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Japanese Box Office, July 7-8
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The 24th Anpanman film, Soreike! Anpanman Yomigaere Bananajima, debuted at No. 4 during the July 7-8 weekend. In the film, the titular hero, who has a bean-paste pastry (anpan) for a head, must join his allies and stop the dastardly Baikinman from ruining Banana Island. The film ranked at No. 5 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned US$913,091 on 135 screens.
The live-action film adaptation of Satoru Hiura's women's romance manga Hotaru no Hikari - It's Only Little Light in My Life fell from No. 4 to No. 6 during its fifth weekend. The film is the sequel to the two live-action Hotaru no Hikari television series. Haruka Ayase and Naohito Fujiki are both reprising their roles in the film. The manga follows a 27-year-old office worker Hotaru (Ayase) who is uninterested in love. Hotaru's situation gets complicated as she suddenly finds herself living with her boss, Seiichi Takano (Fujiki). In the film's story, Hotaru and Takano travel to Italy. The film ranked at No. 4 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned US$942,662 on 316 screens for a new total of US$20,525,680.
Gisaburô Sugii's Guskō Budori no Denki (The Life of Guskou Budori) remake film debuted at No. 7. The film adapts Kenji Miyazawa's (Night on the Galactic Railroad) classic fairy tale of a young man named Guskō in the Tohoku forests of northeastern Japan in the 1920s. After an onslaught of droughts and natural disasters, Guskō is forced to leave his home and search for a better life elsewhere. Guskō joins a group of scientists at the Ihatov Volcano Department, which deals with the same natural disasters that drove Guskō from his home. The film earned US$740,639 on 241 screens.
Hideki Takeuchi's live-action Thermae Romae film fell from No. 5 to No. 8 in its 11th weekend. Based on Mari Yamazaki's manga, the story follows Roman architect Lucius Modestus (Hiroshi Abe), who designs bath-houses in ancient Rome. One day he's sucked into modern-day Japan. Able to travel back and forth in between worlds, Lucius uses Japanese ideas to improve the Roman baths he builds in the past. The film grossed US$687,106 on 321 screens for a total of US$71,742,773. (Note: Box Office Mojo had noted that Thermae Romae had earned a total of US$71,774,428 by July 1).
The anime film adaptation of Hiro Arikawa's Library War light novels, Toshokan Sensō: Kakumei no Tsubasa (Library War: The Wings of Revolution), rose from No. 13 to No. 11 on Box Office Mojo's chart during its fourth weekend. The film's main cast are reprising their roles from the 2008 television anime series. Director Takayuki Hamana (Appleseed XIII, The Beast Player Erin, The Prince of Tennis), scripwriter Takeshi Konuta, original character designer Sukumo Adabana, and the animation studio Production I.G are also returning from the series. The film earned US$157,471 on 30 screens for a gross-to-date of US$1,839,304.
The second film in the Berserk film trilogy, Berserk Ōgon Jidai-Hen II: Doldrey Kōryaku (Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Doldrey War), fell from Box Office Mojo's chart during its third weekend.
Sources: Kogyo Tsunshinsha, Box Office Mojo
follow-up of Japanese Box Office, June 30-July 1
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