Hashira Training, like Swordsmith Village, is just a compilation of old episode plus new unaired episode. There's no reason to craze over it.

Is the DEMON SLAYER craze already over?

Isn't the opening of HASHIRA TRAINING kinda soft?

Box Office in 2023

¥221.482B Gross (+3.93% LY)
155.535M Admission (+2.32% LY)

Share% 66.9 J vs 33.1 I (where local films reached ¥148.181B (+1.09% LY) &Imported reached ¥73.301B (+10.17% LY)

All-Time 2nd Best Year for Local Releases behind 2016 ¥148.608B! Though, Imported condition is still a lot of pain as it's still behind Pre-Pandemic Years just paring with 2012 ¥67.009B. Overall, Industry is largely behind Pre-Pandemic Years 2019 (¥261.180B/-15.20%), 2018 (¥222.511B/-0.01%), 2017 (¥228,572B/-3.10%) &2016 (¥235.508B/-5.96%)

From the news, 2023 is second only to 2019 in term of box-office, just like many countries.

Downey should win for sure plus many technical awards like Cinematography, sound etc. It will win enough awards to make it a strong play. I am hoping it does very well in large markets with big expat population in Japan. Let us see what happens close to release.

Corpse. how many imax/plf screens are there in Japan?

I feel like it's locked to win BP BD and BA (Cillian), if it could grab a few others (emily blunt for supporting?) that would help a lot

Oppenheimer is at $952,954,330 globally. Maybe another $4M domestic for $957M. Maybe another $3M from other global markets.

Need $40M to get to $1B. Ever so close!

Great date. Maybe the 22nd would have been just a tad more ideal, being a week closer to what I presume will be an Oscars sweep, and it'd have the full benefit of Spring Break* versus just one weekend. And it's a month before Golden Week too.

If it's going to do any significant numbers in Japan, it really couldn't have a better date. Just needs to sweep the Oscars now, or at least take home all/most the big awards (BP and BD being required).

*Spring Break is ultimately pretty minimal for adult/senior-skewing films which I expect this one to be, so not much of a loss missing out on most of it, really.

1,837 days - In This Corner Of The World

Well, there wasn't any pause like Bohemian Rhapsody playing once in a week (1 show/week at Toho Cinema Hibiya). You can see the schedule here where its seen that its playing everyday, so I consider it as still playing. Ofc, I do not know if there is any other ruling here

How long did In this Corner of the world run?
DS: Mugen Train is only being shown in Ufotable theater right? Does that count as it still running? (Like, if it runs in just a single movie theater it counts as still running, right?)

Same problem for Demon Slayer: Mugen Train which still playing at Ufotable Theatre Tokushima is not shown as red.

Now I'm wondering what trigger Kogyotsushin to stop displaying red text on Top Gun Maverick. Usually it means that movie is not in theater anymore, or is it mean that the website will stop updating about that movie?
https://www.kogyotsushin.com/archives/alltime/

Post Covid-19 Longest screening record is still under Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, would take years to reach "In The Corner of The World"

Midnight Swan is also playing like 1 show every wednesday, - Numbers reported as of 4th Year Anniversary - ¥804,006,220 / 584,447 admits.

Top Gun Maverick is the longest screening work for an imported title without a break, taking down the record of West Side Story (1961) ~ 511 Days!

It will continue playing at Toho Cinema Hibiya as earlier before NY Expansion.

Its still play at 109 Cinemas Tomiya, シネマサンシャイン下関, and more until 11 January. Full list below

Top Gun Maverick will leave Japanese theater at the end of this day (January 4, 2024) with a final gross of 13.76 billion yen. It stays in theater for 1 year and 7 months, surely this must be a record breaking?

Google Translated from Kogyo Tsushin report
SPY×FAMILY CODE: White” (Toho) debuted at number one. In the first three days, 866,000 people attended and box office revenue was 1.224 billion yen.
In second place was ``Wish'' (Disney), which debuted at number one last week, with 257,000 viewers and box office revenue of 369 million yen over the three-day weekend. The cumulative results were 866,000 people and box office revenue of 1,222 million yen.

So how’s the first weekend for Spy Fam looking?

https://twitter.com/disneyjp/status/1737231359377326148



So

Turning Red will be released in Japanese theaters on March 15,

Luca will be released in Japanese theaters on March 29,

Soul will be released in Japanese theaters on April 12.


Any chance for these movies to make any significant business?

Wish did end up doubling up on Saturday, so should end up at/above ¥500 million for the weekend. Maybe a little higher if Sunday sees an increase. This should be enough to lock-in ¥3 billion, but holiday legs could carry it to ¥3.5/4 billion ($25-30 million).

The Imaginary unfortunately is disappointing. It's skewing very young, so Sunday could see a good bump, but it's well down compared to Mary and the Witch's Flower. Taking its younger skew into account, it might miss ¥200 million for the weekend. Legs may be strong with this release date, but this start would make reaching much more than ¥1.5 billion ($12 million) difficult unless it manages to spawn particularly strong legs. Even then, ¥2 billion or so (~$15 million) wouldn't be a little disappointing still.

In probably the best news Disney has had in the market since 2019 (actually... it's the best news, really), Wish is actually doing pretty well so far!

Estimating it earned around ¥105-115 million on Friday, which is just decent as a number, but on a Friday for a film I'm assuming skews younger, it's quite good. Saturday should come in about twice as high I'd say and Sunday roughly even with that, so could be looking at an opening weekend above ¥500 million (maybe closer to ¥600 million if Saturday doubles up).

This is still down a bit (although not too much) from what you'd typically expect from a big new Disney animated film, but it would be Disney's second biggest overall opening in 4 years (just behind Avatar 2, but likely ahead of it in admissions).

If it opens above ¥500 million, it could be looking at ~¥3.5/4 billion ($25/30 million) with the upcoming holidays. That could be more than the combined totals of Pixar's last two films, and like 5x more than the combined totals of Disney's last two animated films. Doubt it'll be able to give Disney their first blockbuster (¥5 billion) since 2019, but hey, it's pretty impressive if it happens overcoming everything against it and Japan would be its biggest international market by a massive margin.

The lack of systematic exit poll in Japan means the media can spin whatever it want to fit the narrative, and the "mixed WOM" narrative just happened to fall into Ghibli.

In North America, it doesn't have just one, but two audience exit polls. It gets grade A- in CinemaScore, and 4.5/5 stars from PostTrak. What's more, it even have demographic breakdown of the audience, with 80 percent of ticket buyers between ages 18 and 34. I actually have fun with the idea that the future Ghibli's film should open in North America first to collect the positive narrative, and save Japan as the last market after it finished gather all the awards.

Thanks.

Not really a lot going on at the moment, although it's in a better state than the current US box office.

-Wonka had a decent debut, and if WOM is at least solid, it could have ¥2.5-3 billion potential with the help of the upcoming holidays.

-Godzilla Minus One is beginning to hold very well, probably due to its performance in the US helping to generate buzz among more casual audiences in Japan who are coming out to see it now. I think this week has taken its chances at ¥5 billion over 50%.

-Kitarou Tanjou: GeGeGe no Nazo saw a big increase and might be far away from where it may eventually finish. I don't know if there was some giveaway or event, or maybe a sizable expansion, but until we see signs of it slowing down it's hard to predict where it's heading.

-Fly Me to the Saitama 2 is doing alright, but it looks to finish a good bit behind the original (which is notable as it was the first blockbuster, grossing over ¥5 billion, after theaters reopened nationwide again in June 2020 just a month later in July). This one might only be heading for around half of that, but still might be a little too early to rule out, say, ¥3 billion which would be good IMO.

This upcoming weekend though sees the release of The Imaginary (Studio Ponoc's new film, international title Raja in the Attic, I think) and Disney's Wish. Hoping for the best for The Imaginary, but my expectations are a little reserved. If it can do similar numbers to Mary and the Witch's Flower, ¥3-4 billion, I think that'd be a good result. But I hope it can see a proper breakout. And I'm pretty doubtful on Wish's prospects because of Disney's ongoing drought and the mixed reviews and poor numbers from elsewhere. This doesn't seem the film to snap their troubles (don't really see anything on their 2024 slate that can either...).

But the surefire big film of the season, Spy X Family: Code White, releases on Dec. 22nd and should liven things up during the holiday period. Still not sold on it being a ¥10 billion contender quite yet, as I don't know if it not being entirely canon will limit its potential. At least the author is involved with it, and I think it has some loose canon elements, otherwise I wouldn't expect it to be a ¥10 billion contender at all if it was 100% original with the author on the sidelines.

Haven't been active here in a while but it's nice to see you back Corpse :-) always appreciate your analysis!

Note: Remember that December releases (and often late-Nov. releases if they earn enough into December) count towards the following year, 2024, so those films are excluded. I did add Kitarou Tanjou though, but since it's becoming very leggy, it might get bumped to 2024. I'll post the Top Grossing Films: 2024 in the first week of 2024 so we have more films on it.

Top Grossing Films: 2023
Gross ¥ ($) / Admissions [Days In Release] - Film (Distributor)

¥15.73 billion ($117.4 million) / 10.88 million [F] - The First Slam Dunk (Toei)
¥15 billion ↨
¥14.01 billion ($101.9 million) / 9.83 million [E] - The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Toho-Towa)
¥13.83 billion ($102.1 million) / 9.79 million [E] - Detective Conan: The Black Iron Submarine (Toho)
¥10 billion ↨
¥8.61 billion ($60.0 million) / 5.78 million [150] - The Boy and the Heron (Toho)
¥5.56 billion ($39.3 million) / 3.89 million [E] - Kingdom III: Flame of Destiny (Toho, Sony)
¥5.41 billion ($38.5 million) / 3.56 million [E] - Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 (Towa Pictures)
¥5 billion ↨
¥4.74 billion ($32.6 million) / 3.50 million [87] - Don't Call It Mystery: The Movie (Toho)
¥4.50 billion ($33.0 million) / 3.40 million [E] - Tokyo MER: Mobile Emergency Room (Toho)
¥4.34 billion ($32.5 million) / 3.65 million [F] - Doraemon: Nobita's Sky Utopia (Toho)
¥4.31 billion ($33.0 million) / 2.37 million [F] - Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney)
¥4.16 billion ($30.9 million) / 2.95 million [F] - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - To the Swordsmith Village (Toho, Aniplex)
¥4.15 billion ($28.5 million) / 2.70 million [38] - Godzilla Minus One (Toho)
¥3.79 billion ($27.2 million) / 2.51 million [E] - Fast X (Toho-Towa)
¥3.38 billion ($24.0 million) / 2.32 million [E] - The Little Mermaid (Disney)
¥3 billion ↨
¥2.83 billion ($19.9 million) / 1.62 million [E] - IDOLiSH7 Movie: LIVE 4bit - BEYOND THE PERiOD (Bandai Namco, Toei)
¥2.80 billion ($21.1 million) / 2.13 million [F] - My Happy Marriage (Toho)
¥2.69 billion ($19.8 million) / 2.00 million [E] - Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween Part 1 - Destiny (Warner Bros.)
¥2.69 billion ($18.5 million) / 2.11 million [E] - Elemental (Disney)
¥2.67 billion ($20.1 million) / 2.03 million [F] - Fragments of the Last Will (Toho)
¥2.59 billion ($18.3 million) / 1.79 million [E] - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Disney)
¥2.45 billion ($18.3 million) / 1.89 million [E] - The Legend & Butterfly (Toei)
¥2.44 billion ($18.5 million) / 1.85 million [F] - Dr. Coto's Clinic (Toho)
¥2.43 billion ($18.1 million) / 1.02 million [F] - BTS: Yet to Come to Cinemas (Avex Entertainment)
¥2.43 billion ($16.8 million) / 2.01 million [E] - Crayon Shin-chan: Super-Powered Climactic Battle: Soaring Hand-Rolled Sushi (Toho)
¥2.33 billion ($17.3 million) / 1.59 million [E] - Shin Kamen Rider (Toei)
¥2.31 billion ($16.4 million) / 1.73 million [E] - Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween Part 2 - Decisive Battle (Warner Bros.)
¥2.17 billion ($14.9 million) / 1.47 million [E] - The Haunted Mansion (Disney)
¥2.12 billion ($14.8 million) / 1.54 million [E] - Monster (Toho, Gaga)
¥2 billion ↨
¥1.79 billion ($12.6 million) / 0.89 million [F] - Samurai Beyond Admiration Record to the World's Best (Asmik Ace, JSports)
¥1.46 billion ($10.0 million) / 0.93 million [E] - Meg 2: The Trench (Warner Bros.)
¥1.45 billion ($10.0 million) / 1.18 million [E] - Pretty Cure All Stars F (Toei)
¥1.34 billion ($9.2 million) / 0.98 million [E] - The Silent Service (Toho)
¥1.32 billion ($9.4 million) / 0.85 million [F] - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney)
¥1.29 billion ($9.0 million) / 0.86 million [F] - Blue Giant (Toho Video Division)
¥1.28 billion ($8.8 million) / 0.84 million [E] - Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Toho Video Division)
¥1.25 billion ($8.9 million) / 0.89 million [E] - Rohan Kishibe Goes to the Louvre (Asmik Ace)
¥1.24 billion ($9.1 million) / 0.91 million [E] - Phases of the Moon (Shochiku)
¥1.19 billion ($8.2 million) / 0.86 million [66] - Analog (Toho, Asmik Ace)
¥1.15 billion ($7.9 million) / 0.81 million [24] - Kitarou Tanjou: GeGeGe no Nazo (Toei)
¥1.11 billion ($7.7 million) / 0.73 million [E] - Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony)
¥1.09 billion ($8.1 million) / 0.62 million [F] - Titanic 25th Anniversary (Disney)
¥1.08 billion ($8.3 million) / 0.84 million [F] - Ichikei's Crow (Toho)
¥1.04 billion ($7.1 million) / 0.85 million [E] - Mother, Is That You? (Shochiku)
¥1.04 billion ($7.1 million) / 0.69 million [E] - City Hunter: Angel's Tears (Toho-Towa)
¥1.03 billion ($7.0 million) / 0.67 million [E] - John Wick: Chapter 4 (Pony Canyon)
¥1.00 billion ($7.7 million) / 0.80 million [E] - Lonely Castle in the Mirror (Shochiku)
¥1.00 billion ($7.1 million) / 0.71 million [E] - And Yet, You Are Too Sweet (Shochiku)
¥1 billion ↑

Legend:
¥15 billion (Phenomenon) / ¥10 billion+ (Uber-Blockbuster) / ¥5 billion+ (Blockbuster) / ¥3 billion+ (Hit) / ¥2 billion+ (Respectable) / ¥1 billion+ (Commercial Success)