News

39th Doraemon Film Stays at #1, Precure Miracle Universe Opens at #3

Eiga Doraemon no Nobita no Getsumen Tansaki (Doraemon the Movie: Chronicle of the Moon Exploration), the Doraemon franchise's 39th film, remained at #1 at the Japanese box office in its third weekend. The film sold 369,000 tickets, and earned 438 million yen (about US$3.93 million) over the weekend. It has earned a cumulative total of 2 billion yen (about US$17.96 million) and has sold a total of 1.75 million tickets.

The film opened on 382 screens on March 1 and sold 645,000 tickets for 757 million yen (about US$6.77 million) to top the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The figures include 586,000 tickets for 696 million yen (about US$6.23 million) on Saturday and Sunday, which represents 82.6% of the earnings from last year's Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Takarajima film in its opening weekend. Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Takarajima holds the record as the highest-grossing film in the current 14-installment Doraemon film series after earning a total of 5.37 billion yen (about US$48.1 million) at the box office. Each Doraemon film in the past three years has set a new franchise box-office record.

The film's story relates to the Japanese folkloric belief that a rabbit resides on the moon. The film is set on the moon and centers on strong friendships bound together by the "ability to believe." Luna is a mysterious girl who lives on the far side of the moon. Diabolo and his subordinate Goddard stand in the way of Nobita and his friends on their moon exploration journey.

Shinnosuke Yakuwa (Doraemon the Movie: Nobita and the Birth of Japan 2016, Doraemon the Movie: Nobita in the New Haunts of Evil - Peko and the Five Explore) directed the film, which is his first work directing from an original script. Naoki Prize-winning mystery author Midzuki Tsujimura (Tsunagu, Kagami no Kojō) wrote the script, and she also wrote a novel adaptation, which debuted on November 16. Dai Hirai performed the theme song "The Gift."

Eiga Precure Miracle Universe, the newest movie in the Precure franchise, ranked #3 in its opening weekend. The film earned about 248 million yen (about US$2.22 million) and sold about 221,000 tickets in its first two days, and has set a record for an opening weekend for a spring Precure film. The film opened in Japan on Saturday.

The new Eiga Precure Miracle Universe film is primarily set in space, and the story reveals the secret of the "Miracle Lights," the mysterious critical items which appear frequently in the franchise's films. (The lights are distributed to children attending theatrical screenings.) Characters from Kirakira ☆ Precure a la Mode, Hugtto! Precure, and the new Star ☆ Twinkle Precure anime star in the film.

Yukio Kaizawa, who co-directed the Kirakira ☆ Precure a la Mode series, returned to direct the film. Isao Murayama (Eiga Kirakira ☆ Precure a la Mode: Paris to! Omoide no Mille-Feuille!, Maho Girls Precure) penned the script. Yuki Hayashi (My Hero Academia) and Asami Tachibana (DARLING in the FRANXX) composed the music.

The live-action film adaptation of Mineo Maya's Tonde Saitama (Fly Me to Saitama) manga dropped from #2 to #4 in its fourth week at the box office. The film earned 227,142,000 yen (about US$2.04 million) from Friday to Sunday. and has earned a cumulative total of 2,035,279,800 yen (about US$18.28 million).

After opening on February 22, the film sold 191,000 tickets for 259,038,800 yen (about US$2.33 million) on Saturday and Sunday to top the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The film is expected to surpass 3 billion yen (about US$26.8 million) at the box office.

Hideki Takeuchi (live-action Nodame Cantabile, Thermae Romae) directed the film, and Tomokazu Tokunaga (live-action Densha Otoko) wrote the script. Hanawa performed the film's theme song "Saitama-ken no Uta" (The Song of Saitama Prefecture).

There are two parts to the film: a "legend part" that focuses on Rei and Momomi, and a "modern part" that focuses on a certain Saitama family through whom the legend is told.

In the story, those who live in Saitama Prefecture are ruthlessly persecuted by those who live in Tokyo, so the citizens of Saitama Prefecture hide this fact from others. High school student Momomi Dannoura is the son of the governor of Tokyo, and he is also the student council president at Hokuhodo Academy, the top high school in Tokyo. One day, he meets Rei Asami, a mysterious transfer student who has returned from America. Rei and Momomi are captivated by each other, but Momomi knows Rei is from Saitama Prefecture. The manga tells the story of two people split by a prefectural border, a Saitama "Romeo and Juliet." The couple try to elope and start a revolution to liberate Saitama Prefecture.

The Eiga no Osomatsu-san anime film ranked at #7 in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan last Friday.

The film centers on the sextuplets at a high school class reunion. There, they see all their former classmates who have become "proper" adults with company jobs. The sextuplets sulk about this and go home and drink until they fall asleep. But when they wake up, a certain scene awaits them.

The film's returning staff members include director Yoichi Fujita, scriptwriter Shū Matsubara, character designer Naoyuki Asano, and Studio Pierrot on animation production. Shochiku is distributing the movie. The film will also include returning cast members.

The Mr. Osomatsu television anime is inspired by Fujio Akatsuka's original Osomatsu-kun manga and "high tension comedy" TV anime, which centered on the Matsuno household with six naughty and mischievous sons (who are sextuplets). All of the sextuplets, including the eldest Osomatsu, are all in love with the same girl, Totoko. The original Osomatsu-kun series followed the family when the sons were 10 years old. Mr. Osomatsu re-imagines the original manga and TV anime with the sextuplets as adults.

Gekijōban Ultraman R/B Select! Kizuna no Crystal and Psycho-Pass Sinners of the System Case.3 Onshū no Kanata ni ____ both dropped off the top 10 this week. City Hunter: Shinjuku Private Eyes still earned 30,075,700 yen (about US$270,100) from Friday to Sunday for its sixth weekend, and has earned a cumulative total of 1,404,747,320 yen (about US$12.16 million).

Sources: Eiga.com, Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC