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Live-Action Yamato Earns 943 Million Yen in 5 Days

The live-action film adaptation of the science-fiction anime Space Battleship Yamato was seen 791,012 times on its way to earning 943,995,550 yen (about US$11.4 million) in five days. The film's distributor TOHO made the announcement on Monday. The film was seen 412,129 times and made 528,215,150 yen (US$6.4 million) during the December 4-5 weekend alone, which put the film at #1 on the weekend box office chart.

According to a survey conducted by computer and by mobile phone, the audience for the space opera film was 52% male and 48% female. 44.4% of the audience were in their 40s, followed by 19.0% in their 30s, 15.1% in their 50s, and 12.9% in their 20s. (The first Space Battleship Yamato television anime series premiered in 1974.) 54.5% were company workers, while 16.3% were homemakers.

31.9% said that the desire "to see the live-action version of Yamato" was their reason for going. 21.7% said that the reason was that they "like the animated Yamato." 15.8% said the reason was because it was a "film starring Takuya Kimura." 5.3% cited the amazing visual effects.

38-year-old SMAP band member Takuya Kimura (Howl's Moving Castle's Howl) headlines this film based on the anime classic, which was adapted as Star Blazers in English. The other cast members include Meisa Kuroki (Vexille - 2077 Isolation of Japan's Vexille, Crows Zero's Luca), Toshiro Yanagiba, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Takashi Yamazaki, the director best known for Returner, Always: Sunset on Third Street, and last year's Ballad, helmed the project for a December 1 release. Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler wrote and sang the film's theme song, "Love Lives."

Source: Oricon, Cinema Today