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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Opens at #2 in Japan
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The film ranked at #1 in its opening weekend, selling 2,274,333 tickets and earning 3,352,494,500 (about US$21.7 million) yen in its first three days. The new film has exceeded the opening weekend of Detective Conan: Kurogane no Submarine (Iron Submarine), the 26th film that opened last year, making it the new best three-day opening for the franchise. The new film also has the biggest opening weekend for a film so far this year in Japan, beating HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle, which sold 1,529,000 tickets and earned 2,230,465,540 yen (about US$14.83 million) in its first three days.
Case Closed: The Million-dollar Pentagram is the 27th film in the Detective Conan franchise, and it is the first to have midnight screenings. The film premiered in Japan on April 12. The film is screening in 515 cinemas across Japan, the largest number of theater screenings in the history of the Detective Conan film series, and also has screenings in IMAX in 50 theaters, MX4D in 14 theaters, 4DX in 64 theaters, and Dolby Cinema in eight theaters.
AIKO performs the film's theme song "Sōshi Sōai" (Mutual Love).
The film opened in Japan last Friday, April 26.
The film opened in the United States on March 29, two weeks earlier than its previously planned April 12 date. The April 12 release was itself a delay from its original March 15 opening.
The film earned approximately US$8 million during its preview screenings on March 28 in roughly 3,400 locations in the U.S. The earnings mark the second-best previews for a "Monsterverse" movie, as 2014's Godzilla earned US$9.3 million in preview screenings.
The film earned US$80 million in its opening weekend in the U.S., topping the box office for the weekend.
The film sold 337,000 tickets to earn 463 million yen (about US$2.99 million) in its first three days, and ranked at #2 in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend.
The BLUELOCK -Episode Nagi- film opened in Japan on Friday. The film will have four mini-anime titled "BLUELOCK Additional Time!" after the credits for the first four weeks of the film's screening. The mini-anime episode shown will change each week. The film is also screening in IMAX, MX4D, and 4DX. Crunchyroll will screen the film in theaters in North America on June 28 in both English subtitles and an English dub.
The film features returning cast and staff members. The television anime's assistant director Shunsuke Ishikawa directed the film at 8-Bit. Taku Kishimoto (Haikyu!!, Silver Spoon, 2019 Fruits Basket) supervised and wrote the series scripts, and the manga's Kaneshiro supervised the story. Nomura is credited as the character designer. Jun Murayama composed the music.
Nissy and SKY-HI perform the theme song "Stormy." Takahiro Nishijima is a member of the group AAA and does solo work under the name Nissy. Mitsuhiro Hidaka is also part of the band and uses the name SKY-HI for his solo work.
The spinoff manga focuses on Seishirō Nagi before he enters the titular Blue Lock facility. Kodansha USA Publishing announced in October it will start releasing the spinoff manga in print in fall 2024.
The film ranked at #3 in its opening weekend. The film sold 187,000 tickets and earned 255 million yen (about US$1.64 million) in its first three days.
The film opened in Japan on April 19.
The film stars Kento Yamazaki as a young practitioner of mystical arts named Abe no Seimei. The movie follows Seimei as he uncovers the mystery behind a curse and dragon that appears in Kyoto.
An anime adaptation of Yumemakura's Onmyoji novels premiered on Netflix in November 2023. Yumemakura first wrote the franchise as a series of short stories starting in 1986. He then wrote three full-length novels for the franchise, in 2000-2008. The book series also includes several picture books.
The novels inspired the Onmyoji and Onmyoji II live-action films in 2001 and 2003. Reiko Okano drew a 13-volume manga adaptation of the series starting in 1994. The books have also inspired several live-action series in Japan.
The film opened on March 15. The film sold 344,000 tickets and earned 474 million yen (about US$3.13 million) in its first three days.
The film stars Shōtarō Mamiya (live-action Blue Giant, Tokyo Revengers) as Amamiya, Jirō Satō (live-action Gintama) as Kurihara, and Rina Kawaei (live-action Ajin) as Yūki.
Asukashinsha published the first novel in July 2021, and the second novel on December 15. The novel tells the mystery of a house with a room that had no doors, no windows, and is tucked away, making it look like it was just a wall. But the house holds some very dark secrets.
Kyō Ayano launched the novel's manga adaptation on Ichijinsha's comic HOWL web manga service in January 2023. Seven Seas licensed the manga under the title The Strange House.
The film premiered in Japan on February 16 and is also screening in IMAX. Susumu Mitsunaka (first, third Haikyu!! television anime) both directed and wrote the script for the film.
The film sold 1,529,000 tickets and earned 2,230,465,540 yen (about US$14.83 million) in its first three days of screening.
The film opened at #1 on March 1. The film sold 538,000 tickets from Friday to Sunday for 655,555,580 yen (about US$4.37 million) in its first weekend.
The new film has a music theme, as Doraemon and friends go on an adventure to meet new buddies, connect to people with music, and save the world from a crisis.
Kazuaki Imai (Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Treasure Island, Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's New Dinosaur) directed the film. Teruko Utsumi, a writer for the Doraemon television anime, penned the script for the film. The television anime's current cast members reprised their roles for the film.
Godzilla Minus One dropped off the top 10 in its 26th weekend. It earned 28,003,900 yen (about US$183,000) over the weekend for a new total of 7,507,287,380 yen (about US$49 million).
The Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM anime film dropped off the top 10 in its 14th weekend. It earned 23,838,370 yen (about US$155,700) over the weekend. The film has sold a total of 2,697,025 tickets and earned a cumulative total of 4,523,412,680 yen (about US$29.57 million).
Sources: Gundam press release, Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC
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