News

22nd Detective Conan Film Drops to #3 After 7 Weeks at #1

Meitantei Conan: Zero no Shikkōnin (Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer), the 22nd film in the Detective Conan series, dropped from #1 to #3 at the box office in Japan in its eighth weekend, after seven consecutive weekends at #1. Deadpool 2 and 50-kai Me no First Kiss (a remake of Adam Sandler's 50 First Dates film) opened at #1 and #2 on the same weekend. The Detective Cona earned 120,401,200 yen (about US$1.09 million) from Friday to Sunday. The film has now earned 7,861,446,600 yen (about US$71.5 million).

Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer had sold 1,289,000 tickets in its first three days to earn 1.67 billion yen (about US$15.6 million). The film's opening Saturday and Sunday sales represented 100.7% of the total that last year's Meitantei Conan Kara Kurenai no Love Letter film earned in its first Saturday and Sunday. Last year's film became the highest-grossing domestic film in Japan in 2017 by earning a total of 6.89 billion yen (about US$61.1 million), which was also a franchise record. The new film is now the highest-grossing film in the franchise, with TOHO aiming for the film to earn more than 8 billion yen (about US$71.9 million).

Yuzuru Tachikawa (Mob Psycho 100, Death Parade) directed the new film. The film is a sequel of the series' 20th film, Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare, and centers on Tōru "Zero" Amuro. Police chief Hyōe Kuroda, who is rumored to be Rum in the Black Organization, appears for the first time in a film for the franchise.

The live-action film of Jun Mayuzuki's Koi wa Ameagari no You ni (After the Rain) manga dropped from #4 to #7 in its second weekend. The film earned 75,600,600 yen (about US$687,900) from Friday to Sunday, and has now earned a cumulative total of 377,676,100 yen (about US$3.43 million). The film sold 860,000 tickets and earned 120 million yen (about US$1.09 million) to rank #4 in its opening weekend.

The film stars Nana Komatsu as Akira Tachibana, and Yō Ōizumi as Masami Kondo. The manga centers on 17-year-old high school student Akira Tachibana, a girl who barely expresses herself. She harbors a secret crush on Masami Kondō, the 45-year-old manager of the family restaurant she works at part-time. The manga also inspired a television anime this past winter.

The Code Geass - Hangyaku no Lelouch - Ōdō (lit.: The Imperial Path, official English subtitle: Glorification) recap film dropped off the top 10 this week.

Peacemaker Kurogane: Belief (Peacemaker Kurogane: Omō-michi), the first film in the two-part anime film series based on Nanae Chrono's Peacemaker Kurogane manga, opened at #2 in the Japanese mini-theater rankings. The film opened on June 2.

Shigeru Kimiya (Hand Maid Mai OAV director, One Off chief director, Ryūsei Sentai Musumet series director) is directing the films (Hiroshi Takeuchi was originally listed as directing the films, but he is no longer listed as working on the project). WHITE FOX is animating the film series. Eiji Umehara is writing the scripts, and Sayaka Koiso is designing the characters and serving as chief animation director.

Peacemaker Kurogane: Friend (Peacemaker Kurogane: Yūmei), the second film, will open on November 17.

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