Post updated with some numbers for Doraemon, Sherlock, The Hurt Locker, and Hana No Ato.

Where's The Girl Who Leapt Through Time?

No idea. It's still in the top 5 most popular films on Eiga, too. I can only guess it was opened (and it did open) on just a hand full of screens because Oceans was No.11 this weekend, so it didn't really come close to the Top 10.

Weird.

On a (mostly) unrelated note: I borrowed the DVD for the animated version fron the library earlier today.

Wow, they had it at a library? That's awesome. It's a great movie, my favorite that I saw in 2008.

Yep.

There's also a showing of Summer Wars in a few weeks in a theatre in Cologne (part of the Fantasy Film Festival Nights)

Hey Toycorpse what sci-fi/action/adventure/animated japanese movies are worth watching?

Could you make some suggestions.

thanks

The 20th Century Boys Trilogy is great. It was one of the most expensive films in the country, 6b yen total, and it was well worth it. You can find the films fairly easy. Total box office for the three films was $120m.

Chapter 1 Trailer

(Plot Summary: Kenji and his friends start to notice a series of odd occurences related to their childhood. A mysterious cult-leader named "friend" is out to destroy the world, and it has something to do with Kenji's childhood memories) is great.



Yatterman was also good, though a bit messy. It actually opened against Doraemon last year and claimed the top spot. It went on to finish with $32m.

Plot Summary: A mysterious gem called the "Skull Stone" said to be able to reveal the location of the largest vein of gold in the world. This legend has entranced many people who wanted to get their hands on fame, power and wealth, including the Dorombo Gang. However, their hunt for the Skull Stone is not as easy as they imagined, mainly due to the faulty information they receive from their leader; and most of all, by a justical duo of pursuers called the "Yatterman".


Paprika is a film by the amazing Satoshi Kon which might fit into what you're looking for, maybe:

Plot Summary: In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called PT has been invented. Through a device called the "DC Mini" it is able to act as a "dream detective" to enter into people's dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts. Before the government can pass a bill authorizing the use of such advanced psychiatric technology, one of the prototypes is stolen, sending the research facility into an uproar. In the wrong hands, the potential misuse of the device could be devastating, allowing the user to completely annihilate a dreamer's personality while they are asleep. Renowned scientist, Dr. Atsuko Chiba, enters the dream world under her exotic alter-ego, code name "PAPRIKA," in an attempt to discover who is behind the plot to undermine the new invention.

BOM differs slightly from THR/Variety, but it's usually not too different. I'll post Variety tomorrow though since I use it for week to week tracking.

March 13-14th, 2010

1 1 Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no ningyo daikaisen Toho $3,845,984 -38.1% 366 - $10,508 $10,933,567 2
2 N Sherlock Holmes WB $3,700,997 - 441 - $8,392 $4,641,752 1
3 2 Raiâ gêmu: Za fainaru sutêji (Liar Game: The Final Stage) Toho $2,923,778 -33.5% 283 - $10,331 $10,832,229 2
4 3 Avatar Fox $2,862,317 -18.2% 562 -25 $5,093 $155,043,670 12
5 4 Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief Fox $1,175,775 -43.3% 562 +1 $2,092 $11,627,139 3
6 8 The Hurt Locker n/a $810,059 +62.2% 55 +8 $14,728 $2,463,501 2
7 N Did You Hear About the Morgans? Sony $625,224 - 227 - $2,754 $804,265 1
8 5 The Princess and the Frog WB $607,008 -41.5% 366 +3 $1,658 $2,389,626 2
9 N Hana no ato Toei $340,164 - 82 - $4,148 $488,529 1
10 6 Oceans GAGA $285,359 -54.6% 250 -17 $1,141 $25,545,132 8
11 7 Saru lock Showgate $284,449 -48.7% 226 - $1,259 $3,101,844 3
12 9 Otouto (About/Younger Brother) Shochiku $281,818 -40.3% 305 - $924 $19,969,473 7



Good hold for Doraemon. It's second weekend matches the opening weekend of last year's film. It should reach $35m+ with $40m being possible.

Sherlock Homes opens well, and is likely going to finish near or slightly over $20m.

And a good hold for Liar Game as well, making up a $1.5m difference between it and Doraemon after 9 days. But it likely won't have the late legs to beat Doraemon, but $30+ will happen regardless.

Avatar is slightly down from estimates, but still a great weekly/weekend hold. 380 or so it's it's 562 screens are 3D, so it'll be doing strong until April 3rd (Clash of the Titans), and may take a critical hit as it'll probably lose about all of it's remaining ones to Alice on April 17th. But 4 weeks is a lot of time to bring in the money.

Percy Jackson was hit kinda hard this weekend for some reason, but it still added about $3m for the week. $20m is still possible, but it may be difficult now.

The Hurt Locker only adds 8 screens, but the buzz surrounding it's BP win is making it surge. An increase in PTA, and up over 60%. Very nice.

Hana no Ato isn't a new opener, it's been in limited release for 3 weeks. It's performing nicely though, and should add more screens in the weeks to come.

Oceans is beginning to lose screens, but it's surpassed Earth already and can still reach $30m.

Hmm 155M with 2.8M for the weekend. With the current drop rate I would say that it will make about 15M more in the next 4 weeks for a total of 170M. I have considered modest 20% drops for the weekends and about 2M weeks. Still 200M looks shaky the only thing I can see is that the average for weekdays could go a bit higher

Avatar's weekly run:

01. $14,553,033
02. $20,497,687 (+40.8%) - $35,050,720
03. $15,497,968 (-24.4%) - $50,548,688
04. $14,662,666 (-5.4%) - $65,211,354
05. $12,521,638 (-14.6%) - $77,732,992
06. $14,245,196 (+13.8%) - $91,978,188
07. $16,064,142 (+12.8%) - $108,042,330
08. $13,578,893 (-15.5%) - $121,621,223
09. $9,422,534 (-30.6%) - $131,043,757
10. $9,539,672 (+1.2%) - $139,083,640
11. $7,129,722 (-25.3%) - $146,213,362
12. $8,830,308 (+23.9%) - $155,043,670

It's not just making $17m over the next four weeks. Should be good for about $25m unless the bottom randomly falls out.

Last weekend BOM had Avatar at $148.5m (then yen total, 13.1, was suggesting $146/$147 which Variety and THR ended up with), so it would be about $6.5m (-8%) gained in week 12 using BOM's total last week and their total this week.

Using Variety/THR, the run is:

1. $14.5
2. $20.5 - $35m
3. $15.5m - $50.5m
4. $14.7m - $65.2m
5. $12.5m - $77.7m
6. $14.3m - $92m
7. $16m - $108m
8. $13.6m - $121.6m
9. $7.9m - $129.5m
10. $12m - $141.5m
11. $4.7m - $146.2m


We'll know their week 12 total tomorrow.

Thanks jiffy and Corpse for the updates but how come both of your numbers are not matching after week 9?

Also Corpse 10th week is at 12M whereas 9th and 11th week look normal?

BOM reports slightly different numbers than Variety and THR. Variety and THR are also different, but the difference is very small ($146.2 vs $146.4m for example) between them.

All of Jiffy's numbers from Weeks 1-8 are from Variety, but Weeks 9 and 10 from BOM, 11 from Variety, and finally 12 from BOM. Variety doesn't release Japan's numbers until Wednesday.

As for Week 10, I think it was inflated because Coraline took some 3D screens in Week 9, so it rebounded. And Week 11 is low most likely due to the top two openers (Doraemon and Liar Game) making almost $11m combined, by far the two biggest openers during Avatar's run so far, and Week 10 being inflated.

But there isn't really any "normal" with Japan's box office when looking at weekly drops or increases.

March 13-14th, 2010

1. Doraemon: Nobita's South Sea Adventure Toho $3,784,429 2 366 $10,340 -38 $10,758,575
2. Sherlock Holmes Warner Bros Int'l $3,641,763 1 441 $8,258 0 $4,567,460
3. Liar Game: The Final Stage Toho $2,876,983 2 283 $10,166 -34 $10,658,858
4. Avatar Fox Int'l $2,816,505 12 562 $5,012 -18 $152,562,185
5. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: Lightning Fox Int'l $1,156,957 3 562 $2,059 -43 $11,441,046
6. Hurt Locker, The Broadmedia $797,094 2 55 $14,493 62 $2,424,073
7. Did You Hear About The Morgans? Sony Int'l $607,494 1 226 $2,688 0 $783,669
8. Princess and the Frog, The Walt Disney Int'l $597,293 2 366 $1,632 -42 $2,351,380
9. After the Flowers TOEI $334,720 1 82 $4,082 0 $480,710
10. Oceans GAGA $280,791 8 250 $1,123 -55 $25,136,280


Avatar:

1. $14.5
2. $20.5 - $35m
3. $15.5m - $50.5m
4. $14.7m - $65.2m
5. $12.5m - $77.7m
6. $14.3m - $92m
7. $16m - $108m
8. $13.6m - $121.6m
9. $7.9m - $129.5m
10. $12m - $141.5m
11. $4.7m - $146.2m
12. $6.4m - $152.6m


Instead of showing the weekend number for each week, I'm going to begin using the actual week number since weekdays are normally stronger than the weekend number.

After 12 weeks,

Spirited Away - $197.4m ($8.3m week)
Howl's Moving Castle - $166.2m (a number is left off it's Week 11 total, so no accurate number)
Avatar - $152.6m ($6.4m week)
Bayside Shakedown 2 -$146.7m ($6.2m week)
Harry Potter 1 - $143.7m ($2.2m week)
Ponyo - $141.8m ($5.3m week)
Harry Potter 2 - $136.1m ($0.8m week)

Top 10 USD




Top 10 Yen

Since Avatar is looking to pass Ponyo sometime in April to become the 4th biggest film all-time in USD, I'd like to compare their weekly box office. I'll compare Bayside Shakedown 3 to them this summer, too.

Week 1 - Avatar ($6.8m 2-day, $14.5m 5-day) vs Ponyo ($11.6m 2-day, $13.8m with previews)
Week 2 - Avatar: $20.5m ($35m)* vs Ponyo: $15.5m ($29.3m)
Week 3 - Avatar: $15.5m ($50.5m) vs Ponyo: $18.7m ($48m)
Week 4 - Avatar: $14.7m ($65.2m) vs Ponyo: $17.4m ($65.4m)
Week 5 - Avatar: $12.5m ($77.7m) vs Ponyo: $24.6m ($90m)*
Week 6 - Avatar: $14.3m ($92m) vs Ponyo: $14.2m ($104.2m)
Week 7 - Avatar: $16m ($108m) vs Ponyo: $13.3m ($117.5m)
Week 8 - Avatar: $13.6m ($121.6m) vs Ponyo: $7.9m ($125.4m)
Week 9 - Avatar: $7.9m ($129.5m) vs Ponyo: $6.3m ($131.7m)
Week 10 - Avatar: $12m ($141.5m) vs Ponyo: $2.2m ($133.9m)
Week 11 - Avatar: $4.7m ($146.2m) vs Ponyo: $2.6m ($136.5m)
Week 12 - Avatar: $6.4m ($152.6m) vs Ponyo: $5.3m ($141.8m)
Week 13 - Avatar: $?.?m ($???.?m) vs Ponyo: $4.4m ($146.2m)

*Big Holiday Week


I was only able to track Ponyo on Variety until it's 13th week though.

Wow the estimated total of 155M was not even close to the actual figure of 152M.

Corpse very nice information with the weekly things. I thought weekdays were weaker than weekends but it seems that is not the case for Japan

Estimates most of the time tend to be a bit high, and BOM has so many mistakes with their grosses internationally, I try to stay away from them if I can. Today I even found some more mistakes by them:

4 - Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) $713,048 - 230 - $3,100 $229,699,366 31
5 4 Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) $608,670 -14.6% 119 -111 $5,115 $230,308,036 32
7 5 Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) $622,826 +2.3% 119 - $5,234 $230,930,862 33
7 7 Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) $346,754 -44.3% 140 +21 $2,477 $229,548,046 34
8 7 Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) $336,214 -3.0% 144 +4 $2,335 $228,653,305 35
10 8 Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) $246,206 -26.8% 127 -17 $1,939 $229,607,878 36

It ended up less than where it was at in week 31? And they have it's total at $229m? Yeah, not right at all. Variety's $234m looks a little low now (the weekend numbers above would put it near $233m alone, and weekdays are just as strong if not stronger normally), too, but it's far more accurate than BOM.

Harry Potter 1 is also above their $152.9m that I've been using, that was the total before it fell out of the Top 10 but it was still doing over $250,000 each weekend on over 100 screens. The total is likely more around $155/156m or so.

Those are just a few of many mistakes (if only because they lacked the information) BOM's International Section has.

Heading into the weekend, here are the most popular films on Eiga (3/19/10):

1. The Hurt Locker
2. Avatar
3. Nine
4. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
5. Sherlock Holmes
6. Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider Trilogy Movie - Episode Red - May 22
7. Liar Game: The Final Stage
8. Up In The Air
9. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
10. Hana No Ato
11. Nodame Cantabile The Movie II - April 17
12. Spider-Man 4 - TBA
13. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010)
14. The Blind Side
15. 2012
16. Alice in Wonderland - April 17
17. Did You Hear About The Morgans?
18. Rhapsody Kidnapping - April 3
19. The Princess and the Frog
20. Doraemon The Movie: Mermaid King Battle
21. G-Force
22. Invictus
23. Solanin - April 3
24. Girl Next Door
25. Surely Someday - July 17

blue - new release
red - future release

Wow I am definitely surprised with Cirque Du Freak and Nine.

I would say great for Avatar to be in Top 3 after so long in release

Cirque du Freak (The Saga of Darren Khan) is, what seems to be, a fairly popular manga based on the book series. The film version has been quite popular for months now. The film has more votes (users on a scale of 1-5 rate how likely they are to see the film) than any film besides Nodame Cantabile, This Is It, One Piece: Strong World, and Avatar over the past 6 months on Eiga.

And Nine should do okay. Musicals tend to do solid business. Most musicals released in recent years have grossed near or over $20m.

I haven't found many numbers for this week/weekend, yet, but Liar Game: The Final Stage exceeded 1m admissions. And using a rough avg. ticket price, it should be around $15m after three weeks. So it looks like another strong week for it.

March 20-21st Admission Rankings (Top 7):



1 - Pretty Cure DX2 / Defend the Jewel ☆ Rainbow Ray of Hope!
2 1 Doraemon The Movie: Battle of the Mermaid King 3
3 2 Sherlock Holmes 2
4 3 Liar Game: The Final Stage 3
5 - Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
6 - Nine
7 - G-Force

I know very little about the Pretty Cure series or the films, but it clearly did big business this weekend. I do know that the popular group AKB48 performs the theme songs for the animated series though. Defend the Jewel ☆ Rainbow Ray of Hope! opened on 160 screens this weekend.

Another note, both Cirque du Freak and Nine were released on a Friday, so their debuts might seem a bit weak due to having a deflated 2day. THR has Cirque du Freak opening with $1.5m on 330 screens, but it's unclear if that's the 2day or 3day (usually it's the 3day).

And G-Force doesn't debut well. Add it to the list of non-Pixar CGI foreign films that disappoint or bomb in Japan.

How did Up in the Air perform?

I can't find anything about it yet. I'm doubting it was given much of a release though.

It may have missed the Top 10 entirely though because films 8-10 will probably consist of Avatar, Percy Jackson, both of which would be tough to beat, and the last spot being either The Hurt Locker/Princess and the Frog/Hana no Ato/Did You Hear About The Morgans?.

Also, Avatar was 7th last weekend in Admissions, so it probably fell out of the Top 10 in Admissions this week. But since it's tickets are so high (2x the avg), it should still be in the Top 5. Over 80% of Avatar's screens are 3D/Imax now, so that's going to inflate it for awhile, too. So Cirque du Freak, Nine, and G-Force will be lower when rankings are released tomorrow.

And Avatar likely hit, or came close to, the 9m admission mark this weekend, too. 8.7m after last weekend, so 300,000 for the week was possible. Looks like it'll finish with around 10m, which isn't anything special (Ponyo/Howl - 15m/15m+, Titanic - 16.8m, Spirited Away - 23m), but one still can't deny it's box office run or total.

March 20-21st, 2010 Rankings:



1 1 Doraemon The Movie: Nobita's Mermaid King Battle Toho 3
2 NEW Pretty Cure DX2: Rainbow Ray of Hope! Toei
3 2 Sherlock Holmes WB 2
4 3 Liar Game: The Final Stage Toho 3
5 4 Avatar FOX 13
6 NEW Nine Kadokawa/Shochiku
7 NEW Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Toho/Towa
8 NEW G-Force Disney
9 6 The Hurt Locker Broadmedia Studio 3
10 5 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief FOX 4
11 8 Princess and the Frog Disney 3

Doraemon keeps the top spot for a third week in a row, exceeding Y1.5b ($17m or so) after three weeks.

It sounds like the new Pretty Cure movie grossed Y300m ($3.2/3.3m) for it's opening on 160 screens. Very impressive opening, 130% more than last year's film. This also means that Doraemon had to have a very, very strong hold this weekend since it grossed $3.9m last weekend.

Sherlock Holmes crosses Y1b yen ($11m) after two weeks. $20m should be a lock now.

Up in the Air debuted at No.12, ihope.