News
Japanese Box Office, March 14-15
posted on by Egan Loo
Takashi Miike's live-action adaptation of the Yatterman science-fiction comedy anime remained on top of Kogyo Tsushinsha's Japanese box office chart during the March 14-15 weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, it added the equivalent of US$3,697,756 to its total of US$10,887,307 in its second weekend on 312 screens.
Doraemon: Shin Nobita no Uchū Kaitakushi (Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's How Space Was Won, New Edition), the second anime film remake of a classic 1980-1981 Doraemon manga story that sends the title robot cat to space, also stayed in place at #2 in its second weekend. It took in US$2,676,194 on 349 screens to add to its gross-to-date of US$7,160,726.
James Wong and 20th Century Fox's live-action adaptation of Akira Toriyama's Dragonball fighting manga opened at #3 with US$2,578,896 on 540 screens. It earned less money in Japan than it did in China, but more than in South Korea.
Chō Gekijōban Keroro Gunsō Gekishin Dragon Warriors de Arimasu! (Sgt. Frog the Super Movie: There Are Invading Dragon Warriors!), the fourth anime movie based on Mine Yoshizaki's Keroro Gunsō (Sgt. Frog) science fiction comedy manga and anime, dropped from #5 to #7 in its second weekend. It earned US$633,200 on 168 screens for a total of US1,779,464.
20th Century Boys Part II: Saigo no Kibō, the second film in Yukihiko Tsutsumi's three-part adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys manga, fell from #9 off the chart in its seventh weekend.
Yojiro Takita's live-action Departures (Okuribito) film fell again from #3 to #5 in its 27th weekend. It resurged to #1 after it won the Oscar in the Foreign Language Film category on February 22. It added US$1,774,239 to its gross-to-date of US$53,582,846 on 197 screens.
Sources: Kogyo Tsushinsha
Image © Tatsunoko Production © 2008 Tatsunoko Production/Yatterman Film Partners
follow-up of Japanese Box Office, March 7-8
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