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SM Cinema Considers Showing 7 Japanese Films

Philippine cinema chain SM Cinema confirmed with ANN on Monday that it is considering screening seven Japanese films this year. The films include the live-action Wolf Girl & Black Prince film, the Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare anime film, the One Piece Film Gold anime film, the Death Note Light up the NEW world film, the Ansatsu Kyōshitsu: Sotsugyō-hen live-action sequel film, the Eiga Crayon Shin-chan Bakusui! Yumemi World Dai Totsugeki anime film, and the Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions anime film. SM Cinema launched a survey last Friday, and the company confirmed that their choice of which films to screen will be based partially on the survey results.

Southeast Asian film distributor Odex already scheduled the Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare film for a July 27 opening in the Philippines, but did not mention which cinemas would screen the film.

The film opened in Japan on April 16, topping the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The film sold 933,800 tickets on 348 screens, and earned 1.209 billion yen in its opening weekend. The film has set a new record high for the film franchise, having earned 6 billion yen (about US$56 million) as of June 6.

One Piece Film Gold will open in Japan on July 23 on 743 screens, which is the largest for any Japanese film. The film will screen with English and Chinese subtitles in five cities in Japan from July 23 to August 5. The film is also getting screenings in 3D, 4DX, and MX4D.

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions opened in Japan on April 23. The film opened at #6 in the Japanese box office. The film sold the highest number of pre-sale tickets of any Toei film.

Eiga Crayon Shin-chan Bakusui! Yumemi World Dai Totsugeki, the franchise's 24th film, opened in Japan on April 16. The film ranked #2 in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend, topped by Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare. Wataru Takahashi (Crayon Shin-chan films 17-23) returned to direct the new film, and comedian Hitori Gekidan (actor in Train Man, Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress) wrote the film's script along with Takahashi. Voice actors Akiko Yajima (Shin-chan), Miki Narahashi (Misae Nohara), Keiji Fujiwara (Hiroshi Nohara), and Satomi Koorogi (Himawari) returned to voice characters in the film.

The Wolf Girl & Black Prince film is based on Ayuko Hatta's manga of the same name. The film stars Fumi Nikadō as Erika Shinohara, and Kento Yamazaki as Kyōya Sata. The story centers around Erika Shinohara, a vain 16-year-old girl who tells her friends about her romantic exploits, but she actually has no boyfriend. She claims that a handsome boy in a candid photo is her boyfriend, but it turns out that boy is a schoolmate named Kyōya Sata. She has no choice but to make him her fake boyfriend. Unfortunately, Sata may look like a sweet person, but he is actually an ultra-black-hearted sadist. Sata takes advantage of Erika's weakness and treats her like his dog.

The film opened in Japan on May 28, ranking #2 in its opening weekend. The manga inspired a 12-episode television anime series starring Kanae Itō as Erika Shinohara and Takahiro Sakurai as Kyōya Sata. The anime premiered in October 2014.

Ansatsu Kyōshitsu: Sotsugyō-hen, the second live-action film based on Yusei Matsui's Assassination Classroom manga, opened in Japan on March 25 at #1 in the box office, and held that position for three weeks. The manga ended in the same month as the film's debut, and the film also portrayed the manga's ending.

The first television anime series premiered in Japan in January 2015. Animax Asia began airing the series on January 4. A second series premiered in Japan on January 7.

Death Note Light up the NEW world will open in Japan on October 29. In the new film's story, a highly advanced information society is beset by global cyber-terrorism in 2016. New charismatic figures, who "inherited the DNA" of Light (previously played Tatsuya Fujiwara) and the detective L (Kenichi Matsuyama), emerge. The successors of the two geniuses will wage a war over six Death Notes on Earth. Masaki Suda, Sousuke Ikematsu, Masahiro Higashide, Rina Kawaei, Mina Fujii, Erika Toda, Shidou Nakamura, Sota Aoyama, and Eiichiro Funakoshi star in the new sequel film.

[Via Anime Pilipinas]