Also...how come Ponyo wasn't bigger...the reception seems beter than for Howl's (and it seems more audience-friendly) and it is Myiazaki's last afterall...

Pfft, Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away were also his last films. It's something he jokes about, he's already talking about what he wants to do after Ponyo.

Well, in Yen, Ponyo wasn't too far off Howl's Moving Castle, 15.5b vs 17b I believe. And Howl's Moving Castle also followed the No.1 film, Spirited Away, so I'm sure that contributed some to it's gross.

And while I don't think competition is a big issue in Japan, the avg. person only sees 1/2 films a year for example, and big films always open near each other, but Pokemon the 11th movie opened the same day as Ponyo. And if Ponyo skewed younger than his previous films, it's possible perhaps a small portion of the general audience was lost there. Certainly not enough to make up the difference between Ponyo and Howl, but it's a possible factor.

So it's not his last film? Cool.

I hope he keeps making films. May be he can collaborate with disney and make a hand drawn animation that would do well in japan and still has some potential in other markets.

That seems unlikely. It took him forever just to come to American for Comic-Con this year. He didn't even come to claim his Oscar in 2003. I really doubt he cares much for anything except for making the best films he can for his audience. He claims he doesn't even watch his peers films anymore or anything. And i don't see how he has time, he reportedly works 18 hour days, 6 days a week, when he's making a film.

According to interviews, one last year he mentioned he'd be working on short films for the Studio Ghibli Museum, and a few months back he mentioned he was considering drawing a Porco Rosso sequel. Whether he plans on making an actual full-length theatrical sequel to Porco Rosso isn't know, could just be a short or a collection of shorts for the museum, but he has a busy schedule right now.

I'm actually impressed Ponyo did as amazingly well as it did in Japan since the storyline seemed much simpler than the more epic tone of his three previous films, but really, Miyazaki is pretty much a national icon over there. I don't know of any other director who has such consistent and substantial success in a film market outside of Spielberg in the late 70's-early 80's. Can you imagine one director making four of the five biggest films ever here?

Kogyo projected rankings:

1 NEW NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN FOX 1
2 2 HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE WB 5
3 1 Masked Rider Decade/Sinkenger (JPN.) Toei 2
4 4 HACHIKO: A DOG'S STORY Shochiku 2
5 3 Pikachu The Movie 2009 (JPN.Animation) Toho 5
6 6 Amalfi (JPN.) Toho 5
7 8 Gokusen The Movie (JPN.) Toho 6
8 5 G.I.JOE: RISE OF COBRA Paramount 2
9 7 BOLT Disney 3
10 NEW TRANSPORTER 3 Asmik Ace 1

Screen Daily says Night at the Museum 2 opened to 8.6m, which would be spectacular. However, it could also be a 3-day total, not a 2-day. Like when Terminator IV opened to 10m, it was because the film had an extra day. Might be the case with Night at the Museum 2. Either way it's really good though.

Potter to remain in 2nd (estimated rankings, so could be No.3 perhaps) is a very good sign after last weeks weak hold.

Amalfi and Gokusen continue their strong runs, both should be near 30m when numbers are released. Gokusen could be slightly over, we'll see.

I wonder if Avatar has a shot at $100 million in Japan...

$50m at least......though the potential is definately there for a gross well over $100m. Hard to predict with that one.

Looks like Obon holidays really helped Potter as it managed some minor increase and nearly 13 mln. for full week.

1 N Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox $3,738,793 - 625 - $5,982 $8,638,955 1 USA
2 2 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince WB $3,505,640 +1.3% 663 -8 $5,288 $70,010,622 5 Unknown
3 1 Gekijôban Kamen raidâ Dikeido: Ôru Raidâ tai Daishokkâ (Kamen Rider Decade the Movie: All Riders Vs. Great Shocker) Toei $2,269,561 -54.7% 345 - $6,578 $12,526,469 2 Unknown
4 3 Hachiko: A Dog's Story Shochiku $2,256,266 -3.6% 349 - $6,465 $9,272,433 2 Unknown
5 6 Amalufi: Megami no hôshû Toho $1,768,692 +0.7% 357 - $4,954 $29,641,425 5 Unknown
6 4 Gekijô ban poketto monsutâ: Daiamondo pâru - Arceus Chokoku No Jiku He (Pokémon 12) Toho $1,732,939 -18.7% 366 - $4,735 $40,631,237 5 Unknown
7 5 G.I. Joe UIP $1,351,909 -27.1% 385 - $3,511 $6,938,658 2 Unknown
8 8 Gokusen: The Movie Toho $1,339,496 +14.2% 409 - $3,275 $31,728,424 6 Unknown
9 7 Bolt Disney $1,335,384 -13.7% 482 -1 $2,771 $12,318,533 3 USA
10 - Transporter 3 Asmik Ace $1,184,944 - 137 - $8,649 $1,184,944 2 France

Well, Harry Potter looks like it actually does have a chance to pass Order of the Phoenix in Japan afterall. Should crawl past $80 million...

Indeed, it should be locked in to pass HP5 after grossing more last week than it did the week before. Very, very nice.

Pokemon crossing 40m is also huge, it's going to end up beating last years film it seems which happened to be the biggest film of the franchise.

And as I suspected, the 8.6m for N@TM was not for the weekend, but more for the week, seems it had more than 3 days too, looks more like 4.

With some luck, perhaps Amalfi and Gokusen can crawl to 40m (same with Evangelion which stayed almost flat with 655,000 for a 35m total).

Any shot Terminator IV had at passing Angels & Demons is now over after losing almost all it's theatres again.

Rookies hits 88m, 90m is a lock there. Very nice again. Might have a shot at beating Pirates 3 (91m) with some more luck, which would make it the second biggest film of the past 4 years behind Ponyo.

Hmm with the Harry Potter franchise becoming pretty stable by now and maybe evn being on the rise I wouldn't rule out one of the Deathly Hallows films actually passing $100 million in Japan...

An article from last month (July 26th) that I missed, but it goes over the first half of 2009 at the Box Office. So some of the totals mentioned in the article are of course higher now for certain films.

8/22-23

1 1 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Fox $1,942,888 -48.0% 624 -1 $3,114 $14,567,664 2 USA
2 2 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince WB $1,723,973 -50.8% 660 -3 $2,612 $75,199,313 6 Unknown
3 4 Hachiko: A Dog's Story Shochiku $1,362,347 -39.6% 348 -1 $3,915 $13,810,558 3 Unknown
4 3 Gekijôban Kamen raidâ Dikeido: Ôru Raidâ tai Daishokkâ (Kamen Rider Decade the Movie: All Riders Vs. Great Shocker) Toei $1,327,638 -41.5% 345 - $3,848 $15,910,494 3 Unknown
5 6 Gekijô ban poketto monsutâ: Daiamondo pâru - Arceus Chokoku No Jiku He (Pokémon 12) Toho $1,092,268 -37.0% 366 - $2,984 $44,153,227 6 Unknown
6 N Taken Fox $1,062,162 - 239 - $4,444 $1,062,162 1 France
7 5 Amalufi: Megami no hôshû Toho $988,328 -44.1% 357 - $2,768 $32,694,054 6 Unknown
8 10 Transporter 3 Asmik Ace $930,756 -21.5% 161 +24 $5,781 $3,502,789 3 France
9 11 Samâwôzu (Summer Wars) WB $915,330 -21.9% 128 - $7,151 $9,800,496 4 Unknown
10 9 Bolt Disney $708,086 -47.0% 469 -13 $1,510 $14,906,742 4 USA
11 N Animation Yattâman The Movie Shochiku $702,155 - 210 - $3,344 $702,155 1 Unknown
12 N Hottarake no shima - Haruka to maho no kagami Toho $674,449 - 211 - $3,196 $674,449 1 Unknown
13 7 G.I. Joe UIP $576,379 -57.4% 382 -3 $1,509 $8,872,480 3 Unknown
14 8 Gokusen: The Movie Toho $553,231 -58.7% 409 - $1,353 $33,963,369 7 Unknown
15 13 Evangerion shin gekijôban: Ha (Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance) n/a $477,173 -27.2% 118 - $4,044 $36,347,110 9 Unknown
16 N Rocket Men Sony $465,724 - 104 - $4,478 $783,186 1 Unknown
- - Cadillac Records Sony $28,628 -26.9% 6 +1 $4,771 $115,244 2 USA
- - Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins Sony $698 -87.2% 1 -4 $698 $33,865,480 11 USA
- - Rachel Getting Married Sony $404 - 1 - $404 $349,619 19 USA


Weak weekend, but some impressive totals are beginning to show.

HP6 will beat HP5 by a comfortable margin now, mid 80's would be my guess.
Pokemon the 12th movie sees a strong hold this weekend, and will surely hit 50m now.
Amalufi also sees a decent hold this weekend considering last week was a holiday. 40m is still doable here.
Gokusen and Evangelion 2.0 are also aiming for 40m. Evangelion being especially huge given it's widest release was just 200 theatres.













.

Kyogo weekend (8-28/29) estimate rankings:

1 NEW 20th Century Boys -Chapter 3- (JPN.) Toho 1
2 1 NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN FOX 3
3 2 HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE WB 7
4 3 Masked Rider Decade/Sinkenger (JPN.) Toei 4
5 5 Pikachu The Movie 2009 (JPN.Animation) Toho 7
6 4 HACHIKO: A DOG'S STORY Shochiku 4
7 9 Summer Wars (JPN.Animation) WB 5
8 7 Amalfi (JPN.) Toho 7
9 6 TAKEN FOX 2
10 11 Oblivion Island Haruka And The Magic Mirror (JPN.Animation) Toho 2



Looks like another really strong weekend for holdovers. Potter, Pokemon, and Amalfi becoming very leggy. All three opened big against each other, and still holding their positions after 7 weeks.

And 20th Century Boys - Chapter 3 likely opened very high. Chapter 1 opened to around 6m, while Chapter 2 opened to about 7m. I'll have to go back and check my posts. Chapter 1 finished with just over 40m, Chapter 2 just over 30m. So another likely hit with Chapter 3.

Chapter 3 opened to $9.34 million.

Very nice, and a very solid increase over Chapter 2. 40m is probably a lock then.

THR have their numbers posted: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/too ... /Japan.jsp

Pretty huge for 20th Century Boys - Chapter 3. The trilogy was one of the most expensive to date, and the previous two films have grossed around 75m combinsed, and Chapter 3 will send the trilogy soaring past 100m with what should be an easy 40m.

Harry Potter hits 80m, matching the previous film. So the downward spiral has finally stopped for the franchise. The mid 80m total should be good enough for 2nd for the year behind Rookies, unless something this holiday season breaks out.

Pokemon the 12th movie is getting closer and closer to 50m.

And Amalfi inches closer to 40m. The three (Potter, Pokemon opening less than their previous film, yet grossing more, and Amalfi -) have really shown leggy runs so far, each in their 7th week.

BOM is still haven't fixed their INTL section, but THR once again have their numbers posted: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/too ... /Japan.jsp

Good hold for 20th Century Boys - Chapter 3. It'll easily outgross Chapter 2 now, and should be able to surpass Chapter 1's total possibly heading for the 50m mark. This should help make up for the slight loss July/August probably lost on 2008 thanks to Ponyo. 2009 should still be over 10% ahead of 2008 regardless though. 09 was 17% ahead heading into July.

September is also a weak month in Japan, but Potter 6 is getting closer to 85m, where it should finish roughly. Nice little increase over Potter 5.

Night at the Museum 2 took a hit this past week, and 30m no longer seems like a possibility. Still solid though.

Amalfi is still crawling to 40m, just very slowly now that September has come. It'll take the entire month to reach the target.

Pokemon the 12th Movie apparently fell out of the top 10 (though estimated ranks had it at the bottom), but should be pretty close to 50m now with 48m or so. If BOM updates soon, it should be included with the below the top 10 films.

Ice Age 3 recently finished with 1.3m. Massive drop from Ice Age 2's 8m finish.

Heh, I remmeber how Shrek 2 disappointed in Japan as well after bombastic performances everywhere else.

Japan is the redeemer of overseas animation performances.

Again, THR: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/too ... /Japan.jsp

BOM INTL is still down.

20th Century Boys - Chapter 3 didn't have a great week, adding just 8m (weekdays are weak now), but 40m is still happning.

Very mediocre for Wolverine.

Harry Potter crosses 85m, but 90m isn't likely. But 87/88 is still a nice little increase over the previous film.

HR updated

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/too ... /Japan.jsp


20th Century Boys - Chapter 3 is STILL #1 in Japan and stands at $43 million now, meaning that $50 million might still happen.

That matches Chapter 1. 50m probably will happen.

Hopefully BOM updates soon. HR didn't update last weekend, so I haven't been able to find the numbers for it