News

Japanese Box Office, May 2-3

Meitantei Conan: Shikkoku no Chaser (Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser), the 13th film based on Gōshō Aoyama's popular shōnen manga about a brilliant detective trapped in a child's body, stayed at #1 on Kogyo Tsushinsha's Japanese box office chart during the May 2-3 weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, it took in the equivalent of US$3,512,064 on 341 screens during its third weekend for a total of US$20,305,802.

Gekijōban Chō Kamen Rider Den-O & Decade Neo Generations Onigashima no Senkan, the bridge movie between three live-action special-effects projects (Kamen Rider Den-O, Kamen Rider Decade, and Chō Den-O), debuted at #4. It earned US$1,728,031 on 170 screens to add to its US$2,176,677 total. (It opened on May 1 to take advantage of the Golden Week holidays.)

Crows Zero II, Takashi Miike's second prequel film to Hiroshi Takahashi's Crows fighting manga, fell from #3 to #5 in its fourth weekend. It earned US$1,520,842 on 314 screens for a gross-to-date of US$22,551,025. Shun Oguri (Hana Yori Dango, Gokusen, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa) reprises his role of high school delinquent Genji in this story set eight months after the first schoolyard-brawl film and just before Genji's graduation.

Eiga Crayon Shin-chan: Otakebe! Kasukabe Yasei Ōkoku (Crayon Shin-chan the Movie: Roar! Kasukabe Wild Kingdom), the 17th film based on Yoshito Usui's comedy manga and anime, dropped from #4 to #6 in its third weekend. It garnered US$1,256,445 on 323 screens to add to its total of US$5,942,719.

Drop, comedian Hiroshi Shinagawa's live-action adaptation of his own coming-of-age novel, fell from #9 off the chart at #11 in its seventh weekend. It took in US$303,440 on 167 screens for a total of US$18,200,295. The film retells a loosely autobiographical story of how a boy was inspired by the Be-Bop-Highschool fighting manga to join a delinquent gang.

Sources: Kogyo Tsushinsha

image © 2009 Gōshō Aoyama/Detective Conan Production Committee