News

Japanese Box Office, March 15-16

Eiga Doraemon Shin Nobita no Daimakyo ~Peko to 5-nin no Tankentai~ (Doraemon the Movie: New Nobita's Great Demon ~Peko and the Exploration Party of Five~ fell from #1 to #2 in its second weekend. The film remakes the 1982 film Doraemon: Nobita's Great Demon, which was written by original Doraemon co-creator Fujiko F. Fujio, and follows the heroes of the Doraemon television series as they go on an adventure to help a dog prince return to his kingdom, deep within an unexplored land. The film also ranked #2 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 403,209,160 yen (US$3,944,595) on 361 screens for a new total of 1,099,273,388 yen (US$10,754,192).

Eiga Precure All Stars New Stage 3: Eien no Tomodachi debuted this weekend at #3. In the story, the world of dreams is threatened, so nine teams of Precure girls from the franchise's different television anime series unite to defend everyone's dreams. The characters from the newest series, HappinessCharge Precure!, feature prominently. The film also ranked #3 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 192,611,466 yen (US$1,884,318) on 210 screens.

Takashi Miike's live-action film adaptation of Noboru Takahashi's Mogura no Uta manga series, Mogura no Uta: Senyū Sōsakan Reiji (The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji), fell from #3 to #6 in its fifth weekend. In the story of the original manga, Reiji Kikukawa is known as a troublesome member of the police force due to his tendency to enforce justice through his own morals. He goes undercover to infiltrate a gangster syndicate. The film also ranked #6 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 87,675,517 yen (US$857,730) on 293 screens for a new total of 1,826,635,056 yen (US$17,869,971).

The live-action film adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa's Silver Spoon manga fell from #4 to #7 in its second weekend. Kento Nakajima stars as Yūgo Hachiken, a city boy who enters an agricultural high school. Many of Hachiken's classmates are from farming families, but Hachiken is not used to farm life. Alice Hirose co-stars as Hachiken's classmate Aki Mikage. The film also ranked #7 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 78,853,262 yen (US$771,421) on 285 screens for a new total of 340,715,113 yen (US$3,333,215).

The live-action film of Eiko Kadono's fantasy novel series Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo no Takkyūbin) fell from #5 to #9 in its third weekend. The film stars Fūka Koshiba as Kiki, Ryōhei Hirota as Tombo, and Minako Kotobuki as Jiji in the coming of age story that Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli also adapted into an animated film. The film also ranked #9 on Box Office Mojo's chart and earned 42,665,052 yen (US$417,392) on 282 screens for a new total of 352,597,430 yen (US$3,449,461).

Tiger & Bunny The Movie -The Rising- fell from #5 to #12 on Box Office Mojo's chart in its sixth weekend and earned 24,540,798 yen (US$240,083) on 92 screens for a new total of 619,543,407 yen (US$6,060,993). The film reunites the core cast of the Tiger & Bunny television series, as well as Yūichi Nakamura as Golden Ryan, Barnaby Brooks Jr.'s new partner in the film. The story revolves around a mystery that happens on the day of the "Justice Day" festival that celebrates Sternbild's legendary goddess. Viz Media began screening the film the United States starting March 14.

THE IDOLM@STER MOVIE: Kagayaki no Mukōgawa e! fell from #10 to #13 on Box Office Mojo's chart in its eighth weekend and earned 24,006,331 yen (US$234,853) on 67 screens for a new total of 631,807,574 yen (US$6,180,973). In the film, the producer works his very hardest to help the 765 Production idols prepare themselves at a training camp for their first arena concert. He also reveals that there are new girls joining the team as back-up dancers for the arena concert. These girls are all idols featured in GREE's The IDOLM@STER: Million Live mobile game that started service last year. The idol Haruka is also named the leader of the group, and she is held in high esteem by the new girls, whose futures will be decided after the concert.

The film follow-up to the live-action television series adaptation of Tohru Fujisawa's Kamen Teacher manga, Gekijōban Kamen Teacher fell from #6 to #14 on Box Office Mojo's chart in its fourth weekend and earned 19,825,651 yen (US$193,954) on 145 screens for a new total of 318,415,550 yen (US$3,115,059). The story stars Kis-My-Ft2 idol group member Taisuke Fujigaya as Gōta Araki, a teacher who becomes a masked hero to puts down delinquents. In the show Araki transfers to a new high school and is handed the second year's Class C, which has problem students led by a powerful student nicknamed "M4." Araki wants to reach out to the students without resorting to using the power of the mask, but he reluctantly puts it on to bring the students in line and rehabilitate them.

Sources: Kogyo Tsushinsha, Box Office Mojo