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Gundam SEED FREEDOM Back at #1, Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc Drops to #2
posted on by Adriana Hazra
The film is now the highest-earning film in the Gundam franchise at the Japanese box office, overtaking the 1982 Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space anime film's 2.3 billion yen (US$15.5 million by current conversion).
The film is screening in 353 cinemas in Japan, and added 4DX, MX4D, and Dolby Cinema screenings starting on Friday.
The film opened at #1 in the Japanese box office, selling 634,182 tickets for 1,065,983,130 yen (about US$7.20 million) in its first three days, marking the Gundam franchise's highest three-day opening in box office earnings, and the biggest opening weekend for a film so far this year in Japan. Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM opened in Japan on January 26. The film is planned to screen in 56 countries and territories.
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed director Mitsuo Fukuda directed the film at Bandai Namco Filmworks. Fukuda also co-wrote the script along with his late wife Chiaki Morosawa and Liu Goto. Hisashi Hirai (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed) designed the characters.
The screenings opened at #1 in the Japanese box office in its debut weekend in Tokyo on February 2, as part of a World Tour. The screenings sold 443,700 tickets for 646,790,467 yen (about US$4.35 million) in their first three days.
Following the World Tour, the theatrical screenings will open in North American theaters on February 23. The anime will also screen in IMAX and premium large formats.
The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc anime will premiere on television this spring.
The film opened in Japan on January 19 and topped the Japanese box office in its first weekend. The film sold 356,000 tickets for 533,848,690 yen (about US$3.62 million) in its first three days.
Shigeaki Kubo directed the film at production company CREDEUS. Tsutomu Kuroiwa wrote the script. Yutaka Yamada composed the music. Hiroshi Nakagawa and Debo Akibe are credited for Ainu supervision. Japanese rock group ACIDMAN performed the theme song "Kagayakerumono" (Those Who Shine).
Satoru Noda launched the manga in Shueisha's Young Jump magazine in 2014, and ended it in April 2022. The manga has inspired four anime seasons, and production of the anime's final arc has been green-lit.
The film opened in Japan on December 22. The film is an all-new work with an original story. The film sold 866,000 tickets for 1.224 billion yen (about US$8.61 million) in its first three days.
Crunchyroll will screen the film in North America in 2024.
Original manga creator Tatsuya Endō is credited with the original work and original character designs for the film, and he also supervised the film. WIT STUDIO and CloverWorks again animated the film.
New cast members for the film include Tomoya Nakamura as Dmitri, Kento Kaku as Luka, Banjō Ginga as Snijder, and Shunsuke Takeuchi as Type F.
The film opened in Japan on November 17 and sold 111,500 tickets and earned 160,106,620 yen (about US$1.07 million) in its first three days.
Gō Koga (Gegege no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!!, One Piece Episode of Sabo) directed the film at Toei Animation, and Hiroyuki Yoshino (Macross Frontier, World Trigger, 13 episodes in 2018 GeGeGe no Kitarō) wrote the screenplay. Tōko Yatabe (2018 GeGeGe no Kitarō's third ending sequence unit director, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time assistant director) designed the characters. The main cast includes Toshihiko Seki as Kitarō's father, who would eventually become Medama Oyaji, and Hidenobu Kikuchi as Mizuki, a salaryman who heads to a cursed village under secret orders.
Godzilla Minus One opened in Japan on November 3, 2023 ("Godzilla Day"), which was the anniversary of the first Godzilla film's November 3, 1954 release. The new film screened at The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) as the closing film of this year's event on November 1.
The film sold 648,600 tickets for 1,041,193,460 yen (about US$6.93 million) in its first three days in the Japanese box office. The film sold 14.7% more tickets and earned 22.8% more in its first three days than the last live-action Japanese Godzilla film, Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi's Shin Godzilla, did in its first three days in 2016.
Ryunosuke Kamiki plays protagonist Kōichi Shikishima, and Minami Hamabe plays heroine Noriko Ōishi. (The two also led the cast of NHK's weekday morning series Ranman.) Other cast members include Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Andō, and Kuranosuke Sasaki.
The Kamen Rider 555 20th: Paradise Regained film is out of the top 10 in its second weekend, but still earned 39,935,660 yen (about US$265,200) from Friday to Sunday. The film has earned a cumulative total of 178,766,510 yen (about US$1.18 million).
Eiga Given: Hiiragi mix, the first film in the two-part sequel anime film project based on Natsuki Kizu's Given manga, stayed at #1 in the mini-theater rankings in its third weekend. The film ranked at #1 in the mini-theater rankings in its opening weekend.
Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2, link 3), comScore via KOFIC
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