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Japanese Box Office, July 18-19

Kunihiko Yuyama's Pocket Monster Diamond & Pearl: Chōkoku no Jikū e, the 12th film in the Pokémon anime franchise, opened at #2 under David Yates' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Kogyo Tsushinsha's Japanese box office chart during the July 18-19 weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, it earned US$6,969,601 on 366 screens.

Gokusen the Movie, Tōya Satō's live-action theatrical film based on Kozueko Morimoto's Gokusen school comedy manga, dropped from #1 to #4 in its second week. It earned US$3,057,762 on 409 screens for a gross-to-date of US$11,723,645. After three television series, Yukie Nakama is reprising her starring role of Kumiko "Yankumi" Yamaguchi, the high school teacher with yakuza ties, one last time for the film.

Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Ha), the second anime film in Hideaki Anno and Khara's four-part theatrical remake of Gainax's Evangelion television anime series, fell from #2 to #5 in its fourth weekend. It earned the equivalent of US$1,918,330 on 120 screens for a total of US$24,904,843.

Rookies: Graduation (Rookies ~Sotsugyō-), Yūichirō Hirakawa's theatrical finale to his live-action television drama adaptation of Masanori Morita's Rookies baseball manga, also fell from #4 to #7 in its eigth weekend. It added US$1,129,349 on 340 screens for a gross-to-date of US$81,391,237.

Hitoshi Iwamoto's live-action film adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's MW suspense manga dropped from #9 off the chart in its third weekend. Hiroshi Tamaki (live-action Nodame Cantabile) and Takayuki Yamada (Densha Otoko film) star in this version of the manga which Vertical publishes in North America. Similarly, Soreike! Anpanman: Dadandan to Futago no Hoshi, the 21st film in the long-running Anpanman superhero comedy franchise, fell from #10 off the chart in its third weekend.

Sources: Kogyo Tsushinsha