Yes its running #1 in Japan and breaking a lot of records here but its holds in domestic market were no short of crazy. It also did stay in Top 10 for a very long time in domestic market which is very very rare similar to the run it is having in Japan.

Let's not forget that Japan is a country where films have better legs than the US, so while Frozen's run is great, I feel some of you are just point-blank comparing it to the US run and labelling it better. Understand the market its playing in before heralding it the best thing since sliced bread.

In my opinion, the US run is still better. If it beats Princess Mononoke, then I'll think that the Japanese run is more impressive, but for now, the US wins (just).

It's not just its legs that are impressive, it's the scale it's performing on. Big opening, and better weekends than that ever since. It's only been out for less than two months and it's already the biggest foreign animated film in both admissions and gross. Soon it will be in the top 10, which no film has managed since 2009. It could break the top 5 even, which no film has done in a decade, and will be the first foreign film to do so since 2001.

So yeah, it might not be the best thing since sliced bread, but comparing its Japanese feats directly to its domestic performance in the context of the Japanese box office still makes it more impressive to me.

It is very impressive. When it gets inside the Top 10, I'll agree with you.

Frozen could potentially gross more than Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3 combined, which were the Top 2 highest-grossing imported animated films.

Selling more tickets than them combined is better than 50% I believe, too, which would put it in range of possibly beating Titanic's admissions to make it the most-attended imported film ever. At the very least, it's going to become the 3rd most-attended imported film ever as it'll definitely beat Harry Potter 2's 14 million admissions to claim 3rd place behind Harry Potter 1 and Titanic.

Frozen is making some huge money very quickly in Japan. Beating Titanic's admissions would be insane.

I doubt very much that it beats Titanic.

Estimated Golden Week earnings so far (Mon-Thur):

Mon-Thur Gross ¥($), % change from past weekend, Estimated Total ¥($)
¥1.16 billion ($11.2 million), +50%, ¥13.251 billion ($129.8 million) - Frozen
¥774 million ($7.5 million), +57%, ¥1.265 billion ($12.4 million) - Thermae Romae II
¥468 million ($4.5 million), +02%, ¥2.098 billion ($20.6 million) - Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension
¥431 million ($4.2 million), +03%, ¥953 million ($9.4 million) - The Amazing Spider-Man 2
¥322 million ($3.1 million), +17%, ¥596 million ($5.8 million) - Partners the Movie 3

This year, two of Golden Weeks holidays fall on Saturday and Sunday. The last time this happened was in 2008, and most films saw weekend increases (including double digit gains) in addition to their strong weekday performances.

>Frozen added a lot of showtimes for this upcoming weekend and will undoubtedly see a big weekend increase. It will break into the Top 10-All Time, and should be around ¥14.3/14.4 billion ($140 million) with 11.5 million admissions or so after Sunday. It'll be just over ¥1 billion away from passing Avatar and Ponyo.

>Thermae Romae II should get close to ¥2 billion ($20 million) after Sunday, just 9-days in release.

>Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension should exceed ¥2.5 billion after Sunday; perhaps with a 3-week total of ¥2.6/2.7 million ($25/26 million).

>The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will get close to ¥1.5 billion ($15 million) after Sunday. I expect it'll barely cross the mark on Sunday.

>Partners the Movie 3 may get close to ¥1 billion ($10 million) after Sunday, its 9th-day in release.

Does the TITANIC total of 16.83m admissions include the re-release?

No. If you would include it, then add about 300,000 admissions or so for 17.13 million admissions. The 3D re-release only grossed ~¥450 million ($5.5 million).

Estimated Golden Week (Apr. 29th - May 06th) earnings so far (Mon-Fri):

Mon-Fri Gross ¥($), % change from past weekend, Estimated Total ¥($)
¥1.32 billion ($12.8 million), +71%, ¥13.410 billion ($131.4 million) - Frozen
¥885 million ($8.6 million), +80%, ¥1.365 billion ($13.3 million) - Thermae Romae II
¥520 million ($5.1 million), +12%, ¥2.150 billion ($21.2 million) - Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension
¥495 million ($4.8 million), +18%, ¥1.015 million ($9.9 million) - The Amazing Spider-Man 2
¥370 million ($3.5 million), +17%, ¥645 million ($6.3 million) - Partners the Movie 3

This year, two of Golden Weeks five holidays fall on Saturday and Sunday. The last time this happened was in 2008, and most films saw weekend increases (including double digit gains) in addition to their strong weekday performances.

Weekend Forecast will be posted shortly. Golden Week concludes on Tuesday, May 06th.

Weekend Forecast [05/03-04]

01 (01) ¥910 million ($8.9 million), +18%, ¥14.30 billion ($140.3 million), Frozen (Disney) Week 8
02 (03) ¥530 million ($5.2 million), +14%, ¥2.68 billion ($26.3 million), Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension (Toho) Week 3
03 (02) ¥525 million ($5.1 million), +07%, ¥1.89 billion ($18.6 million), Thermae Romae II (Toho) Week 2
04 (04) ¥395 million ($3.8 million), -06%, ¥1.41 billion ($13.8 million), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Sony) Week 2
05 (--) ¥300 million ($2.9 million), 0, My Little Nightmare (Toho) NEW
06 (--) ¥280 million ($2.7 million), 0, Enchanted Kingdom 3D (Toho-Towa) NEW
07 (05) ¥270 million ($2.6 million), -02%, ¥920 million ($9.0 million), Partners the Movie 3 (Toei) Week 2
08 (06) ¥240 million ($2.2 million), +21%, ¥1.05 billion ($10.3 million), Crayon Shin-chan: Serious Battle! Robot Dad Strikes (Toho) Week 3
09 (07) ¥65 million ($630,000), -14%, ¥975 million ($9.6 million), Crows: Explode (Toho) Week 4
10 (08) ¥50 million ($480,000), -19%, ¥550 million ($5.3 million), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Disney) Week 3

New to this weekend's forecast... estimated totals! And this weekend definitely has the potential to become the biggest of all-time. There are sell outs all over the place already.

I wasn't expecting too much from the two openers, but they're doing very well so far this morning/afternoon. And with both Saturday and Sunday being holidays during this year's Golden Week, there's a lot of potential for huge numbers. And yes, I think Frozen may have its biggest weekend in its 8th week of release.

Overall, I'm predicting weaker increases as whole over the weekend than in 2008 (last time Sat/Sun were both holidays during GW), but that's mainly due to how big the films are compared to those 6 years ago. Of course, this could also cause a reverse situation with a major spillover effect boosting everything, too. It's going to be a fun weekend!

Captain America, lol.

Toho Cinemas Saturday Admissions (05/03-04)

Saturday (05/03) Afternoon Update (02:30PM):

Admissions (% change from last Sat. Afternoon) - Film (Dis.) Week in Release
43,529 (+68.2%) - Frozen (Disney) Week 8
20,522 (+31.3%) - Thermae Romae II (Toho) Week 2
19,559 (+22.7%) - Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension (Toho) Week 3
11,068 (+30.7%) - Crayon Shin-chan: Serious Battle! Robot Dad Strikes (Toho) Week 3
9,764 (NEW) - My Little Nightmare (Toho) NEW
9,614 (+2.9%) - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Sony) Week 2
9,328 (-5.2%) - Partners the Movie 3 (Toei) Week 2
8,730 (NEW) - Enchanted Kingdom 3D (Toho-Towa) NEW

Very huge for Frozen. Very, very, very huge. This is its biggest mid-day Saturday admission figure to date, and this is definitely going to be its biggest Saturday, and probably weekend as well. It's going to blow the biggest 8th weekend record out of the water by a huge margin. Nothing has had a performance even close to this in over a decade, and it's becoming a serious contender for $200 million+.

Thermae Romae II also saw a very, very impressive increase over last Saturday at the same point in time. Its legs so far appear not far from those of the original's which were amazing. The original increased almost 30% in its second weekend by comparison. And it and Detective Conan will have another close race for 2nd place over the weekend.

Great start for My Little Nightmare. It will likely beat Crayon Shin-chan (very nice increase for it, too) for the day since Shin-chan grows weaker and weaker into the evening hours. It might even give The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a battle for fourth place this weekend, though the latter's 3D tickets should give it a strong advantage overall.

And good numbers for Enchanted Kingdom 3D, too. Nature documentaries still remain very popular in Japan. I think it's being released in the States in the fall.

Wow, that's a rather steep decline. The Jap needs to be more open in regards to immigration policy and culture if it wants to have a sustainable national GDP.

Its still increasing..

7PM update from BO.com

Compare 19:00 Update Numbers

Last Week (sat) This Week (sat)

Toho 45866 71229

109 10330 17232

Kinezo 10140 15355

*Total 66336 103816 ( +56%)

its probably targeting close to 90K admissions in Toho today and probably 12M+ weekend !!!!!!!!!!!! its looking like it will beat SA at least in $ gross.

How has it got to 9m admissions if its weekends are only 200k big?

Where are you getting 200K number. Average weekend admission number is around 650-700K. Its weekdays have been huge like Spring break plus wednesdays have been great(bcos of discount to ladies). This week have been ginormous. So it sprinted past 10M admissions.

Right in your post. 103k total for a Saturday.

I get that Japan is a leggy market but didn't someone say this weekend might be its biggest?

How would it get to 9m admissions if this weekend could be its biggest?

It passed 9 million admissions weeks ago. It's over 11 million now.

The admission updates are from various cinema chains. Toho is the biggest that has admissions available, and represents about ~20% of the nation's theaters.

That is just 3 chains. Only Toho is big( 2nd biggest). Only these 3 chains provide sales numbers in real time for free members. Corpse did report the theater break down based on chains few pages back. let me look for it and bump it up.

I think this is looking at 500K+ admissions for just saturday.

500,000+ is probably pushing it. Looks more like 440-460,000.

Toho has been selling more tickets than past weeks thanks to the 3D dubbed version and sing-a-long being played more at their locations. That's what caused last weekend's Toho Admission/Overall Weekend Admissions to be off last week.

Beating SA in Yen would be ~$300M correct? What about admissions? That one overenthusiastic dude on BO.com thinks its going to blow past $300M, but I don't think it seems realistic at all.

Are we expecting Titanic/HP1 to fall?

16m seems rather far away now that Golden Week will be ending.

Still can't believe how phenomenal the performance became though. I want it to beat IM3 WW (and OS) that would be a hoot, though Disney is just rolling in the cash without doing anything.