I haven't had to update this since September, but The Last: Naruto the Movie is seeing the series go out with a bang at the box-office. It's the 6th film this year to reach 50,000+ admissions at Toho Cinemas on Saturday.

Toho Cinemas Saturday/Weekend Admissions (Overall Weekend Admissions) [2013-]

Opening Day/Weekend (Overall), OD/OW multiplier (OW/Overall Weekend multiplier)
85,115/167,188 (747,451), x1.96 (x4.47) - The Wind Rises (07/20/13)
68,575/159,180 (717,948), x2.32 (x4.51) - Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (09/13/14)
64,398/133,273 (649,865), x2.07 (x4.88) - Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension (04/19/14)
62,250/120,489 (500,837), x1.94 (x4.16) - Maleficent (07/05/14)
59,492/121,802 (614,969), x2.05 (x5.05) - Monsters University (07/06/13)
59,192/123,606 (602,347), x2.09 (x4.87) - Frozen (03/15/14)
51,800/108,724 (539,132), x2.10 (x4.96) - Lupin III vs. Detective Conan (12/07/13)
51,181/114,523 (554,991), x2.24 (x4.84) - Stand By Me, Doraemon (08/09/14)
50,274/???,??? (???,???), x?.?? (x?.??) - The Last: Naruto the Movie (12/06/14)
43,669*/75,635 (322,162), x1.73 (x4.26) - The After-Dinner Mysteries (08/03/13)
42,541/94,650 (530,544), x2.22 (x5.60) - Doraemon: Nobita's Great Demon - Peko and the Exploration Party (03/08/14)
42,537/91,182 (429,918), x2.14 (x4.71) - The Eternal Zero (12/21/13)
40,635/79,373 (339,048), x1.95 (x4.27) - Godzilla (07/26/14)
40,414*/74,131 (363,451), x1.83 (x4.90) - Midsummer Formula (06/29/13)
39,836/84,982 (365,356), x2.13 (x4.30) - Thermae Romae II (04/26/14)
38,885/85,462* (464,839), x2.20 (x5.44) - Pokemon Best Wishes: ExtremeSpeed Genesect - Mewtwo Awakens (07/13/13)
37,960/88,488* (393,522), x2.33 (x4.45) - SPEC: Close - Incarnation Part 2 (11/30/13)
37,829/78,485 (433,346), x2.08 (x5.52) - Rurouni Kenshin: The Great Kyoto Fire Arc (08/02/14)
36,995/79,454 (386,994), x2.15 (x4.87) - The Kiyosu Conference (11/09/13)
35,447/68,592 (330,385), x1.94 (x4.91) - Fast and Furious 6 (07/06/13)
33,778/67,625 (360,190), x2.00 (x5.33) - Pokemon XY: The Cocoon of Destruction & Diancie (07/19/14)
33,358/76,023 (345,921), x2.28 (x4.55) - SPEC: Close - Incarnation Part 1 (11/02/13)
32,618/64,093 (302,992), x1.96 (x4.73) - Transformers: Age of Extinction (08/09/14)
30,000+/60,000+

*Stage Greeting/Discount Day boost.

I'll have the Weekend Estimates up shortly, but until then, here are the weekend admissions from the usual locations; and below only from Toho Cinemas to compare Naruto to other top openers since 2013:

Weekend Results (12/06-07)
Usual Locations Admissions (~25% of market)

139,284 - The Last: Naruto the Movie (NEW)
52,074 (-34%), Parasyte Part 1 (Week 2)
22,674 (-50%), Fury (Week 2)
21,402 - Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Star-Voyaging Ark (NEW)
20,293 (-27%), Interstellar (Week 3)
18,992 - Bump of Chicken: Willpolis 2014 (NEW)
18,183 (-27%), As the Gods Will (Week 4)
16,745 (-18%), Miracle: Devil Claus' Magic and Love (Week 3)
8,969 (-25%), Attack on Titan Season 1 Recap: Crimson Bow & Arrow (Week 3)
7,310 (-43%), Pale Moon (Week 4)

Great holds, and one of the best weekends in months.

And Toho Cinema's Top Openings:

Toho Cinemas Saturday/Weekend Admissions (Overall Weekend Admissions) [2013-]

Opening Day/Weekend (Overall), OD/OW multiplier (OW/Overall Weekend multiplier)
85,115/167,188 (747,451), x1.96 (x4.47) - The Wind Rises (07/20/13)
68,575/159,180 (717,948), x2.32 (x4.51) - Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (09/13/14)
64,398/133,273 (649,865), x2.07 (x4.88) - Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension (04/19/14)
62,250/120,489 (500,837), x1.94 (x4.16) - Maleficent (07/05/14)
59,492/121,802 (614,969), x2.05 (x5.05) - Monsters University (07/06/13)
59,192/123,606 (602,347), x2.09 (x4.87) - Frozen (03/15/14)
51,800/108,724 (539,132), x2.10 (x4.96) - Lupin III vs. Detective Conan (12/07/13)
51,181/114,523 (554,991), x2.24 (x4.84) - Stand By Me, Doraemon (08/09/14)
50,274/88,560 (???,???), x1.76 (x?.??) - The Last: Naruto the Movie (12/06/14)
43,669*/75,635 (322,162), x1.73 (x4.26) - The After-Dinner Mysteries (08/03/13)
42,541/94,650 (530,544), x2.22 (x5.60) - Doraemon: Nobita's Great Demon - Peko and the Exploration Party (03/08/14)
42,537/91,182 (429,918), x2.14 (x4.71) - The Eternal Zero (12/21/13)
40,635/79,373 (339,048), x1.95 (x4.27) - Godzilla (07/26/14)
40,414*/74,131 (363,451), x1.83 (x4.90) - Midsummer Formula (06/29/13)
39,836/84,982 (365,356), x2.13 (x4.30) - Thermae Romae II (04/26/14)
38,885/85,462* (464,839), x2.20 (x5.44) - Pokemon Best Wishes: ExtremeSpeed Genesect - Mewtwo Awakens (07/13/13)
37,960/88,488* (393,522), x2.33 (x4.45) - SPEC: Close - Incarnation Part 2 (11/30/13)
37,829/78,485 (433,346), x2.08 (x5.52) - Rurouni Kenshin: The Great Kyoto Fire Arc (08/02/14)
36,995/79,454 (386,994), x2.15 (x4.87) - The Kiyosu Conference (11/09/13)
35,447/68,592 (330,385), x1.94 (x4.91) - Fast and Furious 6 (07/06/13)
33,778/67,625 (360,190), x2.00 (x5.33) - Pokemon XY: The Cocoon of Destruction & Diancie (07/19/14)
33,358/76,023 (345,921), x2.28 (x4.55) - SPEC: Close - Incarnation Part 1 (11/02/13)
32,618/64,093 (302,992), x1.96 (x4.73) - Transformers: Age of Extinction (08/09/14)
30,000+/60,000+

*Stage Greeting/Discount Day boost.

Toho announced over the weekend that they're going to reboot their Godzilla franchise in 2016.

It will be their first Godzilla film since 2004's Final Wars, and production for the new film will begin next Summer. The new film will not be related to Gareth Edwards' Godzilla.

Toho also stated that now is the appropriate time for the Japanese film industry to make a new Godzilla film that won't be inferior to Hollywood's revival of the character; thanks to the recent improvements in visual effects and filmmaking techniques that are also being utilized in the current Parasyte films and the upcoming Attack on Titan live-action films being released next Summer.

http://www.cinematoday.jp/page/N0068810

And speaking of Attack on Titan, I forgot to share the character posters for the upcoming 2-part live-action film being released next Summer:

Eren (Haruma Miura)


Mikasa (Kiko Mizuhara)


Armin (Kanata Hongo)


Jean (Miura Takahiro)


Sasha (Nanami Sakuraba)


Hanji (Ishihara Satomi)


Shikishima (Hiroki Hasegawa)



For those unfamiliar, the plot of the hugely popular series (manga sales topped 45 million copies in just 2 years) is about humanity's fight against the mysterious Titans that have driven them to the brink of extinction. The remaining humans now live behind their Walls, and had done so for 100 years, until a Colossal Titan suddenly appears and destroys the outer Wall.

Sasha is sexy as fuck, and Hanji is smiling in a warzone.

Hanji is a fun character. One of my favorites actually.

She's very hyperactive, and leads experiments on captured Titans. She'll also dive into dangerous situations to observe the Titans, often scaring her subordinates in the process. She's the only character that shows any sympathy towards the Titans by becoming emotionally attached to her test subjects, and gets very emotional by any pain she sees them in (some of which she does in her experiments). And she goes into long, detailed discussions about her findings that her comrades find the least bit interesting.

The actress above looks to be portraying her very well, and she looks practically identical to her manga/anime counterpart. Overall, the entire cast looks great. In the series, Mikasa is the only Japanese character revealed so far, and some fans (especially non-Japanese fans) will have an issue with an all-Japanese cast, but what do you expect?

I'm not a fan. In fact, I have no idea what the hell that is. But it looks cool. More Japanese films should be subtitled in English. I would sooooooo watch that film. I'm fine with every film character being Japanese.

I'm going to Japan in February. I hope there are some good films to catch.

The 2015 Box-Office Year has begun!

To those reading that are unfamiliar with what that means...

The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, Inc. begins the box-office year at the beginning of December. Any revenue earned at the box-office in December still counts towards that year (2014 in this case), but any film released in December is counted as a new year release (2015 in this case).

There is one exception, however. If a November release earns more than ¥1 billion after December 1st, it is then considered a new year release. This should only apply to Parasyte Part 1 and Fury this year, which both opened November 29th. It's pretty likely Parasyte Part 1 earns more than ¥1 billion after December 1st, so it'll likely be counted as a 2015 release. Fury might, but it'll need some very strong legs. I'm guessing it'll remain as a 2014 release, though. We'll see how it performs in the coming weeks, but either way, the MPPJ releases the Yearly Box-Office Results in late January every year, so any film in question will be known then.

Top Opening Weekends - 2015
Gross ¥ ($) / Admissions [Screens] - Film (Distributor)
¥1 billion ↨
¥515.3 million ($4.4 million) / 396,280 [266] - The Last: Naruto the Movie (Toho)
¥500 million ↨
¥300 million ↨
¥200 million ↨
¥100 million ↨

The Last: Naruto the Movie kicks off the box-office year with a bang. It opened higher than Godilla did last July (see below), which would have earned it the #10 Opening Weekend of 2014.

Top Opening Weekends - 2014

2015 #1 Films
Dec. 06-07 - The Last: Naruto the Movie - ¥515 million ($4.4 million) W1


2014 #1 Films

Epic War Movie ‘Japan’s Longest Day’ To Be Remade

Quote:

TOKYO – Shochiku has announced the cast for its remake of the 1967 Kihachi Okamoto epic “Japan’s Longest Day.”

The film, which details the events leading up to Japan’s unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, stars Koji Yakusho as army minister Anami, a role originally played by Toshiro Mifune.

The director is Masato Harada, whose 2011 “Chronicle of My Mother,” which starred Yakusho as a best-selling writer with mother issues, won a slew of domestic and international prizes, including the jury prize at the Montreal World Film Festival.

Okamoto’s movie was based on a 1965 best-selling novel by Kazutoshi Hando about diehard militarists plotting a coup to stop the Emperor’s surrender announcement on August 15. Anami is caught between his loyalty to the Emperor, who wants to stop the killing, and his reluctance to admit defeat, even at the cost of more Japanese lives.

Harada’s picture will also draw from Hando’s 1988 nonfiction book about how Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki and Emperor Hirohito (known posthumously as Emperor Showa) prevailed in the peace-versus-war struggle in the government.

In addition to Yakusho as Anami, Masahiro Motoki (“Departures”) is playing Emperor Hirohito and Tsutomu Yamazaki (“Kagemusha,” “Tampopo”) Prime Minister Suzuki.

Shochiku plans to release the pic in time for the 70th anniversary of the end of the war next August.

Source: Variety

There is a lot of buzz surrounding this announcement. The director and key cast members are very strong, and distributor Shochiku will surely give it plenty of marketing. And with a release window that sounds like a prime Obon Week date, it'll definitely be one to watch next year.

December is a very popular month for major movie announcements. We've already had the new Godzilla movie (2016) announcement from Toho, and now this news from Shochiku in the first week. We can probably expect something about Mamoru Hosoda's next film that should release next Summer soon. And it's very likely the final Evangelion film will be released in late 2015, too.

I'll post an overview of the biggest movies of 2015 later this month to allow for more announcements. 2015 so far looks like a real winner for both local films (with many more to be announced) and Hollywood (if audiences will return for old franchise favorites like Star Wars, Terminator, and Jurassic Park).

So here is how the 2015 release schedule is shaping up so far. I'll provide a closer look later this month.

The release schedule below only covers the year's most popular time frames (Spring/Golden Week, Summer/Obon Week and Winter/New Year), and the only films on the schedule below are those likely to earn at least ¥2 billion (up to $20 million+) or more.

About 80% of the yearly box-office regularly comes from these 6 months:

Spring/Golden Week Releases (March/April)
Doraemon: Nobita's Space Heroes (Toho) 03/07
Strobe Edge (Toho) 03/14
Into the Woods (Disney) 03/14
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (Fox) 03/20
Assassination Classroom (Toho) 03/21
Furious 7 (Toho-Towa) 04/17
Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (Toho) 04/18
Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F (Toei) 04/18
Golden Week Releases Below:
Parasyte - Part 2 (Toho) 04/25
Cinderella (Disney) 04/25
Golden Week Releases Above:

Summer/Obon Week Releases (July/August):
Avengers: Age of Ultron (Disney) 07/04
Terminator: Genisys (Paramount) 07/10
Pokemon XY: TBA (Toho) 07/11
Inside Out (Disney) 07/18
Hero 2 (Toho) 7/18
Minions (Toho-Towa) 07/31
Obon Week Releases Below:
Jurassic World (Paramount) 08/07
Obon Week Releases Above:
Ted 2 (Toho-Towa) 08/28
Attack on Titan - Part 1 (Toho) Summer TBA
Japan's Longest Day (Shochiku) August TBA

Winter/New Year Releases (November/December):
007: Spectre (Sony) November TBA
Mission: Impossible V (Paramount) December TBA
New Year Releases Below:
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (Fox) 12/18
Yokai Watch 2 (Toho) December TBA
New Year Releases Above:

It's going to be a big, big year. A lot of these films are ¥3 billion ($25/30 million+) contenders, too.

And there are still some big announcements to come, especially for the Winter/New Year frame (where I expect will see the final Evangelion film, and possibly a new One Piece film, too, just like in 2012). Obon Week (early/mid August) is also vacant right now, so some big films will move into the dates, too.

I actually just found out about Hero 2 while doing this. The first film released in 2007, based on the TV drama that averaged over 30% in the weekly ratings, earned over ¥8 billion. And the ongoing TV drama the sequel will be based on debuted this past year and has averaged over 20% in the TV ratings itself so far. Hero 2 will be a top film of 2015 contender.

Thanks Corpse.

What do you mean by below/above?

Also, why do they split the box office/new release? It seems like its prone to double counting.

Films that are above/below on the schedule will be released during one of the 3 biggest weeks of the year (Golden Week, Obon Week, and New Year).

A lot of entertainment companies end their year in late November/early December in Japan, and the Box-Office is the same way. I haven't looked into it in great detail, but pretty much everyone ends their year by December 1st.

And I have a major movie announcement coming up soon, but it calls for a proper post.

How can Spectre come out in December? They JUST started shooting..

The schedule is for 2015.

Mamoru Hosoda announces new film, "Bakemono no Ko" (The Boy and the Beast), to open on July 11th.



Mamoru Hosoda and his recently founded studio, Studio Chizu, are seen as Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's successors in Japan, so as expected, this announcement was huge in Japan today (yesterday).

Hosoda's last three films (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children) are among the best received animated films in the past 10+ years, and all three have won numerous awards in Japan (including Best Animated Prize for all three films) and many more internationally.

And the box-office reciepts for his films have more than doubled with each new release:

¥400 million - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
¥1.65 billion - Summer Wars (2009)
¥4.22 billion - Wolf Children (2012)

Wolf Children, the first release through Hosoda's Studio Chizu, is even the highest-grossing animated film in Japan, including imports, that isn't part of a franchise or brand name.

The Boy and the Beast will be Hosoda's and Studio Chizu's big moment to see if audiences will fully accept them as Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's successors. If Wolf Children was to them what Porco Rosso was to Studio Ghibli (first major box-office success), then The Boy and the Beast should be their equivalent to Princess Mononoke (the follow up release).

ANN can cover the rest since I'm in a bit of a hurry:

Quote:

In a Tokyo press conference, Hosoda talked about the new project: "The movie is a training story about a boy who was separated from his parents and becomes a disciple of a bakemono (supernatural creature). It's going to be a traditional yet novel story."

The story is set in the human realm (Tokyo's Shibuya ward) and the bakemono realm ("Jūtengai"). In these two worlds which must not intersect, there lives a lonely boy and a lonely bakemono. One day, the boy gets lost in the bakemono world, becomes the disciple of the bakemono Kumatetsu, and is renamed Kyūta.

Hosoda explained that he set the movie in Shibuya since he "thought that there are thrilling things hidden in this town of adventure." He added, "There are surprisingly few animated works set in Shibuya. Even though it's a famous place, it'll be novel as a movie setting."

The tagline on the movie's poster reads, "A new action adventure flick." Hosoda's previous films depicted various relationships, such those between mother and child or relatives, and he commented that this movie's theme is, "Are they going to be father and son…?" He said that he is still thinking about how to cast the film, since "there's lots of ojisan (older guys)."

Hosoda created and scripted the movie, and plans to complete it next June. Theatrical screenings have already been set for France, and the major French movie studio Gaumont will handle international sales outside Asia. General producer Seiji Okuda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children) of NTV (who is producing the movie), NTV's movie division head Daisuke Kadoya, and Studio Chizu producer Yuichiro Saito (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children) attended the press conference.

Yeah, I know. But that doesn't give much time to shoot and edit the movie.

Corpse, are Miyazaki's films actually that big hits?

Especially latter day flicks. They are so well known for their films, probably the biggest brand outside Japan, and yet do they even earn any more than all the other anime and Doraemon and whatever that comes out every year? I mean, they are saying they are losing money and hence they are quitting but have their movies simply not been competing?

Frozen outearned all of them didn't it?

Miyazaki's films are the biggest in the country. He has 4 of the Top 10 films of All-Time (#1, #5, #6, #10). Frozen outgrossed all of them except for Spirited Away.

But are they big hits? The annual Doraemon or Pokemon films probably generate more profit than most of them due to the budgets.

Studio Ghibli films don't make much profit because they're the most expensive productions in Japan, and they have expensive TV exposure leading up to their release. TV is still very big in Japan, so marketing on the medium is extremely important to this day.

Their films since 2008 have each cost ¥3-5 billion (~$30-50 million) to produce (that's more than 5x the typical film budget in Japan), so it requires a significant box-office return to turn profit. Studio Ghibli uses traditional animation for all of their films (everything is still hand drawn), and with the amount of detail in their films (their panels/cels far exceed those of Disney's traditional animated films), it requires a full-time staff for 3-4 years at a time to complete. And Miyazaki himself takes on every single panel and is known to work several consecutive years without any vacation or extended breaks until he completes his work.

If Studio Ghibli decided to use CG for part of their films or even incorporate full on CGI, it'd be much, much cheaper, but they're not going to do that. Miyazaki said in the past that the studio would eventually stop film production, sooner rather than later, before they officially announced it earlier this year.

I honestly doubt they make a comeback, especially if audiences accept Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu as their successors with The Boy and the Beast next July. If audiences haven't already. Hosoda and his studio's first official film, Wolf Children, earned more than Studio Ghibli's last two non-Miyazaki releases (The Tale of Princess Kaguya and Memories of Marnie).

Before I begin working on the Weekend Forecast, which features five big debuts from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Ao Haru Ride, Aikatsu!, Gone Girl, and the latest Kamen Rider, we could see a record opening weekend next weekend.

Yokai Watch: It's the Secret of Birth, Nyan!, the first film in the massively popular multi-media franchise, is already selling out or close to selling out many theaters next weekend for Saturday and Sunday. And since it has already sold more tickets in advance than any other film in history, and with theaters already being booked for the weekend a week in advance, maybe we will finally see an opening weekend challenge The Matrix Reloaded.

Disney should have moved Big Hero 6 to March, unless it benefits from Yokai Watch being sold out for days.