Some pretty big news is being released this week.



A new trailer for "Space Battleship Yamato", based on the popular 70's anime, starring Kimura Takuya has been released via Japanese TV and it looks like they are going into the right direction with the special effects for this sci-fi epic. Some rumor in the past said that Kimura himself had them redo the effects after seeing what Hollywood did with Avatar. Now with the longer trailer you can finally tell that at least the effects look way better than the average effects you can see in Japanese movies. Everything else looks really close to the original as well, so I'm having high hopes that this movie is going to deliver.

The movie has a budget of 2b Yen ($23m USD), making it one of the more expensive productions in the country.

The new trailer will play with Bayside Shakedown The Movie 3, and Toho will distribute the film this December.

The film definitely looks better than any local release I've seen in the visual effects department. There is quite a bit of buzz surrounding this film. I've noticed many news sites (Slash, HSX, etc.) here reporting on the trailer's release and everything, too.

Hey when is TS3 releasing in Japan and can you suggest how big will be the legs and opening there ? How did the previous installments in the franchise did specially if they were released last year in 3D ?

I've been posting about it and the other July releases the past couple pages. lol.

TS3 opens on July 10th. A week after Bayside Shakedown 3, against Pokemon 13, and a week before Studio Ghibli's latest. So poor release date in terms of competition.

Toy Story grossed 1.5b yen, and Toy Story 2 grossed 2b yen. The exchange rate would obviously be different now and then, but today 1.5b is about 17.5m and 2b is about 23m.

Toy Story 1.5 billion
A Bug's Life 1.9 billion
Toy Story 2 2 billion
Monsters Inc. 9.5 billion
Finding Nemo 11.0 billion
The Incredibles 5.3 billion
Cars 2.3 billion
Ratatouille 2007 3.9 billion
Wall-E 4.0 billion
Up - 4.7 billion


The double feature was released this year actually, but failed to make the Top 10 when it opened.

Weekend Summary, 6/26-27

1. Confessions Toho $3,243,949 4 266 $12,195 3 $24,266,544
2. Iron Man 2 Paramount Int'l $1,199,218 3 415 $2,890 -25 $10,154,916
3. Masked Rider Den-O Trilogy The Movie Episode Yellow TOEI $1,138,214 2 217 $5,245 -49 $3,908,169
4. Sex And The City 2 Warner Bros. International $1,060,172 4 384 $2,761 -15 $14,853,613
5. Book Of Eli, The Kadokawa-Herald $733,003 2 239 $3,067 -30 $2,931,995
6. Outrage Warner Bros. International $679,997 3 155 $4,387 -23 $6,013,400
7. Alice In Wonderland Walt Disney Int'l $579,307 11 250 $2,317 -27 $130,519,376
8. Flowers Toho $345,911 3 301 $1,149 -26 $3,298,441
9. Piecing me Back Together SPD $333,080 2 110 $3,028 -28 $1,239,362
10. Alone Scalpel TOEI $322,003 4 256 $1,258 -15 $4,582,09

Yen

1 . 1 告白　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 283,779,410 . 　 3%　 266 1,066,860 　 2,122,827,878
. 2 . 3 アイアンマン2　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 104,907,161 . -25%　 415　 252,825 　　 888,348,110
. 3 . 2 仮面ライダー EPISODE YELLOW　　　　　　　　 　 99,570,540 . -49%　 217　 458,831 　　 341,885,175
. 4 . 4 セックス・アンド・ザ・シティ2　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 92,743,454 . -15%　 384　 241,499 　 1,299,388,361
. 5 . 5 ザ・ウォーカー　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 64,122,828 . -30%　 239　 268,253 　　 256,489,706
. 6 . 6 アウトレイジ　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 59,485,914 . -23%　 155　 383,742 　　 526,049,990
. 7 . 7 アリス・イン・ワンダーランド 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 50,677,516 . -27%　 250　 202,706 . 11,601,784,515
. 8 . 8 FLOWERS フラワーズ　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 30,260,201. -26%　 301　 100,506 　　 288,546,349
. 9 . 9 瞬　またたき　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 29,137,781 . -28%　 110　 264,865 　　 108,418,891
10 10 孤高のメス　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 28,168,662. -15%　 256　 110,048 　　 400,839,486
11　N King of Pop　キング・オブ・ポップの素顔.....25,960,744 　　 　 -　 167　 155,441 .　 　 61,284,853
12 11 RAILWAYS　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 22,392,563 . -16%　 201　 111,386 　　 508,063,632
13 13 プリンス・オブ・ペルシャ　　　　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 20,530,039 . -11%　 348. 　 59,037 　　 638,324,641
14 12 トリック3　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　 19,307,292 . -18%　 294. 　 65,636 　 1,801,179,048
15 16 マイケルジャクソン This Is It　　　　　　　　 　 　 　 14,216,986 　 40%　 255. 　 55,738 　 5,175,560,408

Everything held very well this weekend with no openers making the Top 10 (the new MJ film opened at No.11 with $291,000, but over $600,000 for the 3day, while This is It sees a big increase bringing it's total near $60m with this re-release). Sort of the calm before the storm that's coming.

Confessions keeps increasing, having avoided any kind of drop in's entire run so far. $40m is in reach if it can survive Bayside Shakedown and the other July releases.

Iron Man 2 has surpassed Iron Man in total and looks good for possibly a $15m total.

Kamen Rider Episode Yellow even avoided a 50% drop this weekend, I think a first in the many films in the franchise.

Sex and the City 2 keeps impressing with it's holds. It has exceeded 1m admissions and looks to finish with about $17.5m.

Alice in Wonderland has two more weeks before it disappears, and it's making the most of it's time left crossing 11.6b Yen and $130m. A total of $132/$133m will be the finish, good for the 10th spot on the all time USD chart.


In non-top 10 news, it was reported that One Piece Strong World ended it's run with 5b Yen (about $57m), edging out Up it seems.

Update in local currency.


Info: 1b is generally seen as the success mark in the region. Eiren (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan) will only include films that reached 1b or more in their yearly rankings, too.

Title/Yen Total/(Days in Release/tracking ends)

In Release:

Alice in Wonderland - 11,601,784,515 (72)
Confessions - 2,122,827,878 (23)
Trick the Movie 3 - 1,801,179,048 (51)
Sex and the City 2 - 1,299,388,361 (24)
____________________________________________________________
Iron Man 2 - 888,348,110 (17)
Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time - 638,324,641 (31)
Outrage - 526,049,990 (16)
Railways - 508,063,632 (31)
Alone Scalpel - 400,839,486 (23)
Kamen Rider Episode Yellow - 341,885,175 (9)
Book of Eli, The - 256,489,706 (9)


2010 Archive:



2009 1b+ Results: Japanese Films - 34, Imported - 22
2010 1b+ Update: Japanese FIlms - 14, Imported - 9

Some films in the archive are still in theaters, and will be updated when final figures are revealed.

Weekend Summary updated and edited to include Yen grosses (which gives us films outside the Top 10, too).

Final poster revealed:




And here is an interview/preview that aired recently.

Any August release dates?

Sure,

8/1 - Ashita-Yarukoto, Uchudeichiban, Stay Out of the Grave, Misskurosawa
8/7 - How to Train Your Dragon, Kamen Rider FOREVER, Frozen, Seraphine, Haunting Lover
8/13 - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
8/14 - The Karate Kid, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Kinako the Movie, El Secreto De Sus OJos
8/21 - Kaidan Restaurant the Movie, Dogwood, Beyblade Invaders the Movie, Colorful, NECK, Duel Masters Double X The Movie
8/28 - Tokyo Island, Hanatohebi 3, King Game, Toilet Movie

A-Team and Het Nieuwe Rijksmuseum are set for August, but no actual date yet.

Also, Cats & Dogs 2, Caterpillar, The Back-Up Plan, and Mao's Last Dancer are still set for summer, but no release has been given.


Overall, pretty average looking month to me and I wouldn't be surprised to see the big July releases top each weekend. As to which July release, I don't know. Bayside Shakedown 3 will if it opens big enough to keep Toy Story 3 and The Borrower Arrietty from No.1, but the latter two could open on top, Arrietty being the most likely with Bayside in it's third week and Toy Story in it's second.

Predictions are all over the place for the three (100m-200m for Bayside, 40m-110m for TS3, 60m-100m for Arrietty are the ranges I saw today on the forums) I mentioned though, so just have to wait and see what happens in the coming weeks.

How will How to Train Your Dragon fare? Any shot at $15+ million (which would be good for this film in Japan)?

low/mid teens sounds good based on Dreamswork's previous films. Though being released fairly close to TS3 and Arrietty might be a problem.

The days is here, the first showings of Bayside Shakedown 3 are just now ending in Japan.

Weekend Forecast, 7/3-4

1 N Bayside Shakedown The Movie 3: Set The Guys Loose!
2 1 Confessions 5
3 N Adel and the Pharaoh
4 2 Iron Man 2 4
5 4 Sex and the City 2 5
6 5 Book of Eli, The 3
7 3 Kamen Rider Episode Yellow 3
8 7 Alice in Wonderland 12
9 N Lost Crime
10 6 Outrage 4

Most predictions have Bayside Shakedown 3 opening somewhere around 1b-1.3b this weekend, landing somewhere on this chart:

All Local Openings Over 1 billion Yen (2day)

2004, Howl's Moving Castle (Toho) - Y1,483,843,060 / 1,104,980 admissions (448 screens)
2003, Bayside Shakedown 2 (Toho) - Y1,237,750,000 / 865,553 admissions (408 screens)
2009, Rookies Graduation (Toho) - Y1,225,278,650 / 987,387 admissions (428 screens)
2009, One Piece Strong World (TOEI) - Y1,038,439,600 / 819,738 admissions (188 screens)
2008, Ponyo (Toho) - 1,025,472,300 / 812,557 admissions (481 screens)
2007, Hero (Toho) - Y1,009,473,875 / 749,807 admissions (475 screens)
2008, Boys Over Flowers Final (Toho) - Y1,005,798,910 / 805,350 admissions (400 screens)
2001, Spirited Away (Toho) - Y1,001,000,120 / 810,006 admissions (318 screens)

In USD, the 1b-1.3b projected range most are expecting will gives us a range of $11.5-$15m.

On the chart above, the only ones that opened above $10m (because of the exchange rate) are: Howl's Moving Castle - $14m, Rookies - $12.8m, One Piece - $11.7m, and Bayside Shakedown 2 - $10.5m. Ponyo and Boys Over Flowers just barely miss the mark.

I'll keep updating throughout the weekend, and hope to see some advance sales figures become available soon since the film has now opened.

Before I start talking about the morning shows, I don't think there was an item left untouched by Bayside Shakedown (just a few random things from the Bayside group on twitter):






But my favorite has to be.....



So awesome.



Now, the first showings (not including midnights) are starting. Morning shows probably won't be too busy (or they might, the series does have many older fans), but here are some pictures:







The Toho Cinemas (maybe others) even have a goods location on the inside:




http://twitter.com/


More updates later

Toho's Sun Cinema ended up being the selected theater for the special greeting from the cast today. The greeting is being recorded and will broadcast in 41 other theaters before the movie.

I don't know if that's the media on the side, or part of the audience.

Hey corpse I was wondering how did Storm Warriors do in Asia????

The first movie Storm Riders was a blockbuster, but I had no clue that there was a sequel to that.

It wasn't released in Japan, but BOM has it listed: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/intl/?i ... O01&p=.htm

They may not be final figures, so Bluebomb and soagg can probably tell you more about the film's performance in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Storm Warriors dropped heavily with the sequel. The reviews were from bad to awful. It made about the same money the original made (though I don't have the exact figures). It had a huge opening and then dropped heavily and then was soon removed from the theaters

lol but it looks so damn cool. Another Last Airbender I guess???

I didn't see the movie but from what I heard here the only part interesting was the last minute scene that was marketed heavily in the trailers. The scene finishes off in about 2 minutes and apparently nothing significant or surprising happens there. The rest of the movies is just draggy and dull, trying to build up to that last scene. The reviews were the worst I have ever seen for a sequel here. Cannot still really compare here to TLA which I think regardless of the WOM, it will be better here (for an original movie) cause people here are more into special effects. IM2 was also a general 3.5-4 out of 5 stars here because of the scenes at the end.

Following up the above:




The stage greeting was held at 10am (the first showing at most locations), and was broadcast on 41 screens across the country where an est. 10,000 people watched the speech.

10,000 people at the first showings this morning from 41 screens (Bayside Shakedown 3 open on 447, 3rd highest for a local film) is very, very impressive. It's an average of about 244 people per screen.

Needs to beat the following...the only local movies to cross $10m by the end of Sunday (first weekend).

Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea (2008) - $14.8m (or $9,667,033/ 1.25m adms. 3-Day - 481)
Hauru No Ugoku Shiro (Howl’s Moving Castle) - $13,998,152 (¥1.48bn/ 1.1m adms. - 448 TC)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away) - $13.1m (3-Day Holiday or $8,897,909 without p/v - 321 TC)
Rookies (2009) - $12,703,775 (428 TC)
One Piece Film: Strong World (2009) - $11,979,803 (188 TC)
Bayside Shakedown 2 - $10,489,418 (408 TC)
Death Note 2: The Last Name - $10,326,716 (612,500 adms. or $6,498,174 without p/v - 362 TC)

The $14.8m (1.5b yen total) for Ponyo is for a full 3days, same for Spirited Away (1.6b yen total). Death Note 2's weekend was the $6m+ you have in parenthesis.

Below are the local films (all that have crossed 1b for the opening weekend) 2day weekend totals, without additional days or previews.

2004, Howl's Moving Castle (Toho) - Y1,483,843,060 ($14m)/ 1,104,980 admissions (448 screens)
2003, Bayside Shakedown 2 (Toho) - Y1,237,750,000 ($10.5m) / 865,553 admissions (408 screens)
2009, Rookies Graduation (Toho) - Y1,225,278,650 ($12.9m) / 987,387 admissions (428 screens)
2009, One Piece Strong World (TOEI) - Y1,038,439,600 ($11.7m) / 819,738 admissions (188 screens)
2008, Ponyo (Toho) - 1,025,472,300 ($9.7m) / 812,557 admissions (481 screens)
2007, Hero (Toho) - Y1,009,473,875 ($8.7m) / 749,807 admissions (475 screens)
2008, Boys Over Flowers Final (Toho) - Y1,005,798,910 ($9.6m) / 805,350 admissions (400 screens)
2001, Spirited Away (Toho) - Y1,001,000,120 ($8.6m) / 810,006 admissions (318 screens)

In USD, the chart would be:

Howl - 14
Rookies - 12.9
One Piece - 11.7
BS2 - 10.5
Ponyo - 9.7
BOF - 9.6
HERO - 8.7
Spirited Away - 8.6

(though some, like 20th Century Boys 3 ($9.4m) opened higher in USD than Hero and Spirited Away, but far less in Yen, so I didn't include them in my chart). So actually, only 4 films have opened over $10m for the 2day weekend.

You see a few differences (11.7 vs 11.9 for One Piece for instance) due to different exchange rates being used at the time.

Awhile ago, I emailed Mark Schilling (writes sometimes for Variety, Japan Times, etc) about better local sources I could use, and he pointed me to a forum that linked me to an amazing japanese site for the Japanese Box Office that dates back to 1998 (where BOM only goes to 2002).

So admissions, 2day totals, which was so much needed because sometimes only 3day is reported by domestic sources, like in Ponyo's case, I always knew the 3day, but never the 2day yen/admissions, and everything else is found there.

If you're missing more 2day weekend figures for local, and Hollywood, films you can PM me anytime. I recently put together an overall 2day opening chart that I'm going to post when BS3's opening is known. HP1 is even included, which BOM has no information on besides a total. It might surprise you to know which film currently holds the opening weekend record, it's not Sith that BOM lists, it's not even in the top 3.

I love your analysis Corpose, brilliant.

Thanks.

The evening showtimes for Toho's Umeda Cinema in Osaka are sold out for Bayside Shakedown 3. Very good news. Osaka is probably the most likely place to see sellouts though given the older population there. BS3's teen/young adult appeal has been in question considering it's been 7 years since BS2 and the TV show was in the late 90's. But sellouts are sellouts.

Toho has reported that mid-day attendance was 94% of Bayside Shakedown 2's.

If we use the 94% figure for the entire weekend, Bayside Shakedown 3 would end up between 810,000 - 820,000 admissions (Y1.05b - Y1.1b or $12-$12.5m) for the 2day using the average ticket price.

This may prove to be accurate, or not.

Bayside Shakedown's audience skews a bit older than, say, Rookies, so the ticket price for an adult at the door is higher (20% more) than a person who is in Junior/High School or College. Then again, someone over the age of 60 gets a bigger discount than someone still in school. But I doubt the theaters are swarmed with seniors.

Ticket Price Breakdown:

Regular Adult: 1800 yen ($20.50)
High School and College: 1500 yen ($17)
Junior High and younger: 1000 yen ($11.50)
Senior (60+): 1000 yen ($11.50)
Infant (22 months or under): 1000 yen ($11.50)
Disabled: 1200 yen ($13.50)
3D: 2300 yen ($26)
Executive Seat: 2500 yen ($28.50)
Pair Seat: 2000 yen per person ($45.50+)

We'll see how this turns out during the weekend, an opening day figure should be available tomorrow.