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Anohana Team's Her Blue Sky Anime Film Ranks #4 During Japan's Typhoon Weekend

Her Blue Sky (Sora no Aosa o Shiru Hito yo), the original anime film by the Super Peace Busters creative team (anohana, Anthem of the Heart), sold 126,000 tickets and earned 166 million yen (about US$1.52 million) in its first four days to rank #4 in its opening weekend. The Eiga.com website now estimates that the film will eventually earn 1 billion yen (about US$9.3 million) during its run.

While Japan had a long weekend with a Monday holiday, Typhoon Hagibis (local name Typhoon No. 19) made landfall in Japan on Saturday as the most powerful such storm to hit the Tokyo area in six decades. Accompanied by at least one tornado and an unrelated magnitude-5.7 earthquake near Chiba Prefecture that day, the disaster caused at least 74 deaths and up to half a million homes to lose power. The national government warned people to stay at home or at evacuation centers, and many theaters canceled screenings or were unreachable due to blocked roads and suspended transit services.

Her Blue Sky opened in Japan last Friday in 318 theaters. Director Tatsuyuki Nagai, writer and director Mari Okada, and artist Masayoshi Tanaka — the members of Super Peace Busters — handled the film. Nagai directed, Okada penned the script, and Tanaka drew the original character designs and served as chief animation director. CloverWorks was in charge of animation production.

Shion Wakayama, Riho Yoshioka, and Ryō Yoshizawa star in the film.

HiGH&LOW THE WORST, a crossover film that integrates Hiroshi Takahashi's Crows and Worst manga with the HiGH&LOW franchise, dropped from #3 to #5 in its second weekend. The film earned 65,873,200 yen (about US$606,000) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 496,422,300 yen (about US$4.56 million).

The film debuted at #3 in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on 4 on 322 screens, and sold 121,000 tickets to earn 164 million yen (about US$1.52 million) in its opening weekend. 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.

Makoto Shinkai's new film Weathering With You (Tenki no Ko) dropped from #7 to #8 in its 13th weekend. The film earned 47,731,850 yen (about US$439,200) from Friday to Sunday. The film has so far sold 10.22 million tickets and earned 13,619,583,250 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.

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 #6 to #9 in its fifth weekend. The film earned 33,906,700 yen (about US$311,900) from Friday to Sunday. The film has earned a cumulative total of 2,005,147,500 yen (about US$18.44 million), meeting the 2-billion-yen (about US$18-million) milestone that Eiga.com projected at the beginning of its run.

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.

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.

Hello World, the original anime film by director Tomohiko Ito and Graphinica, dropped out of the top 10 in its fourth weekend, but it still earned 16,330,200 yen (about US$150,200) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 517,683,400 yen (about US$4.76 million).

Blackfox, Studio 3Hz's original theatrical anime project, dropped from #1 to #4 in the mini-theater rankings in its second weekend. The film opened in Japan on October 5, and Crunchyroll began streaming the film at the same time.

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