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Live-Action Hitsuji no Ki Film Opens at #2, Impossibility Defense at #3

The live-action film adaptation of Tatsuhiko Yamagami and Mikio Igarashi's Hitsuji no Ki (The Sheep's Tree) manga sold 95,000 tickets and earned 129 million yen (about US$1.18 million) to rank #2 in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on Saturday in 213 theaters.

The manga's story is set in a former seaport town that becomes the center of a secret government project. The project involves sending former convicts to live in the town, with almost no one in the town aware that they are former criminals. The story depicts the tension between the former convicts, whose intentions are unknown, and the citizens.

Ryo Nishikido stars in the lead role as Hajime Tsukisue, a kind-hearted public servant who is one of the few who know about the government project central to the story.

The live-action film adaptation of Yūya Kanzaki and Arata Miyatsuki's Funōhan (Impossibility Defense) manga sold 93,000 tickets and earned 128 million yen (about US$1.17 million) to rank #3 in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on Friday in 269 theaters.

The suspense manga centers on Tadashi Usobuki, a man who wears a black suit and is able to kill others through the power of suggestion and by warping their thoughts. Although Tadashi often appears at the scene of the crime of these unnatural deaths, no one is able to prosecute him because police can never find any proof.

A four-episode mini-series premiered on dTV last December. The cast for both the film and the mini-series includes Tori Matsuzaka (live-action Gatchaman's Ken Washio the Eagle, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger's Takeru Shiba) as Tadashi Usobuki and Erika Sawajiri (live-action Helter Skelter, Shinjuku Swan) as Tomoko Tada.

Destiny - Kamakura Monogatari, the live-action film of Ryohei Saigan's Kamakura Monogatari manga, fell off the top ten chart in its ninth weekend. The film earned 30,058,200 yen (about US$276,800) from Friday to Sunday, pushing its total to 3,051,240,300 yen (about US$28 million).

"Tenmei-hen" (Karma Chapter), the fourth film in the Uchū Senkan Yamato 2202: Ai no Senshi-tachi (Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love or Star Blazers 2202: Warriors of Love) anime sequel project, also fell off the top top ten chart in its second weekend but still ranked #2 in the mini-theater rankings. The film earned 18,938,100 yen (about US$174,400) from Friday to Sunday and has cumulatively earned 99,913,000 yen (about US$920,100). The film ranked at #9 in its opening weekend, and also topped the mini-theater rankings.

Sources: Eiga.com, Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC