Yeah, ¥13.5 billion (or ¥13.51 billion to break that tie) to crack the Top 15 is a good end goal. That'd also put it one or two places above where it's likely to land on the All-Time Admissions chart as well.

As mentioned in the Weekend Ranking post on the last page, No Way Home became just the second MCU film to reach ¥4 billion this week. Still going to finish a good bit behind Endgame, and of course the OT Spider-Man films, but it's a strong showing.

Could have been stronger, yeah, I'd agree with anyone saying this given how much it had going for it, but this is pretty much the only big win for Hollywood since 2019 in Japan.

Marvel & DC Box-Office History (1980-):

OPENINGS:


TOTALS:
¥7.50 billion ($59.2 million) - Spider-Man (2002)
¥7.12 billion ($66.9 million) - Spider-Man 3 (2007)
¥6.70 billion ($61.1 million) - Spider-Man 2 (2004)
¥6.13 billion ($55.4 million) - Avengers: Endgame (2019)
¥5.06 billion ($46.7 million) - Joker (2019)
¥4.05 billion ($36.1 million) - Spider-Man: No Way Home (2022) *8 Weeks in Release*
¥3.74 billion ($34.1 million) - Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
¥3.61 billion ($46.2 million) - The Avengers (2012)
¥3.21 billion ($26.0 million) - Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
¥3.16 billion ($39.1 million) - The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
¥3.14 billion ($30.7 million) - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
¥3.06 billion ($28.2 million) - Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
¥3.00 billion ($20.0 million) - Batman (1989)
¥2.80 billion ($25.6 million) - Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
¥2.63 billion ($24.1 million) - Captain America: Civil War (2016)
¥2.57 billion ($26.4 million) - Iron Man 3 (2013)
¥2.55 billion ($12.0 million) - Superman II (1981)
¥2.25 billion ($20.0 million) - Venom (2018)
¥2.04 billion ($19.2 million) - Deadpool (2016)
¥2.04 billion ($18.6 million) - Captain Marvel (2019)
¥1.97 billion ($24.2 million) - The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
¥1.90 billion ($16.7 million) - Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
¥1.87 billion ($16.4 million) - Doctor Strange (2017)
¥1.86 billion ($16.9 million) - Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
¥1.85 billion ($18.1 million) - X-Men (2000)
¥1.80 billion ($16.3 million) - Deadpool 2 (2018)
¥1.80 billion ($15.9 million) - X2: X-Men United (2003)
¥1.76 billion ($17.0 million) - Suicide Squad (2016)
¥1.64 billion ($14.8 million) - Aquaman (2019)
¥1.60 billion ($15.8 million) - The Dark Knight (2008)
¥1.56 billion ($14.5 million) - Black Panther (2018)
¥1.53 billion ($14.3 million) - X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
¥1.50 billion ($11.9 million) - Superman Returns (2006)
¥1.40 billion ($14.1 million) - Batman Begins (2005)
¥1.34 billion ($12.2 million) - Wonder Woman (2017)
¥1.32 billion ($11.7 million) - Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
¥1.21 billion ($10.0 million) - Ant-Man (2015)
¥1.20 billion ($13.7 million) - Iron Man 2 (2010)
¥1.20 billion ($10.6 million) - Eternals (2021)
¥1.15 billion ($10.2 million) - Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
¥1.14 billion ($10.1 million) - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
¥1.10 billion ($9.8 million) - Justice League (2017)
¥1.07 billion ($9.7 million) - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
¥1.03 billion ($10.1 million) - X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
¥970 million ($9.8 million) - Man of Steel (2013)
¥960 million ($8.8 million) - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
¥950 million ($10.1 million) - Fantastic Four (2005)
¥900 million ($8.2 million) - Black Widow (2021)
¥900 million ($9.3 million) - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
¥900 million ($9.8 million) - X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
¥850 million ($8.2 million) - Hulk (2003)
¥830 million ($6.9 million) - Daredevil (2003)
¥820 million ($8.4 million) - The Wolverine (2013)
¥800 million ($8.9 million) - Iron Man (2008)
¥750 million ($8.0 million) - X-Men: First Class (2011)
¥740 million ($6.8 million) - Logan (2017)
¥725 million ($6.9 million) - X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
¥700 million ($6.3 million) - Shazam! (2019)
¥700 million ($6.8 million) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
¥650 million ($6.3 million) - Thor: The Dark World (2014)
¥580 million ($5.3 million) - The Suicide Squad (2021)
¥550 million ($7.0 million) - Thor (2011)
¥535 million ($5.1 million) - Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
¥500 million ($4.7 million) - Birds of Prey (2020)
¥420 million ($4.2 million) - Watchmen (2009)
¥400 million ($3.7 million) - X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
¥400 million ($5.0 million) - Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
¥370 million ($3.3 million) - Catwoman (2004)
¥240 million ($2.0 million) - The Incredible Hulk (2008)
¥200 million ($1.9 million) - Green Lantern (2011)

Marvel/DC

Tracking Shinjuku for a point!!, Doraemon Friday pre-sale (total shows are six) isn't piling up but Sat is stronger. But Ensemble Stars!! Road To show!! looks stronger Friday with 2 shows at 90% &another 2 shows at over 50% sell out, while one show yet to open out!!

Finally, The Batman has listed an IMAX preview on 10 March though sell hasn't started... I have read several comments talking about pulling Joker legs, though I fairly assume ¥1.5B-¥2.0B is a done deal.. What do you think about it Corpse?

Doraemon is typically dead on Friday since it skews so young (almost its entire demo is in school/at work, and that demo doesn't go out in the evenings/nights). Friday shouldn't account for more than ~15% or something of the entire 3-day weekend. Saturday and Sunday will be way, way stronger.

I'm going to assume The Batman will open around ¥250/300 million and finish close to ¥1.5 billion, more or less the norm of a solid performance for most Marvel/DC films, but it's hard to say. Hollywood's status is, well, dismal right now. Spider-Man aside, every Hollywood film has bombed so far in 2022. I think a lot depends on if it can breakout big in the U.S ($150 million+ opening, but likely a lot more than that, like $200 million+, to generate the necessary buzz) to deliver though. And reviews for Marvel/DC films are pretty much meaningless, as even the best received Marvel/DC films are frontloaded in Japan due to their niche/limited audience.

Joker managed to breakout beyond the Marvel/DC crowd, thus out-opening and finishing well above the vast majority of Marvel/DC films, by appealing to the general public due to its award contention status.

Some opening weekends will be limited still, though, as COVID restrictions are being extended in Tokyo and 16 other prefectures. They were set to expire on March 6th, but now it's March 21st (right before Spring Break). As discussed, these restrictions don't impact the overall performance of a film, but they do put a cap on how much a film can earn in a single day/weekend.

From PS numbers I've seen 200M opening looks out of the question and I'm not sure about 150M, might hit it but wouldnt be surprising to see it fall into 130-140M ballpark imo.

How many weeks did Demon Slayer stay at #1? How does JJK compare to that?

Oh I found out that Demon Slayer stayed at #1 for 15 weeks and JJK already had fallen out of top spot earlier...

Will ultimately top Weathering With You (¥14.19B) if it can defeat "The Batman" in on it's Weekend Hold!

I think it's only 15 by gross, but JP bo usually ranks on admissions if I remember correctly where it only had 12 consecutive, 14 total (losing 13th weekend to gintama).

I've had a loaded work week, so haven't really had time to post last weekend's results. I'll do it either tomorrow or on Saturday. Or, since it's basically another weekend, I may hold off and post BOTH last weekend's and this upcoming weekend's results on Monday.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time wins Best Animation from Japan Academy Prize.
Bell wins Best Music.
Drive My Car wins in every categories it nominated except Best Newcomer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45th_Japa ... Film_Prize

Surprising that Belle lost. Hosoda's only loss. Then again, perhaps the final Eva, since it delivered critically and with fans, may have had the edge going in anyway as a way to celebrate the iconic franchise itself.

I'll have last weekend's result, as well as this weekend's results, posted tomorrow. Apologies for falling behind a week! Work, work, work.

Belle is also nominate (and won) in Best Music, my theory is that the committee vote for it so that in animation category they can vote for other anime and not feeling bad for not voting for Belle. It's like "hey at least Belle won something and the cake can be split".

Weekend Ranking (03/05-06):

01 (---) Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021 (Toho) NEW
02 (---) The Last 10 Years (Warner Bros.) NEW
03 (01) Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Toho) Week 11
04 (02) The Cherry Bushido (Nikkatsu) Week 3
05 (03) Death on the Nile (Disney) Week 2
06 (---) Ensemble Stars!! Road to Show!! (Bandai Namco Arts) NEW
07 (04) Ushikubi Village (Toei) Week 3
08 (05) The Confidence Man JP: Episode of Hero (Toho) Week 8
09 (07) West Side Story (Disney) Week 4
10 (06) Uncharted (Sony) Week 3

Here is LAST weekend's ranking.

Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021, delayed from 2021 and the 41st entry in the franchise and remake of the original film, finally opens in its usual first weekend of March slot. The film earned ¥394 million ($3.4 million) on 322,000 admissions over the weekend across 382 screens, and grossed ¥440,773,000 ($3.8 million) on 359,184 admissions over its first three-days in release. This is an alright debut, but also below what was the franchise standard prior to the pandemic.

I do expect legs to be above average though with Disney abandoning the upcoming spring box-office season, so there is still a chance it can hit ¥3 billion ($25 million). The franchise saw a boon in the late 2010s, but has since come back down to its more regular numbers. I expect it'll probably stabilize around ¥3 billion again over the next few years, and then likely decline the closer we get to 2030 where the demographic loss (kids, families) will eventually begin to hit this franchise pretty hard at some point as it skews exclusively to young kids and families.

The Last 10 Years opened in second place to a respectable ¥221 million ($1.9 million) on 162,000 admissions on 350 screens, and grossed ¥306,685,070 ($2.6 million) on 228,018 admissions over its first three-days in release. These romantic, often sad/tragic, films tend to be very leggy too, so this opening is particularly good when taking this into account since it could be enough to get it above ¥2 billion (near $20 million) or more.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 slips to third place in its eleventh weekend in release, earning ¥133 million ($1.1 million) on 87,000 admissions. Its total is up to a whopping ¥12,396,642,890 ($111.3 million) and 8,859,950 admissions. Also, as anyone following the Japan box-office closely (or this film) probably knows, it had its final giveaway this weekend (03/12-13), where it saw a big increase. I'll project where it'll likely finish in the next weekend rankings post later this evening.

Also, I'll update the 2022 Charts after I post the weekend ranking for 03/12-13 later this evening as well.

And thanks for the reminder, Kanroji.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 opens in North America this upcoming weekend (March 18th). Decently wide release (~1500 theaters), so there should be a theater within reasonable distance for most NA fans here to check it out.

No worries

Feeling more confident that 13.5b for JJK can happen after last weekend. Was this giveaway explicitly stated to be the last, or was that an assumption? I feel like TOHO might end up slipping one last in if it wasn't.

I believe I saw "final" or some other concluding-like term for this one.

I got sidetracked last night, but I'm working on the weekend results for this weekend right now! Should be up within the hour.

Weekend Ranking (03/12-13):

01 (01) Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021 (Toho) Week 2
02 (02) The Last 10 Years (Warner Bros.) Week 2
03 (---) The Batman (Warner Bros.) NEW
04 (03) Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Toho) Week 12
05 (---) Wedding High (Shochiku) NEW
06 (---) Kamen Rider OOO: 10th Core Medal of Resurrection (Toei Video) NEW
07 (04) The Cherry Bushido (Nikkatsu) Week 4
08 (---) JO1 The Movie: Unfinished - Go to the Top (Toho Video Division) NEW
09 (06) Ensemble Stars!! Road to Show!! (Bandai Namco Arts) Week 2
10 (07) Ushikubi Village (Toei) Week 4

Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars 2021 easy defended the top spot, enjoying a respectable 29% drop in its second weekend to earn ¥281 million ($2.4 million) on 229,000 admissions. Its two-week total is up to ¥819,207,600 ($7.0 million) and 669,337 admissions. The weekdays for Doraemon are always dismal, but it makes up for it when Spring Break begins in two weeks. It should reach at least ¥2.5 billion, but ¥3 billion ($25 million) is achievable if it thrives during the holidays.

The Last 10 Years managed to score a rare second weekend increase (+2.7%), grossing ¥227 million ($1.9 million) on 170,000 admissions. I don't want to say this will be another Loved Like a Flower Bouquet (which almost hit a 20x multiplier last year), but this is a hell of start to showcasing what was already likely to be strong legs. Its two-week total is already up to ¥937,549,230 ($8.0 million) and 723,456 admissions, too. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets up to ¥2.5-3.0 billion ($20-25 million) or more after its stellar second week result.

The Batman debuts in third (second in revenue), grossing ¥247 million ($2.1 million) on 152,000 admissions over the weekend frame on 821 screens, and earned ¥370,202,640 ($3.2 million) and 230,341 admissions since Friday. Pretty standard opening for a Marvel/DC film. Expect a finish around ¥1.5 billion ($12/13 million), maybe a bit less.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 didn't have its weekend gross revealed, at least that I could find, which is really annoying because it'd rank among the biggest 12th weekends (not at/near the top, but still pretty high up). It experienced a 54% increase at the usual locations, so we can estimate it grossed ~¥204 million ($1.7 million) and ~134,000 admissions in its 12th weekend though.

Its total has now risen up to ¥12,713,792,090 ($114.0 million) and 9,075,553 admissions. It should begin to slow down soon, however, it does have Spring Break coming up soon which will prevent any sort of major decline. Therefore, I believe JustLurking is correct in that it's aiming to enter the All-Time Top 15 Highest-Grossing Films with ¥13.5 billion (~$121 million) / 9.6 million admissions, but it may go a little big higher still.