News
Japanese Box Office, January 23-24
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie: Super Fusion! Bonds that Transcend Time (Gekijō-ban Yu-Gi-Oh! ~Chō-Yūgō! Jikū o Koeta Kizuna), the film celebrating the 10th anniversary of the popular franchise, debuted at #6 on Kogyo Tsushinsha's Japanese box office chart during the January 23-24 weekend. The 3D film features the main heroes of all three TV Tokyo anime series: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters' Yuugi Mutou, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monster GX's Judai Yuki, and the ongoing Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Yūsei Fudō. According to Variety and Rentrak Theatrical, the movie was #7 and earned US$1,152,259 in 124 theaters.
Nodame Cantabile Saishū Gakushō Zen-Pen (Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score Part I), the first film in a two-part theatrical finale inspired by Tomoko Ninomiya's Nodame Cantabile musical romance manga, fell from #2 to #7 (#6 on Rentrak Theatrical's chart). It earned US$1,210,697 on 409 screens during its sixth weekend for a total-to-date of US$38,915,917.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st opened out of the top 10, but viewers spent 61,292,300 yen (about US$681,386) to watch the film 39,863 times on just 19 screens. The film remade the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha anime series with entirely new, theatrical-quality animation.
Similarly, viewers spent 37,699,500 yen to watch Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 24,407 times on just 12 screens. The all-new animated production covered the Unlimited Blade Works storyline from Type-Moon's Fate/stay night game franchise.
One Piece Film Strong World, the 10th anime film based on Eiichiro Oda's One Piece pirate manga, fell from the charts after being in the top 10 for six weekends. Tsuri Baka Nisshi 20: Final (Free and Easy 20: Final) also fell from the charts after being in the top 10 for four weekends, as did Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Double & Decade: Movie War 2010 after six weekends.
James Cameron's Avatar science-fiction action movie stayed at #1 for the fifth straight weekend, earning a weekend box office take of US$5,754,496 and a total-to-date of US$77,732,992.
Source: Kogyo Tsushinsha, Bunkatsushin (link 2) via Kyō mo Yarareyaku
Images © 2009 Fuji TV, Kodansha, Amuse, TOHO, FNS27
© Kazuki Takahashi Studio Dice/Shueisha, TV Tokyo, NAS
follow-up of Japanese Box Office, January 16-17
