News

Shin Ultraman Film Sells 1 Million Tickets in 8 Days

TOHO revealed on Saturday that Studio Khara's new Shin Ultraman (New Ultraman) film has sold about 1,032,000 tickets and has earned about 1.54 billion yen (about US$12.04 million) as of Friday, its eighth day in theaters. TOHO is streaming a special promotional video to commemorate 1 million tickets sold.

The film sold 641,802 tickets and earned 993,410,050 yen (about US$7.68 million) in its first three days at the box office to top the weekend chart. The film has the highest-earning debut weekend for a live-action Japanese film in 2022 so far.

Shin Ultraman earned 17% more in its first three days than Shin Godzilla did when it opened in August 2016.

Shin Ultraman opened in Japan on May 13, after a delay from its previously planned early summer 2021 timeframe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Takumi Saitō plays the film's main character, the man who can transform into Ultraman. Masami Nagasawa is the partner of the main character. Hidetoshi Nishijima also stars in the film. TOHO is distributing the film.

Shin Godzilla director Shinji Higuchi and his Higuchi-Gumi team helmed the project, and Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno was in charge of planning and scripts. Kenshi Yonezu performs the film's theme song "M87."

A draft of the script was completed in February 2019, and Anno focused on the project after completing Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time, which opened in Japan in March 2021 after multiple delays.

Sources: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, TOHO Movie's YouTube channel