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Girls & Panzer Film Is #4 in 1st-Week Sales Among All Anime BDs to Date

The limited special edition Blu-ray Disc of the Girls und Panzer anime film sold 162,361 copies in its first week and topped Oricon's overall Blu-ray Disc chart for the May 23-29 week. It has topped the first-week sales of the limited edition Blu-ray Disc release of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie Part 3: Rebellion anime film (which sold about 128,000 copies in its first week) to become the fourth-highest selling Japanese animation Blu-ray Disc in its first week ever. (The category includes anime films, television anime, and original video anime (OVA).)

The regular edition of the film sold an additional 6,554 copies in its first week.

The third-highest ranking in first-week sales ever is the Love Live! The School Idol Movie (194,000 copies), with Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo (313,000 copies) and Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance (357,000 copies) at second and first, respectively.

The Girls und Panzer film shipped on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on May 27, and the release came with a new OVA that takes place after the events of the movie, as well as an episode of the "Akiyama Yukari no Sensha Kōza" (Yukari Akiyama's Tank Lecture) shorts.

The original Girls und Panzer television anime's highest selling Blu-ray Disc release was the fifth volume, which ranked #1 in Oricon's overall BD ranking in its release in May 2013. The Girls und Panzer: Kore ga Hontō no Anzio-sen Desu! OVA sold 36,000 copies in its first week in July 2014, and eventually sold 58,000 copies.

The fifth DVD volume of the Mr. Osomatsu anime also topped Oricon's overall DVD ranking with 22,064 copies sold.

As of May 29, the Girls und Panzer film has sold 1,264,313 tickets for a total of 2,136,832,984 yen (US$19,229,958) after 28 weeks in the theaters. The film has surpassed the box office earnings of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie Part 3: Rebellion, which earned a total of 2.08 billion yen (about US$18.7 million) during its theatrical run in Japan when it opened in October 2013. It has not surpassed the Love Live! The School Idol Movie, which earned a total of 2.86 billion yen (about US$25.7 million) after opening in August 2015.

The Girls und Panzer film opened in Japan last November, and it ranked #38 in the top 39 highest grossing Japanese domestic films of 2015 (tied with Grasshopper). The film began screening in 4DX starting on February 20, and that first run ended in April. The film then began ULTIRA screenings with higher video and sound quality in May, along with immersive 4DX screenings (with motion seats, scents, bubbles, and mist) and bonus filmstrip presents. Thus far more than 235 theaters have shown or resumed showing the film, including 77 in its opening weekend.

Source: Animate Times