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One Piece Film Red Stays at #1 for 6th Consecutive Weekend
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The One Piece Film Red anime stayed at #1 for a sixth straight weekend at the Japanese box office. The film earned 494,268,690 yen (about US$3.46 million) from Friday to Sunday, and sold 355,000 tickets over the weekend. The film has now sold over 9.94 million tickets for a cumulative total of 13,868,544,850 yen (about US$97.31 million).
The film has overtaken Jujutsu Kaisen 0 as both the #8 all-time highest-earning anime film in Japan and the #14 all-time highest earning film in Japan.
One Piece Film Red opened in Japan on August 6. The film ranked #1 in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The film sold 1.58 million tickets and earned 2.254 billion yen (about US$16.7 million) in its first two days. The film earned 78% more in its first two days than the previous film One Piece Stampede did in its first three days (One Piece Stampede opened on a Friday, as opposed to One Piece Film Red's Saturday opening). It has become the franchise's highest-selling and highest-earning film installment, in terms of both the number of tickets sold and yen earned at the box office. It has also topped Top Gun: Maverick to become the highest-earning film to open in Japan so far this year.
Crunchyroll will release in the United States and Canada on November 4, and in Australia and New Zealand on November 3. In addition, Crunchyroll Expo Australia will host the subtitled premiere on September 16, followed by the North American premiere in New York on October 6 (which is also the first day of New York Comic Con).
The film centers on a new character named Uta, Shanks' daughter. Kaori Nazuka is the speaking voice of Uta, while Ado is the character's singing voice. Ado also performs the film's theme song "Shinjidai" ("New Genesis"). Goro Taniguchi (Code Geass, One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzak! special) directed One Piece Film Red. Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film Gold, One Piece: Heart of Gold, GANTZ:O, live-action Black Butler) wrote the screenplay, and One Piece manga creator Eiichiro Oda himself served as executive producer.
The HiGH&LOW The Worst X (pronounced "cross"), the sequel film to the HiGH&LOW THE WORST crossover film, ranked at #2 in its opening weekend. The film sold 107,000 tickets for 150 million yen (about US$1.05 million) over the weekend. Including advance screenings and Premium Liveshow live viewing screenings, the film sold 176,000 tickets for 269 million yen (about US$1.88 million).
The film opened on September 9.
The sequel brings back cast members from the first film. EXILE HIRO is producing the sequel film, and Norihisa Hiranuma is returning to direct with Daisuke Ninomiya as a general director. Masaki Suzumura is the action director, and Takahito Ouchi is supervising the action. Shoichiro Masumoto, Kei Watanabe, and Hiranuma are writing the screenplay.
Gekijō-ban Utano☆Princesama♪ Maji Love ST☆RISH Tours, the latest film in the Utano☆Princesama franchise, jumped from #7 to #4 in its second weekend. The film earned 106,163,680 yen (about US$745,400) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 341,960,570 yen (about US$2.40 million).
The film ranked at #7 in its opening weekend. The film sold 86,500 tickets and earned 140 million yen (about US$996,400) in its first three days. The film earned about 69.61 million yen (about US$495,400) on its opening day on September 2, earning 63% more than the previous film in the franchise, Uta no Prince Sama Maji Love Kingdom, did on its first day when it opened in Japan in June 2019.
The film opened on Friday and is playing in 128 theaters across Japan. The film — described as part of a "new theatrical film series" — is entirely composed of concert footage of the ST☆RISH idol group. Noriyasu Agematsu was once again credited as the original creator with Broccoli. Elements Garden composed the music, and A-1 Pictures produced the film. Shochiku is distributing the film.
Kingdom II: Harukanaru Daichi e (To Distant Lands), the sequel film based on Yasuhisa Hara's Kingdom manga, dropped from #8 to #10 in its ninth weekend. It earned 38,826,850 yen (about US$272,500) from Friday to Sunday for a new total of 4,934,522,050 yen (about US$34.64 million).
The film opened in Japan on July 15. In August, it became the highest-earning Japanese live-action film in Japan so far this year.
Shinsuke Satō (live-action Gantz, Death Note Light up the NEW world, Bleach) returned as director. Kento Yamazaki, Ryō Yoshizawa, and Kanna Hashimoto all reprised their respective characters Shin (Xin), Ei Sei (Yin Zheng), and Ka Ryō Ten (He Liao Diao) from the previous film. Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film Gold, live-action Black Butler, GANTZ:O) joined Satō and Hara in writing the script, and Yutaka Yamada (Tokyo Ghoul, Vinland Saga, live-action Bleach) composed the music. Mr. Children contributed the theme song "Ikiro" (Live).
The first film opened in Japan in April 2019 and sold 506,861 tickets to earn 690,219,500 yen (about US$6.17 million) in its first three days. The film later sold a total of 4.11 million tickets for 5,471,938,400 yen (about US$50.42 million), and eventually earned a cumulative total of 5.73 billion yen (about US$53.2 million). Funimation screened the film at Anime Expo in July 2019, and began screening the film in theaters in the United States and Canada in August 2019.
"Hana no Maki" (Flower Story), the third film of the Toku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru ~Setsugetsuka~ film trilogy, is still out of the top 10 in its second weekend, but the film still earned 34,228,140 yen (about US$240,200) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 149,470,100 yen (about US$1.04 million). The film opened on September 1.
Update: Typo in headline fixed. Thanks, OH&S.
Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC
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