JAPAN BOX OFFICE | Demon Slayer breaks all time record for OW

[catlover]

I enjoyed Rurôni Kenshin: Densetsu no saigo-hen a lot. It's doing well here in the Philippines.

 

You've seen the 3rd one? Lucky you! The 2nd movie is doing well here too. But the 3rd one hasn't been released yet. Can't wait to see it.

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Weekend Ranking (10/04-05)

 

01 (01) Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Warner Bros.) Week 4
02 (--) A Samurai Chronicle (Toho) DEBUT
03 (03) Stand By Me, Doraemon (Toho) Week 9
04 (02) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Fox) Week 3
05 (04) Lupin III (Toho) Week 6
06 (05) Guardians of the Galaxy (Disney) Week 4
07 (07) Jersey Boys (Warner Bros.) Week 2
08 (06) Revenge of the Pomegranate Hill Tree (Shochiku) Week 3
09 (08) Lady Maiko (Toho) Week 4
10 (09) Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (Warner Bros.) Week 10

>Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends wins its 4th-consecutive weekend, earning ¥177,435,300 ($1.6 million) on 131,747 admissions. After 4-weeks in release, the final film in the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy has earned more than ¥3.4 billion ($32.7 million) on 2.72 million admissions.

>A Samurai Chronicle settles for second place, but came quite close to the #1 spot. The very well-received film took in ¥153,624,900 ($1.4 million) on 128,647 admissions on 330 screens. The avg. ticket price was low, coming in at just ¥1,194 ($11.1), or about 9% below this year's estimated average. And this is because 50+ year olds made up over 40% of its audience. Since it's been well-received, and is skewing old, it's likely to have excellent legs.

>Stand By Me, Doraemon is still holding on strong, achieving its 9th-straight week in the Top 3. It has exceeded ¥7.7 billion ($75 million) after 9-weeks in release, and became the highest-grossing non-Ghibli/Disney animated film ever (and has beaten a number of Ghibli/Disney films now, too).

>Dawn of the Planet of the Apes slips 2 spots to rank 4th over the weekend. After 3-weeks in release, it has exceeded ¥1 billion ($9.5 million) on 790,000 admissions. At its current pace, it's only going to earn 55-60% of its predecessor's total.

>Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno has been confirmed to have ranked 10th for the weekend, accomplishing a 10th-straight week in the Top 10. This is an incredible feat, and it's very close now to becoming Warner Bros.'s biggest domestic film ever, too. It's less than ¥70 million away now from surpassing 2006's Death Note: The Last Name.

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Naruto Manga to Conclude in 5 Weeks

The official website of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump announced today on October 6 that Masashi Kishimoto's long-running ninja action manga Naruto will end its serialization for 15 years on the magazine's 50th issue to be published in Japan on November 10. It means that the manga only has five chapters left.

Naruto started its serialization in 1999, and has published 70 tankobon volumes so far. The latest 71st volume is scheduled to be published in Japan on November 4. And its newest anime film adaptation, meaningfully titled The Last: Naruto the Movie, will be released on December 6. -CR

Definitely one of the most iconic and most successful manga/anime series out there, and while the storyline has become really dragged out over the past few years, it's sad to see it coming to an end so soon.

And it'll be very interesting to see the first week sales of the last two manga volumes, the final one in particular (being released early next year), and also how the the recently announced The Last: Naruto the Movie opening on December 6th performs in theaters with this news.

Naruto By The Numbers:

>135 million Copies Sold (#7 All-Time)
>72 or 73 Volumes (Currently 70 in print)
>699 or 700 Chapters (Final chapter may be a double chapter)
>600+ Anime Episodes (Not including a 51 episode spin-off series)

>10 Feature Films

Best Selling Manga Series (As of May 2014) [Japan Only]:

305 million (74 Volumes) - One Piece (1997-)
200 million (171 Volumes) - Golgo 13 (1969-)
176 million (17 Volumes) - Black Jack (1973-1983)
157 million (42 Volumes) - Dragon Ball (1984-1995)
155 million (190 Volumes) - Kochikame (1976-)
140 million (84 Volumes) - Detective Conan (1994-)
136 million (69 Volumes) - Naruto (1999-)
130 million (110 Volumes) - Oishinbo (1983-)
120 million (31 Volumes) - Slam Dunk (1990-1996)
110 million (45 Volumes) - Doraemon (1969-1996)
100 million (23 Volumes) - Astro Boy (1952-1968)
100 million (26 Volumes) - Touch (1981-1986)
100 million (27 Volumes) - Fist of the North (1983-1988)
100 million copies+

[cremino]

Corpse

 

It's been revealed that to mark the ending of Naruto, manga creator, Masashi Kishimoto, was responsible for the the original story, character designs, and serves as chief story supervisor of the last film.

Having Eiichiro Oda (creator of One Piece) supervise the recent One Piece movies proved to be massive for the box-office, with both films (Strong World and Z) having broken various opening weekend records and earning 5/6x more than any of the previous films in the series. One Piece Film Z in particular has the biggest opening weekend in terms of gross and admissions since 2007, selling out 72% of all its seats opening weekend.

So having Masashi Kishimoto on board for the first time and for the the final Naruto film, and with him ending the manga right before the film opens, could result in one of the biggest opening weekends of the year (if not the biggest). It's bound to tie in with the ending of the manga in some form. I'm sure they'll be a freebie announced for those that attend the film, too.

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Weekend Estimates (10/11-12)

01 (--) ¥180 million ($1.6 million), 0, ¥180 million ($1.6 million), Close Range Love (Toho) NEW
02 (--) ¥145 million ($1.4 million), 0, ¥145 million ($1.4 million), Cape Nostalgia (Toei) NEW
03 (01) ¥136 million ($1.3 million), -23%, ¥3.81 billion ($35.8 million), Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Warner Bros.) Week 5
04 (02) ¥104 million ($1.0 million), -32%, ¥450 million ($4.2 million), A Samurai Chronicle (Toho) Week 2
05 (--) ¥100 million ($0.95 million), 0, ¥100 million ($0.95 million), HappinessCharge Pretty Cure! The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls (Toei) NEW
06 (03) ¥69 million ($0.65 million), -31%, ¥7.84 billion ($75.9 million), Stand By Me, Doraemon (Toho) Week 10
07 (04) ¥64 million ($0.60 million), -31%, ¥1.19 billion ($10.7 million), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Fox) Week 4
08 (05) ¥39 million ($0.36 million), -32%, ¥2.27 billion ($21.6 million), Lupin III (Toho) Week 7
09 (06) ¥35 million ($0.32 million), -27%, ¥950 million ($8.9 million), Guardians of the Galaxy (Disney) Week 5
10 (07) ¥29 million ($0.26 million), -22%, ¥230 million ($2.1 million), Jersey Boys (Warner Bros.) Week 3

>Close Range Love, the feature film adaptation of the TV show, opened quite well according to estimates (which could be a bit off this weekend due to the weather). If the estimate holds, or even improves, it has a good chance of reaching the ¥1 billion milestone (about $10 million), which is solid for any October release.

>2nd place is close between the debut of Cape Nostalgia (finally a decent showing for a live-action Toei film) and the 5th weekend of Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends which was finally dethroned. Assuming the former skewed older, I think the two could see an admissions/gross split for 2nd/3rd.

>And the final debut, the 11th film in the Pretty Cure (Precure) franchise, did pretty awful business. It looks to be down around 50% (or more) compared to the openings of its predecessors from the past couple years. I'm not familiar with the series, but this is the first "HappinessCharge" film in the franchise to my knowledge, so perhaps that brand isn't nearly as popular as the "All Star" brand.

[Infernus]

Can guardians reach 10 million now? What are its chances? I don't know much about rhe Japanese box office but it seems to me that it's going to end up at 9.7-9.8 Million.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Infernus

[Infernus]

Can guardians reach 10 million now? What are its chances? I don't know much about the Japanese box office but it seems to me that it's going to end up at 9.7-9.8Million.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Infernus

[Infernus]

Sorry for the double posts. It seems whenever I use a mobile to post it posts it twice.

[Quigley]

Can guardians reach 10 million now? What are its chances? I don't know much about the Japanese box office but it seems to me that it's going to end up at 9.7-9.8Million.

 

It can certainly reach ¥1 billion. Dunno about $10 million

[Olive]

Oct. 11–12 9 $314,328 -28.7% 538 -52 $584 $9,009,908 5

 

$10M is likely if BOM is accurate.

[rockNrollaDIM]

Did Maleficent end up managing 5m admissions or fall just shy?

[Olive]

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Weekend Forecast (10/18-19)

01 (--) ¥145 million ($1.3 million), 0, ¥145 million ($1.3 million), Grace of Monaco (Gaga) NEW
02 (01) ¥123 million ($1.2 million), -31%, ¥530 million ($5.1 million), Close Range Love (Toho) Week 2
03 (02) ¥114 million ($1.1 million), -35%, ¥510 million ($4.9 million), Cape Nostalgia (Toei) Week 2
04 (03) ¥100 million ($0.94 million), -30%, ¥4.05 billion ($38.1 million), Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Warner Bros.) Week 6
05 (04) ¥79 million ($0.74 million), -26%, ¥705 million ($6.6 million), A Samurai Chronicle (Toho) Week 3
06 (--) ¥75 million ($0.71 million), 0, ¥75 million ($0.71 million), Disconcerto (Tokyo Theaters, Co.) NEW
07 (05) ¥72 million ($0.68 million), -28%, ¥270 million ($2.5 million), HappinessCharge Precure! The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls (Toei) Week 2
08 (06) ¥51 million ($0.48 million), -30%, ¥8.00 billion ($77.2 million), Stand By Me, Doraemon (Toho) Week 11
09 (07) ¥45 million ($0.42 million), -33%, ¥1.31 billion ($12.0 million), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Fox) Week 5
10 (08) ¥28 million ($0.26 million), -34%, ¥2.35 billion ($22.1 million), Lupin III (Toho) Week 8

>Grace of Monaco will benefit from a weak market place, and has a great shot at debuting atop the box-office. It's morning/afternoon ticket sales were outpacing Close Range Love and Cape Nostalgia, but they're reasonably close so it may be a 3-way race for the top spot over the weekend.

Japan should have little trouble becoming Grace of Monaco's best foreign market (maybe overall market since it doesn't have a US release still...) given its dismal performance everywhere else.

Other than that, another dull October with nothing else too interesting besides Stand By Me, Doraemon either coming really, really close to or exceeding the ¥8 billion ($77 million) mark this weekend, its 11th-consecutive week in the Top 10. It'll be the first non-Ghibli/Disney animated film to ever reach the milestone.

This is probably going to be the weakest weekend of the year. I'm hoping one of the limited release surprises and can make the Top 10 to make things a little more interesting.

[Rsyu]

Upcoming Release Schedule - November 2014

(Major Studio & Notable Releases Only)

01st
The Expendables 3 (Shochiku)
Beauty and the Beast (Gaga)
Son of a Gun (Kadokawa)
Nymphomaniac:. Vol II (Broad Media Studios)

07th
Sabotage (Broad Media Studios)

08th
Twilight Sasara Saya (Warner Bros.)
The Guest (Showgate)

14th
Boyhood (Toho-Towa)

15th
As the Gods Will (Toho)
Paper Moon (Shochiku)

21st
Journey to the West (Nikkatsu, Toho-Towa)
Runner Runner (Presido)

22nd
Interstellar (Warner Bros.)
Attack on Titan Special Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow (Toho)
Miracle: Devil Claus' Love and Magic (Toho, Asmik Ace)

28th
Fury (Kadokawa)

29th
Parasyte Part 1 (Toho) *dir. Takashi Yamazaki*

Predictions: 
¥4.00-5.00 billion ($40-50 million) - Parasyte Part 1 (Toho) *dir. Takashi Yamazaki*
¥3.00-3.50 billion ($30-35 million) - Interstellar (Warner Bros.)
¥2.25-2.50 billion ($22-25 million) - As the Gods Will (Toho)
¥2.00-2.50 billion ($20-25 million) - Attack on Titan Special Part 1: Crimson Bow and Arrow (Toho)
¥1.75-2.00 billion ($17-20 million) - Miracle: Devil Claus' Love and Magic (Toho, Asmik Ace)
¥1.00-1.25 billion ($10-12 million) - Twilight Sasara Saya (Warner Bros.)
¥500 million+ ($5 million) - The Expendables 3 (Shochiku), Paper Moon (Shochiku), Journey to the West (Nikkatsu, Toho-Towa), Boyhood (Toho-Towa), Fury (Kadokawa)

 

[source:wokj]

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Weekend Forecast (10/25-26)

01 (01) ¥89 million ($0.84 million), -28%, ¥705 million ($6.5 million), Close Range Love (Toho) Week 3
02 (--) ¥80 million ($0.75 million), 0, ¥105 million ($0.98 million), Hercules (Paramount) NEW
03 (--) ¥75 million ($0.70 million), 0, ¥75 million ($0.70 million), The Equalizer (Sony) NEW
04 (02) ¥61 million ($0.57 million), -36%, ¥700 million ($6.5 million), Cape Nostalgia (Toei) Week 3
05 (05) ¥54 million ($0.50 million), -21%, ¥350 million ($3.3 million), HappinessCharge Precure! The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls (Toei) Week 3
06 (03) ¥52 million ($0.48 million), -35%, ¥4.14 billion ($38.8 million), Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Warner Bros.) Week 7
07 (04) ¥49 million ($0.45 million), -40%, ¥345 million ($3.2 million), Grace of Monaco (Gaga) Week 2
08 (07) ¥37 million ($0.34 million), -33%, ¥800 million ($7.6 million), A Samurai Chronicle (Toho) Week 4
09 (08) ¥36 million ($0.33 million), -26%, ¥8.05 billion ($77.6 million), Stand By Me, Doraemon (Toho) Week 12
10 (06) ¥31 million ($0.28 million), -46%, ¥140 million ($1.2 million), Disconcerto (Tokyo Theaters, Co.) Week 2
--¥30-40 million ($0.27-0.37 million), 0, ¥30-40 million ($0.27-0.37 million), Oh Brother, Oh Sister! (Showgate) NEW

Is it November yet? This October is the worst month I've ever followed, and I thought last weekend was bad. Granted, October is the weakest month of the year, but still... yuck.

If Close Range Love doesn't pull off an amazing hold, and if neither Hercules or The Equalizer see spikes in admissions into the evening, the weekend could end up without a #1 film above ¥100 million. I don't think I've followed the box-office with that happening before, so it's been at least 4/5 years. If it happens, I'll properly look it up to be sure.

Anyway, Hercules and The Equalizer don't look good and hitting ¥100 million (~$1 million) for the weekend isn't likely. Hercules opened yesterday to about ¥25 million ($0.22 million) or so.

The only interesting news is that Stand By Me, Doraemon is likely to earn itself a 12th-consecutive week in the Top 10.

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Weekend Estimates (10/25-26)

01 (01) ¥106 million ($1.0 million), -14%, ¥710 million ($6.6 million), Close Range Love (Toho) Week 3
02 (--) ¥85 million ($0.80 million), 0, ¥110 million ($1.0 million), Hercules (Paramount) NEW
03 (--) ¥80 million ($0.75 million), 0, ¥80 million ($0.75 million), The Equalizer (Sony) NEW
04 (02) ¥61 million ($0.57 million), -36%, ¥690 million ($6.4 million), Cape Nostalgia (Toei) Week 3
05 (03) ¥59 million ($0.55 million), -27%, ¥4.13 billion ($38.8 million), Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Warner Bros.) Week 7
06 (05) ¥58 million ($0.54 million), -16%, ¥340 million ($3.2 million), HappinessCharge Precure! The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls (Toei) Week 3
07 (--) ¥55 million ($0.52 million), 0, ¥55 million ($0.52 million), Oh Brother, Oh Sister! (Showgate) NEW
08 (05) ¥49 million ($0.45 million), -39%, ¥275 million ($2.6 million), Grace of Monaco (Gaga) Week 2
09 (08) ¥40 million ($0.37 million), -20%, ¥8.05 billion ($77.6 million), Stand By Me, Doraemon (Toho) Week 12
10 (07) ¥37 million ($0.34 million), -34%, ¥800 million ($7.5 million), A Samurai Chronicle (Toho) Week 4
11 (06) ¥32 million ($0.29 million), -43%, ¥130 million ($1.1 million), Disconcerto (Tokyo Theaters, Co.) Week 2
12 (10) ¥16 million ($0.14 million), -29%, ¥2.37 billion ($22.3 million), Lupin III (Toho) Week 9

>Close Range Love manages a 3rd-consecutive week in 1st with an excellent hold, and saves the weekend from having a sub-¥100 million #1 film. I'll do some proper research tomorrow, but I think this might be the first time any film has repeated atop the box-office 3-straight times without ever grossing more than ¥200 million. It's also incredibly likely to reach ¥1 billion (~$10 million) now, so this October won't go without a film achieving the milestone at least... I guess A Samurai Chronicle still has a chance, but it'll be a slow crawl.

>Hercules and The Equalizer are in a very close race for 2nd place. It appears The Equalizer may have ranked 2nd in admissions, but Hercules should have a higher avg. ticket price that may put it above in gross. Since Hercules is playing on around 50% more screens, I'm leaning towards it placing 2nd.

>And all the films ranked 4th-7th are also really close. At the usual locations (about 1/3 of the market), they're 600 admissions apart.

>Stand By Me, Doraemon earning a 12th-consecutive week in the Top 10 looks nearly assured with the estimates unless they're really off somewhere. It'll also be over ¥8 billion now, making it the first non-Ghibli/Disney animated film to ever achieve this major milestone.

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Weekend Forecast (11/01-02)

01 (--) ¥220 million ($2.00 million), 0, ¥220 million ($2.00 million), Clover (Toho) NEW
02 (--) ¥160 million ($1.45 million), 0, ¥160 million ($1.45 million), The Expendables 3 (Shochiku) NEW
03 (--) ¥150 million ($1.36 million), 0, ¥150 million ($1.36 million), Beauty and the Beast (Gaga) NEW
04 (--) ¥110 million ($1.00 million), 0, ¥140 million ($1.27 million), Dracula ZERO (Toho-Towa) NEW
05 (01) ¥82 million ($0.75 million), -26%, ¥915 million ($8.5 million), Close Range Love (Toho) Week 4
06 (02) ¥63 million ($0.57 million), -39%, ¥280 million ($2.5 million), Hercules (Paramount) Week 2
07 (03) ¥55 million ($0.50 million), -30%, ¥220 million ($2.0 million), The Equalizer (Sony) Week 2
08 (04) ¥48 million ($0.43 million), -25%, ¥870 million ($8.1 million), Cape Nostalgia (Toei) Week 4
09 (05) ¥47 million ($0.42 million), -21%, ¥400 million ($3.7 million), HappinessCharge Precure! The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls (Toei) Week 4
10 (06) ¥41 million ($0.37 million), -28%, ¥4.21 billion ($39.5 million), Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Warner Bros.) Week 8

Now with November here, we finally have an interesting weekend. Sure, there's no big film opening, but all four openers should do well.

Also, a couple notes regarding this weekend:

1) The Yen just hit a 7-year low vs the Dollar going into the weekend, so USD figures may not look particularly impressive.
2) Saturday is the 1st of the Month, so tickets are 40% off at all major chains. This will drive ticket sales, but grosses sometimes suffer unless the film gets a significant boost in admissions.

And I'm wanting to predict an upset this weekend.... Beauty and the Beast (the France/Germany live-action adaptation which has earned over $30 million WW so far) has some great ticket sales this morning and isn't trailing too far behind the leaders, especially when you compare their theater counts, but the theater count is what will make this upset unlikely to happen. Beauty and the Beast is only playing in 153 theaters, which is only half as many as Clover and The Expendables 3.

[jerem4502]

Great for Beauty and The Beast !

[cremino]

Corpse

 

Weekend Estimates (11/01-02)

01 (--) ¥180 million ($1.64 million), 0, ¥180 million ($1.64 million), Beauty and the Beast (Gaga) NEW
02 (--) ¥170 million ($1.55 million), 0, ¥170 million ($1.55 million), The Expendables 3 (Shochiku) NEW
03 (--) ¥155 million ($1.41 million), 0, ¥155 million ($1.41 million), Clover (Toho) NEW
04 (--) ¥115 million ($1.05 million), 0, ¥145 million ($1.32 million), Dracula ZERO (Toho-Towa) NEW
05 (01) ¥78 million ($0.71 million), -30%, ¥910 million ($8.5 million), Close Range Love (Toho) Week 4
06 (08) ¥67 million ($0.37 million), +22%, ¥190 million ($1.7 million), Oh Brother, Oh Sister! (Showgate) Week 2
07 (05) ¥62 million ($0.56 million), +05%, ¥410 million ($3.8 million), HappinessCharge Precure! The Ballerina of the Land of Dolls (Toei) Week 4
08 (04) ¥59 million ($0.53 million), -11%, ¥880 million ($8.2 million), Cape Nostalgia (Toei) Week 4
09 (03) ¥58 million ($0.52 million), -26%, ¥220 million ($2.0 million), The Equalizer (Sony) Week 2
10 (02) ¥56 million ($0.51 million), -46%, ¥270 million ($2.4 million), Hercules (Paramount) Week 2
11 (09) ¥55 million ($0.50 million), +33%, ¥8.13 billion ($78.3 million), Stand By Me, Doraemon (Toho) Week 13
12 (06) ¥49 million ($0.45 million), -14%, ¥4.13 billion ($39.6 million), Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (Warner Bros.) Week 8

Most important thing to keep in mind about these estimates is that they're very, very much estimates indeed. Whenever the 1st of the Month falls on Saturday or Sunday, it makes estimating weekend grosses very difficult. I'll be surprised if these rankings are the same tomorrow.

The Top 3 are too close to call, really. Beauty and the Beast won in admissions at the usual locations, but as I've mentioned, most of its 153 theaters are located here. The Expendables 3 or Clover may very well be ahead of it tomorrow. And the bottom half of the Top 10 are all very close and will likely change ranking in the morning.

[Mojoguy]

That new Beauty and the Beast movie looks really AMAZING! I hope it gets released on Bluray/dvd in North America soon!