News

Japanese Box Office, August 16–17: Ponyo's 5th #1

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (pictured at right), Hayao Miyazaki's first feature film in nearly four years, has completed its fifth weekend at #1 at the Japanese box office. In the 30 days from its July opening to August 17, the movie has been seen 8.27 million times and earned over 9.94 billion yen (about US$91 million). On its 31st day (Monday), it was seen for the 8,435,178th time on 481 screens and earned 10,135,836,055 yen (US$92.53 million) — thus breaking the 10-billion-yen mark. Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl's Moving Castle (2004) earned their first 10 billion yen in 43, 25, and 33 days, respectively. Ponyo stayed on top despite the openings of Rob Cohen's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (#2) and Robert Luketic's 21 (#4).

Kunihiko Yuyama's Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl: Giratina to Sora no Hanataba Shaymin, the Pokémon franchise's 11th feature film, stayed at #3 in its fifth weekend. Boys Over Flowers: Final (Hana Yori Dango Final), Yasuharu Ishii's live-action film finale based on Yōko Kamio's Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) romantic comedy manga, dropped from #5 to #6 in its eighth weekend. The twin movie billing of Kamen Rider Kiva and Engine Sentai Go-onger fell from #4 to #8 in its second weekend. Hajime Kamegaki's Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna, the fifth feature movie in the Naruto ninja franchise, dropped from #7 to #9 in its third weekend.

GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sennen Noroi Uta (GeGeGe no Kitarō : The Thousand-Year-Curse Song), the live-action film sequel based on Shigeru Mizuki's supernatural manga, actually rose back onto the top-10 chart to take #10 in its sixth weekend. By contrast, The Sky Crawlers, Mamoru Oshii's first fully animated work since 2004's Ghost in the Shell sequel Innocence, fell from #9 off the top-10 chart in its third weekend.

Source: Kogyo Tsushinsha, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, Cinema Topics Online

Image © 2008 Nibariki, GNDHDDT