I get it now, thanks! I'm going to bed now, 1:08 am here, LOL! I hope Inside Out, Pokemon, and Hero 2 all open above $3 million! Good night.

Here's how the pre-sales are looking at 5 key theaters (3 Toho, 2 Movix), about 18 hours before the first showings begin on Saturday:

Toho Cinemas Ebina
732 - Hero 2 (NEW)
317 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
137 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
135 - Inside Out (NEW)
99 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)
68 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)

Toho Cinemas Namba
896 - Hero 2 (NEW)
208 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
139 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
124 - Inside Out (NEW)
106 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)
80 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)

Toho Cinemas Kinshicho
697 - Hero 2 (NEW)
217 - Inside Out (NEW)
207 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
188 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
183 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)
126 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)

Movix Shinjuku
1,099 - Hero 2 (NEW)
438 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
392 - Inside Out (NEW)
231 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)
158 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
149 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)

Movix Saitama
634 - Hero 2 (NEW)
177 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
104 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
101 - Inside Out (NEW)
88 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)
40 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)

Combined:
4,058 - Hero 2 (NEW)
1,075 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
998 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
969 - Inside Out (NEW)
650 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)
520 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)

As expected, Hero 2 is way out in front largely due to its many, many stage greetings happening Saturday morning. It'll easily win Saturday, and likely the weekend unless it falls apart on Sunday.

I'll post the Weekend Forecast tomorrow evening.

It's probably worth mentioning that Typhoon Nangka is currently affecting Japan, and winds/rain are expected for all areas. It's not a strong storm, but since it's passing over Japan from today through Sunday, the weekend could be deflated a bit.

If the weekend frame is deflated, Monday is going to be bigger than it already will be since it's already a holiday and the start of Summer vacation.

I don't think the typhoon will be that big of an issue, though, if Friday's current numbers are any indication. They're only down slightly compared to Thursday's admissions at the same point in time so far.

How do those numbers fare in comparison to other Pixar and Pokemon titles?

I'm hoping Inside Out performs better than Up and Monsters University, it seems to be performing really well and proved leggy in a large portion of it's markets; Especially Australia and South Korea.

There's a few locations that Pokemon is doing better than last year's film, while it's not at others. It's hard to read, but I don't think it'll really do much better (or worse) than last year's film at the moment.

I wasn't tracking the box office so intently in 2009 as I do now, so I don't know how Inside Out is looking compared to Up, but it's definitely weaker than Monsters University. It's not fair to expect Monster University's numbers for Inside Out, though, considering how big the Monsters brand is in Japan.

A more recent comparison for Inside Out would be Big Hero 6, and pre-sales at Ebina and Saitama are about 1/2 of it around the same point in time.

If I had to guess the weekend ranking right now, I'd say...

1. Hero 2
2. The Boy and the Beast
3. Inside Out/Pokemon (former should have the gross advantage, while the latter will have the admissions advantage)
4. Terminator: Genisys
5. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Okay, thank you. I'm really hoping for an increase for Pokemon, even if a little, and as for Inside Out, God knows if it clicks with the audience, it's legs are going to be sexy!

PIXAR Films, Opening Weekend / Final Gross:

#1. Toy Story 3, $11.15 million / $130.68 million
#2. Finding Nemo, $10.33 million / $102.44 million
#3. Monsters University, $8.37 million / $90.14 million
#4. Monsters Incorporated, $4.47 million / $74.43 million
#5. Up, $7 million / $51.92 million
#6. The Incredibles, $7.29 million / $49.96 million
#7. Wall-E, $5.53 million / $44.23 million
#8. Cars 2, $5.66 million / $39 million
#9. Ratatouille, $4.12 million / $33.37 million
#10. Toy Story 2, $22.8 million
#11. A Bug's Life, $21.7 million
#12. Toy Story, $17.1 million
#13. Cars, $3.38 million / $12.23 million
#14. Brave, $1.85 million / $11.13 million


PIXAR Films Gross in Yen, Opening Weekend / Total Gross:

1996, Toy Story - Y1.5 billion
1998, A Bug's Life - Y1.9 billion
1999, Toy Story 2 - Y2 billion
2002, Monsters Inc. - Y9.5 billion
2003, Finding Nemo - Y898 million / Y11.0 billion
2004, The Incredibles - Y751.8 million / Y5.3 billion
2006, Cars - Y380 million / Y2.3 billion
2007, Ratatouille - Y511.66 (Roughly) / Y3.9 billion
2008, Wall-E - Y452 million / Y4.0 billion
2009, Up - Y627 million / Y4.8 billion
2010, Toy Story 3 - Y977.3 million / Y10.8 billion
2011, Cars 2 - Y713.19 million (Roughly) / Y3.01 billion
2012, Brave - Y230.62 million (Roughly) / Y1.38 billion (Roughly)
2013, Monsters University - Y8.47 million / Y8.96 billion

I'm not sure if this is correct but I tried to compile it as best I can but. If there's not too much on your hands, can you please re-check it or give me a link to the most recently updated one! Thanks in advance!

Thank you! So, it seems Pokemon Movie 18 will beat last year's in yen but not in USD.

Almost nothing will be anything in USD due to the 13/14-year low exchange rate this year.

I wouldn't say this year's movie will be last year's yet. So far ticket sales look on par, but that's only after a few hours of showtimes being counted. A lot more to go.

There's also the typhoon that's hitting all of Japan over the weekend to take into consideration. It doesn't appear to be hurting the box office much, but maybe everything could be doing better without it. I've read that some trains in Osaka and other parts of the country are seeing delays.

What was Pokemon's previous opening?

Hopefully your predictions ring true for Pokemon and has a good multiplier.

Opening - ¥393.3 million ($3.9 million) / 360,190 admissions
Total - ¥2.91 billion ($28.2 million) / 2.70 million

Thanks for the quick response.

Like you mentioned, performance seems to be on par to last year's film, so technically Pokemon's decline has come to a halt. Let's hope that is the case and a better gross can be achieved.

What is the reception for this film currently? Are there critical reviews of films such as Pokemon, Yokai Watch, Doraemon, etc?

EDIT: And also Inside Out!

Those three franchises are geared towards very young audiences (8 and under), so they're given more freedom when it comes to reviews. The Doraemon films receive generally good reviews, and sometimes they'll get a nomination for Best Animated Film of the year.

Of the annual franchises, Detective Conan is always the best received by critics.

Usual Locations - Saturday Admissions (43% of Market)

10AM > 11AM > 12PM > 1PM > 2PM > 3PM > 4PM > 7PM > Final

24,326 -> 27,257 -> 31,097 -> 61,339 - Hero 2 (NEW)
16,339 -> 27,685 -> 32,440 -> 42,368 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
6,602 -> 12,938 -> 16,436 -> 22,930 - Inside Out (NEW)
4,814 -> 8,524 -> 13,883 -> 19,652 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
3,601 -> 5,572 -> 9,445 -> 14,019 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)
2,577 -> 3,878 -> 7,152 -> 9,061 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)

Note: Typhoon Nangka will be affecting all of Japan through the weekend, so weekend admissions could be a bit deflated as a result.

Hero 2's second wave of stage greetings (127 theaters worth of sold out/nearly sold out showtimes) occurred over the last hour; that's why it experienced a major jump.

Seems like Pokemon is doing good in the afternoon as well.

It'll continue to do decently until around 6PM. After that, its showtimes are few and far between and evening business is very weak for young skewing films.

Usual Locations - Saturday Admissions (43% of Market)

10AM > 11AM > 12PM > 1PM > 2PM > 3PM > 4PM > 7PM > Final

24,326 -> 27,257 -> 31,097 -> 61,339 -> 64,382 -> 69,550 -> 85,311 - Hero 2 (NEW)
16,339 -> 27,685 -> 32,440 -> 42,368 -> 48,705 -> 54,630 -> 60,943 - Pokemon XY: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (NEW)
6,602 -> 12,938 -> 16,436 -> 22,930 -> 30,140 -> 34,552 -> 42,665 - Inside Out (NEW)
4,814 -> 8,524 -> 13,883 -> 19,652 -> 25,075 -> 34,117 -> 40,822 - The Boy and the Beast (Week 2)
3,601 -> 5,572 -> 9,445 -> 14,019 -> 16,078 -> 20,897 -> 25,801 - Terminator: Genisys (Week 2)
2,577 -> 3,878 -> 7,152 -> 9,061 -> 10,279 -> 15,983 -> 18,093 - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Week 3)

Note: Typhoon Nangka will be affecting all of Japan through the weekend, so weekend admissions could be a bit deflated as a result.