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1st Haikyu!! Final Film, The First Slam Dunk Return to Top 10 at Japan's Box Office
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The film opened at #2 at the Japanese box office for the weekend of August 9-11. The film sold 365,000 tickets and earned 455,302,200 yen (about US$3.05 million) in its first three days, and sold 510,000 tickets and earned 636 million yen (about US$4.32 million) in its first four days including Monday (August 12 was the Mountain Day holiday in Japan).
The film opened in Japan on August 9.
The film follows the friendship between the Nobara family's pet dog Shiro and a "small dinosaur." Their connection helps the growth of Shinnosuke and the Kasukabe Defense Squad.
Takumi Kitamura guest stars in the film as Billy, a biology researcher who loves dinosaurs and works with the Kasukabe Defense Squad. Ozwald comedian duo Yū Hatanaka and Shunsuke Itō also guest star in the film as Chū and Ammoner Itō, respectively.
Shinobu Sasaki (director of many Duel Masters anime including the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Duel Masters TV anime) directed the film. Moral, who writes scripts for the Crayon Shin-chan TV series, wrote the screenplay.
Rock band My Hair is Bad perform the film's theme song "Omoide o Kakenukete" (Run Past Your Memories).
The film opened in Japan on August 2. It sold 608,500 tickets, and earned approximately 895 million yen (about US$6.28 million) in its first three days. The film is simultaneously screening in IMAX, MX4D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema. TOHO International will bring the film to U.S. theaters on October 11. The film will be available with English subtitles and dub releases.
The original villain characters for the film are members of a mysterious, big criminal organization called the "Gorrini Family."
Tensai Okamura (Darker than Black) directed the film at BONES. Returning staff members from the television series and previous films include scriptwriter Yōsuke Kuroda, character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi, and composer Yuki Hayashi. Vaundy performs the theme song "Homunculus" as well as the film's ending theme song "Gift."
Original manga creator Kohei Horikoshi served as the general supervisor and original character designer. The film has an original story that takes place around the same time as where the TV anime is currently, with the collapse of safe society. In the film, a mysterious giant fortress and a man who resembles the former "Symbol of Peace" suddenly appear in a society that has collapsed due to war.
The film opened on July 12. It sold 1,065,000 tickets and earned 1.629 billion yen (about US$10.28 million) in its first three days. The film sold 1.46 million tickets in its first four days, including Monday (which was the Marine Day holiday in Japan), and earned 2.2 billion yen (about US$13.89 million) in that time.
The film covers the manga's Shi Ka (Zi Xia) arc and the Battle of Bayou — the first time Shin (Xin) and Ō Ki (Wang Qi) stood on the battlefield together, to fend off the invasion by the mighty Chō (Zhao) from the north. Anne (Anne Watanabe) returns to the cast as the pivotal character Shi Ka (Zi Xia). Other cast members include Kataoka Ainosuke VI as Fuu Ki (Feng Ji), Kōji Yamamoto as Chō Sō (Zhao Zhuang), Yuki Yamada as Man Goku (Wan Ji), Eri Murakawa as You Li (Yū Ri), Hinako Sakurai as Dong Mei (Tō Bi), and Yuki Araki as Kyō.
Kento Yamazaki, Ryō Yoshizawa, Takao Osawa, and Kanna Hashimoto all reprised their respective characters Shin (Xin), Ei Sei (Yin Zheng), Ō Ki (Wang Qi), and Ka Ryō Ten (He Liao Diao), respectively, from the two previous films. Nana Seino, Hiroshi Tamaki, and Kōichi Satō from the second film also reprised their respective characters Kyо̄ Kai, Sho Hei Kun (Lord Changping), and Ryo Fui (Lu Buwei).
Shinsuke Satō (live-action Gantz, Death Note Light up the NEW world, Bleach) returned as director. Manga creator Yasuhisa Hara and Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film Gold, live-action Black Butler, GANTZ:O) returned to write the script.
HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle (Gekijōban Haikyu!! Gomi Suteba no Kessen), the first film in the two-part Haikyu!! Final sequel film project, jumped back to the top 10 at #6. This is the film's 27th week in Japanese theaters, and nine weeks since it last ranked in the top 10 in the June 14-16 weekend. The film had a new event on Sunday that featured new goods for theatergoers, as well as a new talk event featuring cast members that was streamed to theatergoers nationwide. The film earned 153,850,300 yen (about US$1.06 million) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 8.06 million tickets, and has earned a cumulative total of 11,553,358,460 yen (about US$79.62 million).The film premiered in Japan on February 16 and is also screening in IMAX. Susumu Mitsunaka (first, third Haikyu!! television anime) both directed and wrote the script for the film.
The film sold 1,529,000 tickets for 2,230,465,540 yen (about US$14.12 million) in its first three days of screening.
The anime's staff had announced the two films in August 2022. The first film depicts the "fated showdown" between Karasuno High and Nekoma High.
The film opened in Japan in December 2022, and ranked at #1 in its opening weekend. The film sold 847,000 tickets and earned 1,295,808,780 yen (about US$9.50 million) over its opening weekend. The film last had revival screenings in January.
By June 2023, the film had sold over 10 million tickets to earn 14.43 billion yen (about US$103.5 million that time) in Japan, after about a half a year in theaters. The film ended its main screening run after about nine months in Japan in August 2023.
GKIDS released the film in theaters the United States and Canada with both an English dub and with Japanese audio and English subtitles in July 2023. The film earned US$662,211 in its first weekend in North America. GKIDS released the film on Blu-ray Disc on June 25, with distribution by Shout! Studios. The film will stream on Netflix in the U.S. starting on August 25.
Bandai Namco Filmworks' Zegapain STA (Zegapain Statement Alpha) film sequel opened at #2 in the mini-theater rankings.The film opened on August 16.
Shintarō Asanuma, Kana Hanazawa, Ayako Kawasumi, and Romi Park returned from the previous anime as their characters Kyo Sogoru, Ryoko Kaminagi, Shizuno Misaki, and Lu Sheng, respectively.
Masami Shimoda returned from the previous Zegapain anime as director at Sunrise. Katsuhiko Takayama (Aldnoah.Zero, Ga-Rei-Zero, Looking Up At The Half-Moon) penned the film's script. Akihiko Yamashita returned as character designer, alongside other character designers Tatsuya Suzuki and Marie Tagashira, the latter of whom worked as character designer for the new footage in the Zegapain ADP compilation film. Rei Nakahara, Noriyuki Jinguji, Takahiro Yamada, and Hideki Fukushima all returned from the previous anime as mechanical designers. Ayako Ōtsuka also returned to compose the music.
The film has two parts. The first part, titled "Reminiscence Arc," recounts the Zegapain television anime series, and Zegapain ADP (Zegapain Adaptation) compilation film. The second part, titled "Olta Moda Arc," depicts the future after the final episode of the Zegapain TV series. The "Olta Moda Arc" is named after a "new force" in the Zegapain world.
The 25th anniversary screening of the Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie anime film ranked at #1 in the mini-theater rankings in its second weekend.
Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2, link 3), comScore via KOFIC