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HiGH&LOW THE WORST Film Debuts at #3 at Japan's Box Office, Kaguya-sama Drops to #6

HiGH&LOW THE WORST, a crossover film that integrates Hiroshi Takahashi's Crows and Worst manga with the HiGH&LOW franchise, debuted at #3 in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan last Friday on 322 screens, and sold 121,000 tickets to earn 164 million yen (about US$1.52 million) on Saturday and Sunday. The film earned 54% of the opening weekend gross for 2017's HiGH&LOW THE MOVIE 3 FINAL MISSION film. However, HiGH&LOW THE WORST fares better if its Friday opening day earnings are included, which puts the movie at 196,798 tickets sold for 310,096,300 yen (about US$2.88 million). The Eiga.com site estimates that the film will earn over 1 billion yen (about US$9.3 million).

Shigeaki Kubo directed the film, and EXILE HIRO (Hiroyuki Igarashi) is credited as producer. Takahito Ōuchi was the action director. Takahashi penned the script alongside Norihisa Hiranuma, Shōichirō Masumoto, and Kei Watanabe.

The live-action film of Aka Akasaka's Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunōsen) manga dropped from #2 to #6 in its fifth weekend. The film earned 83,534,400 yen (about US$778,300) from Friday to Sunday. The film has earned a cumulative total of 1,924,628,500 yen (about US$17.93 million).

The film sold 255,000 tickets for 315 million yen (about US$2.93 million) to rank #1 in its opening weekend, and sold 360,000 tickets for 460 million yen (about US$4.28 million) from Friday to Sunday. The film opened in Japan on September 6 on 291 screens. Eiga.com projects that the film can eventually surpass 2 billion yen (about US$18 million).

The film stars King & Prince idol group member Shō Hirano as Miyuki Shirogane and Kanna Hashimoto as Kaguya Shinomiya. It earned 85.3% more in its opening weekend than last year's live-action film of Yukimo Hoshimori's Uirabu. -Uiuishii Koi no Ohanashi- (Uirabu.: Story of Innocent Love) manga, which also starred Hirano. Hayato Kawai (live-action My Love Story!!, Nisekoi) directed the Kaguya-sama film. Yūichi Tokunaga (live-action Tonde Saitama, Princess Jellyfish series) penned the script.

The manga inspired a television anime adaptation that premiered on January 12 and aired for 12 episodes. Aniplex of America streamed the series on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and FunimationNow. Viz Media is publishing the manga in English.

Makoto Shinkai's new film Weathering With You (Tenki no Ko) dropped from #3 to #7 in its 12th weekend. The film earned 96,272,300 yen (about US$897,000) from Friday to Sunday. The film has so far earned 13,508,909,400 yen (about US$125 million). It surpassed E.T, Armageddon, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to become the #13 film at the Japanese box office of all time. The film is now the #7 highest-earning domestic film of all time in Japan and the highest-grossing film in Japan this year.

The film sold 1,159,020 tickets for 1,643,809,400 yen (about US$15.22 million) in its first three days in 358 theaters. The film ranked #1 in its opening weekend.

The film earned 28.6% more in its first three days compared to Shinkai's previous your name. film, which earned 1,277,960,000 yen (about US$12.51 million at the time) in its first three days.

The film opened in 359 theaters and 448 screens in Japan on July 19.The last Japanese film to earn over 10 billion yen was Shinkai's previous film your name. three years ago. Weathering With You is also now the highest-grossing Japanese film so far this year.

Hello World, the original anime film by director Tomohiko Ito and Graphinica, dropped from #6 to #9 in its third weekend. The film earned 45,088,100 yen (about US$420,100) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 470,119,800 yen (about US$4.38 million).

The film opened on 255 screens in Japan on September 20, and sold 156,000 tickets and earned 212 million yen (about US$1.97 million) over four days (September 23 was a holiday in Japan) to rank #6 in its opening weekend.

The "sci-fi love story" film is set in Kyoto in the year 2027, and will feature famous landmarks such as Fushimi Inari Taisha and Kamo Shrine. The film centers on Naomi Katagaki, a male high school student. One day, a person who calls himself Naomi 10 years from now appears in front of the young Naomi. Together, they must change the future and save a classmate, Ruri, whom the younger Naomi starts to date in three months.

Ito (Sword Art Online franchise, ERASED) directed the film at Graphinica (Expelled from Paradise). Mado Nozaki (Bablyon novel series, KADO - The Right Answer) wrote the screenplay, and Yukiko Horiguchi (K-On!, Lucky Star, Tamako Love Story) designed the characters.

Blackfox, Studio 3Hz's original theatrical anime project, opened at #1 in the mini-theater rankings. The film opened in Japan on Saturday, and Crunchyroll began streaming the film at the same time.

This year's Crunchyroll Expo convention hosted the world premiere of Blackfox on August 30.

The Strike Witches: 501st JOINT FIGHTER WING Take Off! anime film debuted at #2 in the mini-theater rankings. The film opened in Japan last Friday.

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