Some updated estimated totals (holdovers outside the Top 10, except Partners 2):

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I - 6.72 billion yen ($82 million) after 78 days.
Space Battleship Yamato - 3.99 billion yen ($48.8 million) after 68 days.
Partners, The Movie 2 - 2.95 billion yen ($35.9 million) after 46 days,
Tron Legacy - 2.07 billion yen ($25.3 million) after 50 days.
Inazuma Eleven - 1.71 billion yen ($20.9 million) after 46 days.
Abacus and Sword - 1.41 billion yen ($17.2 million) after 72 days.

Edit:
The Social Network - .99 billion yen ($12.1 million) after 23 days.
1,778 Stories of Me and My Wife - .92 billion yen ($11.2 million) after 23 days.

Harry Potter only added about 20 million yen this past week... I don't see how it can reach 7 billion yen now, which is the mark I'd consider disappointing if it missed because it lost another 15% of it's audience with this film. 6.85 billion yen ($83.5 million) is my guess for the final total.

Yamato was so close to 4 billion yen milestone. It'll cross it this week however. It should finish with 4.1 billion yen ($50.02 million).

Partners 2 will hit 3 billion yen probably on Friday, and is still grossing a decent amount in its 7th week. It should finish with about 3.3 billion yen ($40.3 million).

Tron is about done, but will crawl to 2.1 billion yen ($25.6 million) before the end.

Top 10 Opening Weekends of 2011 by Gross




Top 10 Opening Weekends of 2011 by Admissions




Top 10 Films of 2011 by Gross



Top 10 Films of 2011 by Admissions



Gantz debuts at #6 on the Top Grossing Films of 2011 by Gross Charts after just 9 days. It should also pass Tron up after this Sunday.

In some record breaking non-movie news this past weekend:



The 61st volume of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece pirate manga sold 2,086,080 copies between its first official day of sales (February 4) and February 6. It is the first book to sell over 2 million copies in just three days since Oricon began reporting its book ranking charts in April of 2008. 40 of the manga's 61 volumes were also in the top 100 chart this past week.

At 420 yen (a little over $5) a copy, that's approx. 876,153,600 yen ($10.6 million) in gross over 3 days. In 2010, 32.34 million One Piece Volumes were sold (approx. 13.6 billion yen or $165 million in sales gross) , and life-time volumes sold crossed the 200 million milestone.

In Dec. 09, the One Piece Film Strong World set the all-time psa record ($62,200) for a wide-release (150+ screens) over 2 days, and had the second biggest opening weekend of 2010 behind Alice in Wonderland.

A recent poll bookstore survery revealed the following, too:



http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interes ... are-adults

Today (Friday) is National Foundation Day, so numbers and/or admissions may be reported before the weekend begins. All the wide openers are opening on Friday rather than Saturday this weekend, too.

The two biggest openers, Miracle Man of the Pacific and Tomorrow's Joe (both happen to be Toho releases, so Toho is going to have the Top 3 films this weekend with Gantz, too) are performing very well based on MOVIX Cinemas first Friday afternoon showings:

Location
Movie/Tickets Sold/Seats available:

MOVIX Cinema (Miyoshi)
Miracle Man - 152/201
Tomorrow's Joe - 129/332

MOVIX Cinema (Kurashiki)
Miracle Man - 196/203
Tomorrow's Joe - 181/310

I'll post the Weekend Forecast in the morning.

Damn, thats pretty cheap, do all vol. of mangas cost that little?

Most do. You can see the range here: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... february-6

Manga is fairly cheap here (most are $9.99), but buying into a series with 20, 30, or more volumes becomes expensive. Manga at just $5 a volume would be so awesome.

Data from the usual locations:

Saturday Increases/Decreases over Friday's National Foundation Day:

Wall Street 2 (+8.7%)
Red (+4.8%)
Miracle Man of the Pacific (+3.7%)
The Social Network (+3.6%)
Pastry Shop (-1.2%)
Tomorrow's Joe (-9.8%)
Gantz (-15.4%)
Mom's Daily Life (-16.5%)


Saturday Holdover drops compared to last Saturday:

Mom's Daily Life (-10.2%)
Red (-26.8%)
Gantz (-33.3%)
The Social Network (-34.2%)
Wall Street 2 (-38.7%)

Some very interesting news (a leak rather) about Pokemon the Movie 14 was revealed by a CoroCoro magazine scan. More below:



In what can only be described as incredible, two Pokemon movies will be released this year on July 16th: Victini and the Dark Hero: Zekrom and Victini and the Light Hero: Reshiram; a small scan that leaked on the Internet of CoroCoro magazine has revealed the second title. No other details are known at this time other than there will be two, so we can only speculate what this means. Could there be one real movie with two versions, like with the video games? Could there be two actual movies? Could there be two shorter movies playing back-to-back? Either way, this is quite the development! We'll find out more information within the next few days when more CoroCoro leaks or when the Japanese Pokemon movie website updates.

Two Pokemon Movies For 2011!


This is a first for the series. My guess right now is on a double feature release.

All of the previous 13 films have made the Yearly Top 10, with the exceptions of Movies 5 and 9.

Movie Gross History in Japan:

Pokemon the First Movie: Mewtwo Stikes Back! - 7.54 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 2000: Revelation Lugia - 6.36 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 10: Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai - 5.02 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 3: Lord of the "Unknown" Tower - 4.85 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 11: Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin - 4.8 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 12: Arceus: To A Conquering Spacetime - 4.67 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 6: Wishing Star of the Seven Nights: Jirachi - 4.5 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 7: Sky-Splitting Visitor: Deoxys - 4.38 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 8: Mew and the Wave-Guiding Hero: Lucario - 4.3 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 13: Master of Illusions: Zoroark - 4.16 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 4: Celebi: A Timeless Encounter - 3.9 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 9: Pokémon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea: Manaphy - 3.4 billion yen
Pokemon the Movie 5: Guardian Gods of the City of Water: Latias and Latios - 2.67 billion yen

red - 1st Gen
blue - 2nd Gen
green - 3rd Gen
purple - 4th Gen

Total Gross: 60.52 billion yen ($730 million today).

Movie 14 will be the first 5th Gen movie. And as you can see, the first film of each Gen saw a big increase over the last film of the previous Gen.

I would also love $5 manga volumes here, Right now i only buy Naruto,Berserk and Hunter X Hunter(when lazy ass Togashi releases new material for it),i also have all volumes of Akira(only has 6 but its the best imo),full metal alchemist and Slam Dunk, i spread around with american comics and Japanese manga.

Slam Dunk is a series that has yet to see a live-adaptation film, but constantly tops polls I see asking people which manga or anime they want to see a motion picture for, and would be huge at the box office. It's the 4th best selling manga of all-time according to estimates (120 million copies sold), and had a very popular anime, so it always surprises me it's never been done.

As for continuing series, I buy: Kimi ni Todoke, Black Butler, Bleach (begins to suck more and more), Fairy Tail (repetitive, but fun), Ouran High School Host Club, Full Metal Alchemist (just finished in Japan, though), Soul Eater, and One Piece. One Piece is my favorite manga and anime of all-time, but I only have volumes 1-3. With 56 Volumes currently available over here so far, I keep putting off buying them due to the expense.

For completed series, I buy/own: Death Note (complete), High School Debut (complete), Blood+ (complete), and Hana Kimi (way behind on this one).

2/12-13, 2011
Weekend Admission Rankings by Location (Toho, Shikoku, Warner):


TOHO

1 1 Gantz (Toho) 3
2 - Miracle Man of the Pacific (Toho) NEW
3 - Tomorrow's Joe (Toho) NEW
4 3 Red (Disney) 3
5 2 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fox) 2
6 - Paranormal Activity 2 (Paramount) NEW
7 4 Mom's Daily Life (Shochiku) 2
8 5 The Social Network (Sony) 5
9 7 1,778 Stories of Me and My Wife (Toho) 5
10 - How Do You Know (Sony) NEW

Warner and Shikoku later tonight.

WARNER



1 - Miracle Man of the Pacific (Toho) NEW
2 1 Gantz (Toho) 3
3 - Tomorrow's Joe (Toho) NEW
4 2 Red (Disney) 3
5 3 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fox) 2

SHIKOKU



1 - Miracle Man of the Pacific (Toho) NEW
2 1 Gantz (Toho) 3
3 - Tomorrow's Joe (Toho) NEW
4 2 Red (Disney) 3
5 3 Mom's Daily Life (Shochiku) 2
6 4 The Town (Warner Bros.) 2
7 5 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fox) 2
8 6 White Night (GAGA) 3
9 - The Social Network (Sony) 5
10 - Paranormal Activity 2 (Paramount) NEW


Gonna be close between Miracle Man and Gantz in the National Top 10 Rankings.

Neither the National Top 10 Admission Rankings or Top 10 in Gross have been released, but the top spot(s) were announced, and it was a split position this weekend.

Miracle Man of the Pacific ranks 1st in admissions (no numbers yet), while Gantz ranks 1st in gross. Gantz has exceeded 1.7 million admissions (should be about 2.15 billion yen or $26 million) after 16 days in release.

I'll update when more figures are available tomorrow.

The release of the magazine revealed this:

SCAN 1

Spoiler: show

The first scan reveals that there will be two versions of this summer's Pokemon movie: Victini and the Dark Hero: Zekrom and Victini and the Light Hero: Reshiram. The magazine does not specify what it means by "version," but we can probably assume the movies will be like the video games where they share the same general plot with only some superficial differences (such as the Legendary Pokemon "Hero" that appears). The Pokemon movie website will update tomorrow, so perhaps it will elaborate more about the different "versions" and the level of differences between the two.

The first scan also announces that fans will be able to vote for either a Unova Pokemon (the 153 known species, including Victini), a Pikachu, or a Meowth. Starting June 15th, players will be able to download the winner to their games.

SCAN 2

Spoiler: show

The second scan, which is a blown-up version of the first, says "For the first time ever, there are two versions of the movie!! There are also two versions of the poster! Which one do you think will make a better movie?" Children can draw their version of either the Victini and the Dark Hero: Zekrom poster or the Victini and the Light Hero: Reshiram poster. The winning fanart for each movie will be printed as a real movie poster and will also be featured in its movie. Furthermore, the two artists who win will be given small voice roles in their respective movie.

SCAN 3

Spoiler: show

The third scan states that the Victini which patrons can download at the movie theaters will come holding a Fire Jewel, inside a Cherish Ball, and with a Wish Ribbon. As revealed previously, the Victini will know V-Generate.

SCAN 5

Spoiler: show

The fifth scan states that between February 15th and March 14th, players of Black and White will be able to download a Zorua over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. This Zorua comes with the special move Bark Out.

February 12-13, 2011
Weekend Admission Rankings



1 - Miracle Man of the Pacific (Toho) NEW
2 1 Gantz (Toho) 3
3 - Tomorrow's Joe (Toho) NEW
4 2 Red (Disney) 3
5 3 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fox) 2
6 4 Mom's Daily Life (Shochiku) 2
7 - Paranormal Activity 2 (Paramount) NEW
8 5 The Social Network (Sony) 5
9 6 1,778 Stories of Me and My Wife (Toho) 5
10 10 Partners, The Movie 2 (TOEI) 8

Note: The openers this week debuted on Friday (National Foundation Day), but the numbers below are for the 2-Day Weekend Only.

Miracle Man of the Pacific opened to 255,100,700 yen ($3.1 million), with 216,495 admissions on 300 screens.

Tomorrow's Joe opened to 194,494,250 yen ($2.4 million), with 156,877 admissions on 277 screens.

Paranormal Activity 2 opened to 73,782,800 yen ($900,000), with 57,191 admissions on 169 screens.

Gantz exceeded 2 billion yen ($25 million) after 16 days in release.

It would be hard to make a slam Dunk movie with Japanese actors(there are also a few black characters in the manga), i would imagin they would try and get popular young actors from japan but can they make them look anything but laughable while playing american style basketball?
Maybe if they can sign some J-league players to play the part.

February 12-13, 2011
Weekend Estimates

1 1 Gantz (Toho) - 258 million yen ($3.11 million), -33%, Week 3
2 - Miracle Man of the Pacific (Toho) - 255 million yen ($3.05 million), NEW
3 - Tomorrow's Joe (Toho) - 194 million yen ($2.34 million), NEW
4 2 Red (Disney) - 110 million yen ($1.32 million), -27%, Week 3
5 3 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Fox) -76 million yen ($.92 million), -35%, Week 2
6 - Paranormal Activity 2 (Paramount) - 74 million yen ($.89 million), NEW
7 5 Mom's Daily Life (Shochiku) -71 million yen ($.86 million), -10%, Week 2
8 4 The Social Network (Sony) - 64 million yen ($.77 million), -22%, Week 5
9 6 1,778 Stories of Me and My Wife (Toho) -41 million yen ($.50 million), -32%, Week 5
10 9 Partners, The Movie 2 (TOEI) - 35 million yen ($.42 million), -19%, Week 8

With Friday included: Miracle Man of the Pacific opened to an est. 390.5 million yen ($4.69 million) with 331,967 admissions, and Tomorrow's Joe opened to an est. 302 million yen ($3.62 million) over the three day holiday weekend.

Top Opening Weekends of the Year updated with estimates. Hopefully totals are released tonight, but if not, I'll update those tomorrow.

Top 10 Opening Weekends of 2011 by Gross




Top 10 Opening Weekends of 2011 by Admissions




Miracle Man of the Pacific is aiming for 2 billion yen ($25 million) with this opening.

Hey Corpse, how do you think The Tourist is going to do when it opens next month? Jolie and Depp (especially Depp) seem to be very popular in Japan but since it's opening 3 whole months after the US I have a feeling it might be too late to make anything significant in Japan. Is there buzz at all for the release?

It's not at all unusual for movies to open much later in Japan than elsewhere. See Robin Hood or Red for recent examples.

At the very least, it's guaranteed 1 billion yen ($12.5 million or so) due to Jolie and Depp being very popular in the region (even their smaller films like Changeling and Sweeney Todd performed very well). I would predict around 1.5 billion yen ($18 million) for it.

Final update on this:

Two feature-length Pokémon anime films will open in Japan on July 16 instead of the usual one feature-length film with an anime short. According to the Nikkan Sports newspaper, this is the first time that two feature-length Japanese animated films from the same franchise have opened on the same day. In addition to the previously announced Gekijōban Pocket Monster Best Wishes! Victini to Kuraki Eiyū Zekrom, there will also be a second feature called Gekijōban Pocket Monster Best Wishes! Victini to Shiraki Eiyū Reshiram. The same theaters will show both films, one after another.

In the story of the two films, the protagonist Satoshi (Ash in English) and his Pokémon creature Pikachu take part in a battle held during the harvest festival in Aintoōku, and they encounter the mysterious Pokémon Victini. The two films will also feature two different legendary Pokémon — the black hero Zekrom appears before people who seek the pure "ideal," while the white hero Reshiram appears before people who seek the pure "truth." Not incidentally, these two are pivotal Pokémon in the latest games in the franchise, Pokémon Black and White. They also appeared as miniature floats at last year's 84th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

Pokémon anime feature films have often opened in theaters with an anime short, similar to how American Pixar films have often opened in theaters with an animated short. However, the two Pokémon films that will open in July are both feature-length. The last time that Japanese theaters opened two features from the same franchise on the same day was in 2009, when the live-action franchise Ju-on (The Grudge) marked its 10th anniversary with Ju-on: Shiroi Rōjo and Ju-on: Kuroi Shōjo.

Update: According to the official website, there will also be two Pikachu the Movie shorts accompanying the two feature films.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/00 ... ay-in-july


This is pretty big news because it's clear now this is not a double feature, and the two films are indeed, as the article states, full-length films.

And seeing as the Pokemon fanbase turns out every single year (the films have averaged around 4 million admissions for the last 10), it's probably safe to say fans will see both films. They could combine for 8 billion yen (nearly $100 million) if all goes as planned.

The two films open the the same weekend as Harry Potter this Summer (if Studio Ghibli's latest opens the weekend before, then the weekend of July 16-17 may set an all-time record), but the franchise is no stranger to huge competition.

Previous films have also opened against Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Studio Ghibli releases, Toy Story 3, and remain unfazed.