News

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! Rises to #4, Gintama to #6

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! (Gekijōban Pocket Monster: Kimi ni Kimeta!), this year's Pokémon film, jumped to #4 in its fifth weekend. It ranked #6 in the previous weekend. The film has earned a cumulative 2.5 billion yen (about US$22.68 million). The film had sold 436,000 tickets to earn 516 million yen (about US$4.61 million) in its first two days and open at #1 at the Japanese box office. The anime earned 159.3% of the opening weekend total of last year's Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel film, which debuted at #3 and earned a total of 2.15 billion yen (US$19.2 million).

The live-action Kimi no Suizō o Tabetai (I want to eat your pancreas) film also rose up from #4 to #3 in its third weekend. The film is based on Yoru Sumino's novel of the same name. The film earned a 198 million yen (about US$1.79 million) and sold about 149,000 tickets during the weekend, and has cumulatively earned 1.5 billion yen (about US$13.6 million). The book is also inspiring an anime film next year.

The live-action film of Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga jumped from #8 to #6 in its fifth weekend. The film opened on July 14, and has earned more than 3 billion yen (about US$27.20 million) after 30 days in theaters. It earned more than 2 billion yen in its first 14 days, the fastest live-action Japanese film to reach that amount so far this year. The film also had the highest opening two days of any Japanese live-action film in 2017 so far. The film's total box-office earnings are expected to surpass 5 billion yen (US$44.7 million).

The double feature Gekijō-ban Kamen Rider Ex-Aid True Ending and Uchū Sentai Kyūranger The Movie: Gase Indabay no Gyakushū films dropped from #2 to #8 in their second weekend. The films opened in Japan on August 5. The Gekijō-ban Kamen Rider Ex-Aid True Ending film shows the "true ending" for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid before the television series, and features a plot centering on a pandemic targeting all of humanity. Uchū Sentai Kyūranger The Movie: Gase Indabay no Gyakushū centers on the Kyūrangers saving the Earth from a collision with a mysterious giant comet weapon called "Gase Star."

Studio Ponoc and Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Mary and The Witch's Flower (Mary to Majo no Hana) anime film jumped from #10 to #9 in its sixth weekend. The film has earned a cumulative total of 2.5 billion yen (about US$22.67 million). The film sold 324,000 tickets to earn 428 million yen (about US$3.75 million) on 458 screens in its opening weekend. The anime based on Mary Stewart's The Little Broomstick book earned 113% of the box-office earnings of When Marnie Was There, Yonebayashi's previous film, during its opening weekend. The film will open in 155 countries and territories worldwide.

The live-action JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond wa Kudakenai Dai-Ichi-Shō (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter I) film dropped from #5 to #11 in its second weekend. The film adapts the fourth part of Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga. Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike (live-action Terraformars, Ace Attorney, Crows Zero, Yatterman, For Love's Sake, Ichi the Killer) directed the movie. The film stars Kento Yamazaki as Jōsuke Higashikata. The manga and film's story is set in Morioh, located in S City in M Prefecture of Japan, and it follows the misadventures of Jōsuke Higashikata and his companions, as they are involved in a series of bizarre incidents in their town.

Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin, Eiga.com