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Sumikko Gurashi Film Drops to #4, Saekano to #7

Eiga Sumikko Gurashi: Tobidasu Ehon to Himitsu no Ko (Sumikko Gurashi The Movie - The Unexpected Picture Book and the Secret Child), the anime film of San-X's "Sumikko Gurashi" (Living in the Corner) characters, fell from #2 to #4 in its third weekend. The film earned 179,765,200 yen (about US$1.64 million) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 671,941,000 yen (about US$6.16 million).

The film ranked #3 in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on November 8 in 114 theaters. The film sold 104,000 tickets and earned 121 million yen (about US$1.11 million) over the weekend, but sold 114,280 tickets and earned 132,873,500 yen (about US$1.22 million) from Friday to Sunday of that week. The Eiga.com website estimates that the film will eventually earn 1 billion yen (about US$9.18 million).

Mankyū (Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls Theater, Jaku-San-Sei Million Arthur) directed the film at Fanworks. Takashi Sumita (Europe Kikaku) penned the script. Kaori Hino (Napping Princess, In This Corner of the World) was the art director.

The film's story begins when the Sumikko Gurashi characters find a mysterious picture book in the basement of a cafe they always go to. The film features new locales, items, and characters.

Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata fine, the anime film based on Fumiaki Maruto's Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend light novel series, fell from #6 to #7 in its fifth weekend. The film earned 37,946,300 yen (about US$348,000) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 547,164,490 yen (about US$5.01 million).

The film opened at #5 in Japan. It earned 136,362,600 yen (about US$1.25 million) on Saturday and Sunday. The film opened on October 26 on 121 screens.

Kanta Kamei served as chief director at CloverWorks, and Akihisa Shibata (episode director for the two previous seasons) was the director. Fumiaki Maruto returned to write the script, and Tomoaki Takase returned to design the characters. Aniplex is distributing the film.

Star Twinkle Precure: Hoshi no Uta ni Omoi wo Komete (Star ☆ Twinkle Precure the Movie: Put Your Feelings into the Song of Stars), the anime film companion to the Star ☆ Twinkle Precure anime series, rose back up to #10 in its sixth weekend after two weeks off the top 10. It earned 19,138,600 yen (about US$175,500) from Friday to Sunday. It has earned a cumulative total of 642,188,900 yen (about US$5.89 million).

The film sold 141,000 tickets and earned 160 million yen (about US$1.47 million) to rank #3 in its opening weekend. The film opened on 231 screens on October 19. The film earned 64.4% of the first-week earnings of the franchise's previous film, Precure Miracle Universe, which opened in March earlier this year. The Eiga.com site reports that the film will initially projected to earn 1 billion yen (about US$9.2 million) during its entire run.

Yūta Tanaka (Go! Princess Precure, Eiga Mahō Tsukai Precure! Kiseki no Henshin! Cure Mofurun!) directed the film.

Re:Zero Hyōketsu no Kizuna (Frozen Bonds), the original video anime (OVA) for the Re:Zero franchise, dropped off the top 10 in its third weekend. It still earned 22,638,900 yen (about US$207,600) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 224,264,700 yen (about US$2.05 million).

The anime adaptation of Sato's Fragtime manga opened at #1 in the mini-theater ranking in its opening weekend. The anime opened with limited screenings at Shinjuku's Wald 9 and other theaters in Japan last Friday, November 22.

The anime had its U.S. premiere at Anime NYC on November 16, and Sentai Filmworks later announced at the event that it has licensed the anime.

The theatrical screening of the Sōkyū no Fafner THE BEYOND anime's fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes dropped from #1 to #2 in the mini-theater ranking in its third weekend.

The third OVA volume of the Tennis no Ōjisama BEST GAMES!! original video anime (OVA) project dropped from #2 to #4 in the mini-theater ranking in its second weekend.

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