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Mamoru Hosoda's Belle Film, Live-Action Tokyo Revengers Earn Over 2 Billion Yen at Box Office
posted on by Alex Mateo
Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's new BELLE (Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess") anime film sold more than 1.69 million tickets for more than 2.4 billion yen (about US$21.8 million) as of Sunday, its 10th day at the box office.
BELLE opened in Japan on July 16 and ranked at #1 in the Japanese box office. The film sold more than 600,000 tickets for more than 891,663,200 yen (about US$8.14 million) in its first three days. It sold more than 459,000 tickets for 679,995,700 yen (about US$6.20 million) on its first Saturday and Sunday alone. Its opening was bigger than that of Hosoda's highest-earning film, The Boy and The Beast which eventually ended its run with 5.85 billion yen (about US$53 million).
The film has IMAX screenings in 38 theaters throughout Japan. This makes BELLE the first of Hosoda's films to have IMAX screenings. France's Cannes Film Festival first screened the film in the festival's Cannes Premiere section last on July 15. It marked the first Official Selection at the festival for Hosoda. (The director's previous Mirai film screened at the Directors' Fortnight, an independent section held in parallel to the festival, in 2018.)
GKIDS licensed the film for North America, and will release the film in English and in Japanese with English subtitles this winter.
Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars,The Boy and The Beast, Mirai) directed and scripted the film, and is also credited for the original work. The film marks Studio Chizu's 10th anniversary. Taisei Iwasaki (Blood Blockade Battlefront, Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan, The Naked Director) is the film's music director and composer.
The live-action film of Ken Wakui's Tokyo Revengers manga has sold over 1.66 million tickets for more than 2.25 billion yen (about US$20.4 million) in its first 17 days. The film ties Rurouni Kenshin Saishūshō The Final for reaching that yen milestone among Japanese live-action films this year.
The Tokyo Revengers film earned 696,434,440 yen (about US$6.31 million) in its first three days to top the Japanese box office in its opening weekend.
The film opened on July 9. The film was slated to open in Japan last October, but was delayed to 2021 due to the effects of the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Japan. The production halted filming in April 2020 due to COVID-19.
Tsutomu Hanabusa (live-action Kakegurui, Miseinen dakedo Kodomo ja Nai) directed the film. Rock band SUPER BEAVER performed the film's theme song "Namae o Yobu yo" (I'll Call Your Name).
Wakui launched the manga in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in March 2017, and Kodansha published the manga's 23rd compiled book volume on July 16. Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga digitally in English, and it published the 21st volume digitally in English on July 13. The manga is also inspiring a television anime that premiered on April 10.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web (link 2)
