasons in Japan from 2020-2021 and 2022-2023, served as a test case for the incentive, which was officially launched in late 2023.