Japan's COVID-19 epidemic has basically completely liberated itself, and more than 10,000 new cases have been added in the past three days, including Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi prefectures and other places. At a time when many places have entered a state of medical emergency, although the operation of the Japanese film market has not been too restricted, the market heat has also declined significantly. After the release of several stronger new films, the weekend box office market still hit a new low in the past ten weeks, which is nearly 40% lower than the same period last year when "Star Wars 9" began. "Devil's Blade: Infinite Train" achieved a weekend top ten consecutive titles, and its cumulative box office has surpassed "Spirited Away" today (December 26), setting a new record in Japanese film history. The new local film "Three Kingdoms New Solution" fell less than 40% the following week, still ranking second at the weekend box office. The new local film "The Promised Neverland" won nearly 300 million yen in the opening weekend, ranking third at the weekend box office. The theatrical version of Kamen Rider Paladin is in fourth place, while the animated sequel Doraemon: Walk with Me 2 is still in the top five of the weekend.
The animated theatrical version of "Devil's Blade: Infinite Train" has been released for more than two months, and its gold-sucking momentum has also slowed down significantly. The film mobilized 282,000 viewers in two days over the weekend and grossed another 390 million yen, narrowly beating "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to win the weekend championship and becoming the first film to achieve a ten-consecutive weekend title since 2010's "Avatar". The weekend box office of "GhostBusters" fell 58% from the previous weekend, mainly due to its sharp decline in the previous weekend with the help of "special gifts", and the trend this weekend is also back to normal. As of last Sunday, the cumulative box office of this phenomenal work adapted from the original manga by manga artist Wu Yao Hu Shiqing in the 66 days of release has reached 31.166 billion yen, and the cumulative number of moviegoers has reached 23.17 million, both of which are about to refresh the film history record of "Spirited Away". "Ghostbusters" topped the list last weekend with a small margin of 12 million yen, and is currently second only to "Titanic" (22 weeks), "Spirited Away" (18 weeks) and "Frozen" (14 weeks) in the weekend.
According to the latest news from Japanese media, the cumulative box office of "Devil's Blade" as of today (December 26) has exceeded 31.8 billion yen, officially surpassing the 31.66 billion yen of "Spirited Away" (including 860 million yen of re-screening this year), officially crowning itself the total box office champion in Japanese film history. Since its release, "Ghost In the Shell" has been transformed into a "record harvester", not only is it the first film to break 1 billion yen in a single day, but it also breaks through the 10 billion, 20 billion yen and 30 billion yen marks at the fastest speed, and it has also become the only film in the global film market this year to break the record of film history in a single market. The Ghost Blade manga has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump on February 15, 2016, and in just four years, this work has quickly become a phenomenon IP in Japan from manga to TV animation to theatrical version, and its annual sales of original manga have exceeded 82 million copies, and the industry estimates that the entire IP will create a huge economic value of 200 billion yen (about 12.6 billion yuan). "Devil's Blade" will also be released in 4D this weekend, and its weekend box office will fall sharply, and its domination of the Japanese film market will continue.
Toho's historical comedy "The New Solution to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms" mobilized 274,000 people to enter the show the following weekend and won 378 million yen at the box office, but it still failed to break the monopoly of "Devil's Blade" and ranked second at the weekend box office with a small disadvantage. The film's trend is strong on weekdays, and the single-day box office is still overpowering the animation attribute of "Devil's Blade", but the latter still performs slightly better on weekends. Starring Hiroshi Ozumi, Tetsu Hashimoto, Nu Takahashi and Takayuki Yamada, the film fell only 36% from the opening weekend, and the cumulative box office in the two weeks of release has reached 1.65 billion yen, and the cumulative number of people has exceeded the million mark. Directed by Yuichi Fukuda, the new film has an average older audience and is relatively less affected by new films such as the upcoming "Pokémon: Cocoa"; with the addition of the New Year's holiday, its final box office is even expected to hit 4 billion yen.
Toho's comic adaptation of the live-action film "The Promised Neverland" started on 340 screens in the first week, mobilized 219,000 viewers in two days over the weekend, and earned 288 million yen at the box office, ranking third at the weekend box office due to the failure of two old films. The film is based on the manga of the same name by Shirai Koi, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump until June this year, and also produced a TV animation last year, this live-action adaptation is led by Yuichiro Hirakawa, who directed "Memory House: I Will Never Forget You", and Miwa Hamabe plays the protagonist Emma, the story tells that Emma lives in an isolated orphanage, and she and the two friends plan to start a prison escape operation together. Counting the first day of release, the film received a total of 373 million yen in the three days of opening, which was far better than other "Weekly Shonen" comic adaptations such as "Tokyo Ghoul" and "Death", and its final box office is expected to hit more than 2 billion.
Toei's two new anime titles, "Theater Short Story Kamen Rider Sacred Blade, Swordsman and Book of Destruction of the Undead Bird" and "Kamen Rider ZERO-ONE Movie Version REAL×TIME" (continuous screening), ranked fifth in the weekend, with 97,000 spectators in the first weekend and a box office of 124 million yen, ranking fourth in the weekend with a narrow victory over Doraemon. The two theatrical versions of Eubetsu are directed by Takayuki Shibasaki and Akiaki Sugihara, a joint effort of the first season of the Reiwa Kamen Rider series, "Kamen Rider Zero-One", which aired in September this year, and "Kamen Rider's Blade," which aired in September this year. The film grossed 168 million yen in its first three days, and is expected to gross around 500 million yen.
Toho's latest theatrical release, Doraemon: Walk with Me 2, grossed another 118 million yen on the fifth weekend of release, pushing back to fifth place on the weekend list by the new film. The doraemon manga '50th anniversary' commemorative work is down just 36 percent from the previous weekend, and the cumulative box office has reached 1.987 billion yen, just one step away from the 2 billion mark.
Warner's superhero movie "Wonder Woman 1984" was released in the Japanese market on Friday, and it mobilized 75,600 people to enter the show with 340 screens in its first weekend, earning 114 million yen at the box office, ranking sixth at the weekend box office. Directed by Patti Jenkins, the sequel, starring Gayle Gadot and Chris Pine, plummeted 57 percent from the first Wonder Woman, slightly more than the Chinese mainland market, and performed badly. Even considering the New Year's holiday bonus, Wonder Woman 1984 may not break through the Japanese box office.
Shochiku's new local film "Takizawa Kabuki ZERO 2020" grossed 96.5 million yen in two days over the weekend, ranking seventh at the weekend box office. The film, based on a famous musical, fell 31 percent from the previous weekend and has topped 1.4 billion yen in its three weeks of release. Haruma Miura's posthumous work "The Outsider" received more than 41 million yen over the weekend, down more than half from the opening weekend, and the cumulative box office has exceeded 330 million yen.
The anime Evangelion New Theater Edition: Q took over the re-screening of the two previous works, earning about 44.8 million yen in three days, and the results were at the bottom of the three re-screenings in the series. The FGO theatrical version of "Destiny/Crown Designation, Camelot in the Sacred Round Table Field" received more than 32 million yen at the weekend, still ranking in the top ten, and the cumulative amount of 366 million yen in the three weeks of release has reached 366 million yen.
Attached: Top 15 box office in japanese film history - (YEN)
01. Devil's Blade Theater Edition Infinite Train - 318+ Billion (in theaters)
02. Spirited Away – 31.68 billion
03. Titanic – 27.05 billion
04. Frozen – 25.5 billion
05. Your name – 25.03 billion
06. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone – 20.3 billion
07. Princess Mononoke – 20.18 billion
08. Hal's moving castle – 19.6 billion
09. Jump the Great Search Line 2: Blockade of rainbow bridges - 17.35 billion
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – 17.3 billion
11. Avatar – 15.6 billion
12. Pony on the Cliff – 15.5 billion
13. Weather Child – 14.19 billion
14. The Last Samurai – 13.7 billion
15. Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban – 13.5 billion
Note: Unless otherwise specified, the box office units in this article are all in Japanese yen.