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2nd Sumikko Gurashi Film Falls to #5, SAO Progressive to #8

Eiga Sumikko Gurashi: Aoi Tsukiyo no Mahō no Ko (The Magical Child of the Blue Moonlit Night), the second film in San-X's Sumikko Gurashi franchise, dropped from #4 to #5 in its sixth weekend. The film earned 53,521,800 yen (about US$470,900) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a total of 1,025,155,830 yen (about US$9.02 million).

The film opened in Japan on November 5, and sold about 200,000 tickets to earn about 250 million yen (about US$2.22 million) in its first three days.

Takahiro Ōmori (Durarara!!, Natsume's Book of Friends, Princess Jellyfish) directed the film. Reiko Yoshida (Violet Evergarden, Lu over the Wall, K-ON!) penned the script, and Kaori Hino (Modest Heroes, Napping Princess) returned from the first film as the art director. Fanworks returned to animate the film, and Asmik Ace is distributing.

In the film's story, the main characters go on a camping trip one day in the fall, and that night they recall a legend: that once every five years, on the night of a large and blue full moon, magical creatures will visit the town. The characters look up, only to see a large and blue moon overhead.

Sumikko Gurashi debuted in 2012 as slightly negative characters who like to stay in the corner of a room. The characters include "Shirokuma," a polar bear who is sensitive to cold; "Penguin?" (with a question mark in its name), a penguin who is unsure if it is actually a penguin; "Tonkatsu," a piece of pork cutlet that was left uneaten; "Neko," a shy cat; and "Tokage," who hides his nature as one of the last dinosaurs.

The Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night anime film dropped from #7 to #8 in its seventh weekend. The film earned 27,027,800 yen (about US$237,800) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 1,326,146,793 yen (about US$11.67 million).

The movie opened in Japan on October 30 in standard and IMAX theaters, and topped the box office in its first weekend.

Funimation screened the film in both standard and IMAX theaters in the United States and Canada on December 3 and will screen the film in Australia and New Zealand on December 9. The movie will also screen soon in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Latin America. The film will open in over 40 countries and territories around the world. Odex will screen the film in Southeast Asia this year.

Ayako Kohno (unit director on Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic, High School Fleet, The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky) directed the film at A-1 Pictures, and Kento Toya (Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld, The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments) designed the characters. Yasuyuki Kai served as action director, and Yuki Kajiura returned to compose the music.

A new film titled Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Kuraki Yūyami no Scherzo (Scherzo of a Dark Dusk) will open in 2022.

The live action film adaptation of Fumi Yoshinaga's What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Kinō Nani Tabeta?) manga dropped from #6 to #9 in its sixth weekend. The film earned 25,488,650 yen (about US$224,300) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 1,284,242,100 yen (about US$11.30 million).

The film premiered in Japan on November 3, and sold 100,000 tickets to earn about 145 million yen (about US$1.28 million) from November 6-7.

Seiyo Uchino and Hideotshi Nishijima reprised their roles from the manga's live-action television series adaptation as Kenji Yabuki and Shirō Kakei, respectively. Kazuhito Nakae and Naoko Adachi also returned from the live-action series as director and scriptwriter, respectively. Other cast members including Kōji Yamamoto, Hayato Isomura, Makita Sports, Misako Tanaka, and Meiko Kaji returned as their characters Daisaku Kohinata, Wataru Inoue, Hiroshi Miyake, Kayoko Tominaga, and Hisae Kakei, respectively.

The manga centers on a hard-working middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo and the food they share together at the dinner table.

Aria the Benedizione, the third anime film for the Aria franchise, dropped off the top 10 in its second weekend, but it still earned 18,864,290 yen (about US$166,000) from Friday to Sunday. It has earned a cumulative total of 94,339,090 yen (about US$830,200).

Mogura no Uta Final, the newest live-action film based on Noboru Takahashi's Mogura no Uta manga, dropped off the top 10 in its fourth weekend, but it still earned 13,447,550 yen (about US$118,300) from Friday to Sunday. It has earned a cumulative total of 358,270,900 yen (about US$3.15 million).

"Summer Ghost," the anime directorial debut of illustrator loundraw (I want to eat your pancreas, Josee, The Tiger and the Fish, Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song-), dropped off the mini-theater rankings in its fifth weekend.

Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), Eiga.com, comScore via KOFIC