News

The First Slam Dunk Anime Film Stays at #1 With Cumulative Total of 3.03 Billion Yen

The First Slam Dunk, the new anime film of Takehiko Inoue's Slam Dunk basketball manga, stayed at #1 for its second weekend. The film sold 544,000 tickets over the weekend and earned 825,038,420 yen (about US$5.99 million) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 2.02 million tickets for a cumulative total of 3,035,492,950 yen (about US$22.04 million).

The film ranked at #1 in its opening weekend. The film sold 847,000 tickets and earned 1,295,808,780 yen (about US$9.50 million) over its opening weekend.

The film opened in Japan on December 3. The movie has IMAX screenings in 40 cinemas all over Japan, and Dolby Atmos screenings in 34 cinemas. The movie will get Dolby Cinema screenings starting on December 10.

Inoue personally directed the film at Toei Animation and wrote the script. Among the listed staff members are character designer/animation director Yasuyuki Ebara (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) and technical directors Katsuhiko Kitada (Attack on Titan episodes, Major: Yūjō no Winning Shot), Naoki Miyahara (Digimon Adventure, Popin Q), Toshio Ōhashi (LayereD Stories 0), and Yū Kamatani (Looking for Magical DoReMi, Precure Super Stars!).

Daiki Nakazawa directed the CG, and Yūta Ogura produced the CG. Kazuo Ogura directed the art. Yota Tsuruoka directed the sound with Koji Kasamatsu.

Makoto Shinkai's Suzume (Suzume no Tojimari) film stayed at #2 in its fifth weekend. The film sold 432,000 tickets over the weekend, and earned 574,671,440 yen (about US$4.17 million) from Friday to Sunday. The film has now sold a cumulative total of 6.36 million tickets for 8,592,509,010 yen (about US$62.36 million), making it the 68th highest-earning film of all time at the Japanese box office, and the 16th highest-earning anime film of all time in Japan.

The film opened at #1 on November 11 and sold 1.33 million tickets and earned 1.88 billion yen (about US$13.49 million) in its first three days.

The film sold 38.7% more tickets and earned 47.4% more than Shinkai's acclaimed your name. film, which earned 1,277,960,000 yen (about US$12.51 million at the time) in its first three days. It also sold 14.8% more tickets and earned 14.4% more than Shinkai's previous film Weathering With You, marking the strongest opening three days of Shinkai's films.

Actress Nanoka Hara voices the heroine Suzume Iwato in the film. SixTONES idol group member Hokuto Matsumura (live-action Liar × Liar film's Tōru, live-action xxxHOLiC film's Shizuka Doumeki) made his voice acting debut in the film as Sōta Munakata, a young man who embarks on a journey with Suzume as the "Door-Closing Master."

Shinkai (your name., Weathering With You) directed the film and wrote the screenplay. He is also credited with the original story. Masayoshi Tanaka (your name., Weathering With You) designed the characters. Kenichi Tsuchiya (your name., Garden of Words) was the animation director. Takumi Tanji (Children Who Chase Lost Voices) was the art director. CoMix Wave Films and Story Inc. produced the movie. TOHO is distributing the film. RADWIMPS scored the film. Seattle-based Hollywood film composer, Kazuma Jinnouchi (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, RWBY: Ice Queendom) scored the film alongside RADWIMPS. TikTok performer Toaka performed one of the film's theme songs "Suzume."

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Scarlet Bond (Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken: Guren no Kizuna-hen), the franchise's anime film, stayed at #4 in its third weekend. The film earned 120,417,800 yen (about US$873,600) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 923,109,670 yen (about US$6.69 million).

The film opened in Japan on November 25, and ranked at #2 and sold 225,000 tickets for 297 million yen (about US$2.14 million) in its opening weekend. It sold 313,000 tickets for 416 million yen (about US$3.19 million) in its first three days.

Fuse, the author of the original light novel series, drafted the film's brand-new original story. The story centers on a new country named Raja, located to the west of Tempest. Rimuru and his companions get involved in a long-running conspiracy that swirls around a woman with a mysterious power. Rimuru and his commander Benimaru also encounter another ogre survivor named Hiiro, who used to hold Benimaru in high regard.

Crunchyroll will screen the film in all major global territories (excluding Asia) in early 2023. The film's rollout overseas will start in December, and will eventually include the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South and Central America.

The One Piece Film Red anime stayed #7 in its 19th weekend at the Japanese box office. The film earned 43,654,510 yen (about US$316,900) from Friday to Sunday. The film has now earned a cumulative total of 18,671,552,390 yen (about US$135.5 million).

One Piece Film Red opened in Japan on August 6. The movie 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. The film has also topped Top Gun: Maverick to become the highest-earning film to open in Japan so far this year. The anime is both the #6 all-time highest-earning anime film in Japan and the #9 all-time highest-earning film in Japan.

Crunchyroll released One Piece Film Red in the United States and Canada on November 4, and in Australia and New Zealand on November 3. The film earned an estimated total of US$9,475,251 in its first three days in the United States to rank #2 overall in the U.S. box office for the weekend.

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.

Kaiketsu Zorori: Lalala♪ Star Tanjō (A Star Is Born, a reference to the American films of the same name), the first new anime film based on Yutaka Hara's Kaiketsu Zorori children's book series in five years, ranked at #9 in its opening weekend.

The film opened last Friday.

The film is based on the 2019 Kaiketsu Zorori: Star Tanjō book, but has a new take on the story. The story centers on Zorori's encounter with a girl named Hipopo, who wants to be a star, but is unable to sing for a certain reason.

This is the first new anime film in the franchise since 2017's Kaiketsu Zorori: ZZ no Himitsu, and it marks the franchise's 35th anniversary.

Bandai Namco Pictures and Ajia-do again produced the animation. Atsuhiro Tomioka, the main writer for the previous two Kaiketsu Zorori television anime, returned to pen the film's script. Kōhei Tanaka, who has composed the music for previous entries in the franchise, returned to score the film.

The Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Kuraki Yūyami no Scherzo (Scherzo of a Dark Dusk) film dropped off the top 10 in its eighth weekend.

Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2, link 3), Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, comScore via KOFIC