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Japanese Box Office, September 13–14: 20th Stays at #1
posted on by Egan Loo
The first segment of Yukihiko Tsutsumi's three-part adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys manga stayed at #1 in its third weekend at the Japanese box office, and it crossed the 2-billion-yen (US$19-million) threshold on Sunday. As of September 15, the film has earned 2.39 billion yen (US$22.8 million), which inches it past director Peter Berg and actor Will Smith's Hancock film (2.37 billion yen or US$22.6 million) at the Japanese box office. Both film had opened in the same August 30–31 weekend; Hancock was the top film that first weekend, but 20th Century Boys has taken the crown in the two weekends since.
Paco and the Magical Book, the surreal live-action fantasy film that reunites director Tetsuya Nakashima, actress Anna Tsuchiya, and other key players from the Kamikaze Girls film, opened at #2. As of September 15, 383,000 people have spent 467,930,000 yen (about US$4.426 million) to see the film. TOHO expects it will eventually surpass 2.5 billion yen (US$23 million), with families and viewers in their 20s making up the core audience. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Hayao Miyazaki's first feature film in nearly four years, dropped from #2 to #3 in its ninth weekend. As of September 9, 11,260,000 people spent 13.5 billion yen (about US$127 million) to see the film; its box office take was expected to have surpassed 14 billion yen (US$130 million) by September 15. The singers of the title theme song, Fujioka Fujimaki and Nozomi Ōhashi, held a special event on Monday to mark the two-month mark of the film's theatrical run and the 420,000 copies of their CD single that have been sold.
Daikessen! Super Ultra 8 Kyōdai, Takeshi Yagi's newest entry in the Ultraman franchise, opened at #4. Toshio Lee's live-action adaptation of Kiminori Wakasugi's Detroit Metal City rock parody manga fell from #4 to #7 in its fourth weekend. The live-action film version of Yumiko Ōshima's Gou-Gou Datte Neko De Aru (Cher Gou-Gou…mon petit chat, mon petit ami) manga, as directed by Isshin Inudou (live-action Touch film), dipped from #8 to #10 in its second weekend. It had earned 62,417,000 yen in 149 screens during its first weekend with mostly viewers in their mid-20s to 40s. Kunihiko Yuyama's Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl: Giratina to Sora no Hanataba Shaymin, the Pokémon franchise's 11th feature film, dropped from #9 off the chart in its ninth weekend.
Sources: Kogyo Tsushinsha, Variety Japan, Variety Japan (second article), Variety Japan (third article), Yomiuri Shimbun, Sports Nippon
Image © 1999 Naoki Urasawa Studio Nuts/Shogakukan
© 2008 20th Century Boys Movie Production Committee
follow-up of Japanese Box Office, September 6–7: 20th C. Boys at #1 (Updated)
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