News
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Debuts at #1, Sumikko Gurashi Falls to #9 at Japan Box Office
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The Gekijō-ban Jujutsu Kaisen 0 anime film opened in Japan on Friday, and earned 2,694,128,150 yen (about US$23.5 million) in its first three days. The film topped the box office chart for the weekend.
The film is based on Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen 0 Tokyo Toritsu Jujutsu Kōtō Senmon Gakkō (Jujutsu Kaisen 0: Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School) manga prequel story, with MAPPA animating again and TOHO distributing. Viz Media released the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 manga in January 2021, and it describes the story:
Yuta Okkotsu is a nervous high school student who is suffering from a serious problem—his childhood friend Rika has turned into a Curse and won't leave him alone. Since Rika is no ordinary Curse, his plight is noticed by Satoru Gojo, a teacher at Jujutsu High, a school where fledgling exorcists learn how to combat Curses. Gojo convinces Yuta to enroll, but can he learn enough in time to confront the Curse that haunts him?
Megumi Ogata is voicing the main character Yuta Okkotsu, and Kana Hanazawa is voicing the character Rika Orimoto.
The live-action Kamen Rider: Beyond Generations film fell from #4 to #7 in its second weekend. The film earned 46,128,280 yen (about US$401,900) from Friday to Sunday for a cumulative total of 254,779,120 yen (about US$2.22 million).
Eiga Sumikko Gurashi: Aoi Tsukiyo no Mahō no Ko (The Magical Child of the Blue Moonlit Night), the second film in San-X's Sumikko Gurashi franchise, fell from #8 to #9 in its eighth weekend. The film earned 20,685,680 yen (about US$180,200) from Friday to Sunday), and has earned a cumulative total of 1,113,573,000 yen (about US$9.70 million). The film has sold more than 900,000 tickets.
The film opened in Japan on November 5, and sold about 200,000 tickets to earn about 250 million yen (about US$2.22 million) in its first three days.
Takahiro Ōmori (Durarara!!, Natsume's Book of Friends, Princess Jellyfish) directed the film. Reiko Yoshida (Violet Evergarden, Lu over the wall, K-ON!) penned the script, and Kaori Hino (Modest Heroes, Napping Princess) returned from the first film as the art director. Fanworks returned to animate the film, and ASMIK Ace is distributing.
In the film's story, the main characters go on a camping trip one day in the fall, and that night they recall a legend: that once every five years, on the night of a large and blue full moon, magical creatures will visit the town. The characters look up, only to see a large and blue moon overhead.
Sumikko Gurashi debuted in 2012 as slightly negative characters who like to stay in the corner of a room. The characters include "Shirokuma," a polar bear who is sensitive to cold; "Penguin?" (with a question mark in its name), a penguin who is unsure if it is actually a penguin; "Tonkatsu," a piece of pork cutlet that was left uneaten; "Neko," a shy cat; and "Tokage," who hides his nature as one of the last dinosaurs.
Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), Eiga.com, comScore via KOFIC
