2015 #1 Films
Dec. 06-07 - The Last: Naruto the Movie - ¥515 million ($4.4 million) W1
Dec. 13-14 - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - ¥287 million ($2.5 million) W1
Dec. 20-21 - Yo-Kai Watch: It's the Secret of Birth, Nyan! - ¥1.63 billion ($14.0 million) W1 [#1 All-Time Domestic OW]
Dec. 27-28 - Yo-Kai Watch: It's the Secret of Birth, Nyan! - ¥597 million ($5.1 million) W2
Jan. 03-04 - Big Hero 6 - ¥665 million ($5.6 million) W1
Jan. 10-11 - Big Hero 6 - ¥546 million ($4.6 million) W2
Jan. 17-18 - Big Hero 6 - ¥426 million ($3.7 million) W3
Jan. 24-25 - Big Hero 6 - ¥349 million ($3.0 million) W4
Jan. 31-Feb. 01 - Big Hero 6 - ¥307 million ($2.6 million) W5
Feb. 07-08 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - ¥259 million ($2.2 million) W1
Feb. 14-15 - Terrace House: Closing Door - ¥251 million ($2.1 million) W1
Feb. 21-22 - American Sniper - ¥332 million ($2.8 million) W1
Feb. 28-Mar. 01 - American Sniper - ¥292 million ($2.5 million) W2
Mar. 07-08 - Doraemon: Nobita's Space Record of Space Heroes - ¥645 million ($5.4 million) W1
Mar. 14-15 - Doraemon: Nobita's Space Record of Space Heroes - ¥475 million ($3.9 million) W2
Mar. 21-22 - Assassination Classroom - ¥411 million ($3.4 million) W1
Mar. 28-29 - Doraemon: Nobita's Space Record of Space Heroes - ¥309 million ($2.6 million) W3
Apr. 04-05 - Doraemon: Nobita's Space Record of Space Heroes - ¥255 million ($2.1 million) W4
Apr. 11-12 - Solomon's Perjury (Part 2) - ¥162 million ($1.4 million) W1
Apr. 18-19 - Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F - ¥961 million ($8.1 million) W1
Apr. 25-26 - Cinderella - ¥556 million ($4.7 million) W1
May 02-03 - Cinderella - ¥511 million ($4.3 million) W2
May 09-10 - Cinderella - ¥322 million ($2.7 million) W3

2014 #1 Films

So DBZ had a weekend over ¥123 million? That ¥3.28 billion is an actual right?

Yep. Its weekend figure hasn't been released, but it's over ¥123 million (probably only just since estimates were just slightly low this week).

And yes, it's at ¥3.28 billion after four weeks.

How big will be Attack on titan films??

Probably comparable to the live-action Gantz or Rurouni Kenshin films. I'm thinking around ¥4 billion.

Attack on Titan is very big in Japan, but if recent manga sales are any indication, its popularity is beginning to slow a bit. It's still far and away the 2nd biggest manga seller in Japan right now, but it's begun to fall to a distant #2 behind One Piece again (after nearly overtaking it the last two years).

I was once again very busy this past week, so I couldn't provide any weekly updates, but I'll have this Weekend's Estimates up soon.

There were a lot of strong holds across the board this weekend.

That DBZ gross is surprisingly good if true, why did it have a smaller drop compared to other films this week?

Does this change your projections of the movie making between ¥3.5-3.6 billion?

It had the biggest drop in the Top 12 last weekend (post-Golden Week) and this weekend is generally very good for holds.

Is there a chance for ¥3.7 billion for it or no?

Battle of Gods lost most of its theatres after its sixth weekend. Will the same thing happen with this?

Yeah, ¥3.7 billion looks like the best final total projection.

The final totals for the Spring releases (April/May) is looking like:

¥5.00-6.00 billion - Cinderella
¥4.20-4.30 billion - Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno
¥3.65-3.75 billion - Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F
¥3.30-3.40 billion - Furious 7
¥2.10-2.20 billion - Biri Gal
¥2.05-2.15 billion - Crayon Shin-chan: My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack!
¥1.40-1.50 billion - Parasyte (Part 2)
¥1.40-1.50 billion - Ryozu and the Seven Henchmen

Very good spring season this year. Yeah, there's no Frozen, obviously, but pretty much everything either met expectations or exceeded them (which goes for most films).

2015's Spring isn't going to trail 2014's Spring by all that much despite Frozen's record box office last year. April was down a fair 13% compared to last year, and April's holdovers and May openers this year are performing better than last year's.

Frozen's continued massive performance throughout May will assure 2014 > 2015 for the Spring (April/May), but I doubt it's by more than 20%.

And the upcoming Summer box office (July/August) looks much stronger than last year's.

Would you happen to have a list of the highest grossing Japanese films ever?

Yeah, I have a chart or list for just about anything you could ask for. I'll update it and post it tomorrow. Big Hero 6 and Yo-Kai Watch will be included.

Weekend Ranking and 2015 charts will be posted soon.

Top Grossing Films - 2015
Gross ¥ ($) / Admissions [Days in Release] - Film (Distributor)

¥10 billion ↨
¥9.15 billion ($77.6 million) / 7.19 million [E] - Big Hero 6 (Disney) #41 All-Time
¥7.72 billion ($65.6 million) / 6.93 million [F] - Yo-Kai Watch: It's the Secret of Birth, Nyan! (Toho) #62 All-Time
¥5 billion ↨
¥4.02 billion ($33.7 million) / 3.16 million [23] - Cinderella (Disney)
¥3.99 billion ($33.4 million) / 3.19 million [30] - Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (Toho)
¥3.89 billion ($32.8 million) / 3.46 million [72] - Doraemon: Nobita's Space Record of Space Heroes (Toho)
¥3.43 billion ($28.7 million) / 2.61 million [30] - Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F (Toei)
¥3.05 billion ($25.5 million) / 2.19 million [38] - Furious 7 (Toho-Towa)
¥3 billion ↨
¥2.71 billion ($22.8 million) / 2.37 million [58] - Assassination Classroom (Toho)
¥2.36 billion ($19.8 million) / 1.83 million [E] - Into the Woods (Disney)
¥2.28 billion ($19.1 million) / 1.93 million [F] - Strobe Edge (Toho)
¥2.23 billion ($18.6 million) / 1.71 million [F] - American Sniper (Warner Bros.)
¥2.00 billion ($17.0 million) / 1.58 million [F] - Parasyte (Part 1) (Toho)
¥2 billion ↨
¥1.98 billion ($16.8 million) / 1.55 million [F] - The Last: Naruto the Movie (Toho)
¥1.90 billion ($16.0 million) / 1.62 million [30] - Crayon Shin-chan: My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack! (Toho)
¥1.86 billion ($16.0 million) / 1.58 million [F] - Ao Haru Ride (Toho)
¥1.57 billion ($13.1 million) / 1.28 million [16] - Biri Gal (Toho)
¥1.54 billion ($13.3 million) / 1.10 million [E] - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Warner Bros.)
¥1.53 billion ($12.9 million) / 1.20 million [F] - Night at the Museum: The Secret of the Tomb (Fox)
¥1.30 billion ($11.0 million) / 1.04 million [E] - The Vancouver Asahi (Toho)
¥1.30 billion ($11.0 million) / 1.04 million [E] - Annie (Sony)
¥1.29 billion ($10.8 million) / 1.01 million [23] - Parasyte (Part 2) (Toho)
¥1.25 billion ($10.5 million) / 0.97 million [E] - Terrace House: Closing Door (Toho)
¥1.23 billion ($10.3 million) / 1.01 million [23] - Ryozu and the Seven Henchmen (Warner Bros.)
¥1.21 billion ($10.2 million) / 0.81 million [E] - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Paramount)
¥1.09 billion ($9.1 million) / 0.91 million [E] - The Lion Who Stands in the Wind (Toho)
¥1.00 billion ($8.5 million) / 0.79 million [E] - ST: Scientific Investigation Squad (Toho)
¥1 billion ↑

[E] = Estimate (Tracking Ends)
[F] = Final Total (Reported Total)

Top Grossing Films - 2014

Is that ¥3.43 billion an actual again?

Yeah. Anytime I post the 2015 Openings and Top Grossing Films lists, they're actuals.

OK, so it's down a tad from estimates then. Still hoping it can get to ¥3.7 billion though I'm not sure how likely that is anymore.

I was just looking through some old posts here out of curiosity and the Pokemon movies have been making less and less lately. I wonder if the new film will follow suit.

Yeah, the Pokemon franchise seems to be on the decline (at the box office and video game sales). If this year's film also decreases, they're including ALL the legendary Pokemon in it, the film franchise likely won't recover.

Yo-kai Watch has really eaten into its audience unlike any series before it.

Haha at Run All Night.

Yeah, it's notably bad.

All of his action films since Taken have opened to very similar numbers, usually around ¥125 million, so for Run All Night to only make half that with a fair screen count could be an indication that his senior fans are getting tired of these roles.

I guess it's no different to the US reception to his action movies now.

Usual Locations Seating/Showtimes [43% of Market]

Saturday, 05/23
#Seats [#theaters/#showings] - Film (Week of Release)
258,326 [137/753] - Initiation Love (NEW)
163,408 [131/683] - Chappie (NEW)
156,648 [145/622] - Cinderella (Week 5)
147,869 [146/722] - The Maze Runner (NEW)
101,646 [135/539] - Kakekomi (Week 2)
96,436 [133/519] - Biri Gal (Week 4)
61,324 [139/462] - Poison Berry in My Head (Week 3)
55,116 [140/352] - Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno (Week 6)
47,385 [93/338] - Run All Night (Week 2)
42,488 [139/265] - Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F (Week 6)
42,176 [141/288] - Parasyte (Part 2) (Week 5)
34,112 [135/205] - Crayon Shin-chan: My Moving Story! Cactus Large Attack! (Week 6)
28,421 [22/117] - Initial D the Movie Legend 2 (NEW)
27,978 [133/187] - Furious 7 (Week 7)
27,771 [104/205] - Ryozu and the Seven Henchmen (Week 5)
26,767 [80/173] - Bakabon the Genius: Dog of Flanders Revives (NEW)
21,226 [134/134] - Chateau de la Reine (Week 5)
19,318 [79/154] - Z Island (Week 2)
18,318 [80/130] - Focus (Week 4)
16,627 [93/96] - The Next Generation - Patlabor (Week 4)
16,121 [57/127] - The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (Week 2)
13,522 [86/87] - Assassination Classroom (Week 10)
12,502 [28/89] - Before I Go to Sleep (NEW)
11,111 [28/57] - Whiplash (Week 6)
8,075 [54/54] - April Fools (Week 8)

Impressive counts for Initiation Love. Let's see if it can knock Cinderella from her throne this weekend.