Japan Box Office: Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume Beats Black Panther Sequel in Its Opening Weekend
Makoto Shinkai’s highly-anticipated new anime feature film Suzume finally released in 379 theaters across Japan on November 11 and earned an impressive 1.386 billion yen (9.88 million USD) on 983,000 admissions on its first Saturday and Sunday to make its No.1 debut, beating the latest entry from the MCU franchise, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The sequel to the first Black Panther film in 2018 made 327 million yen (2.33 million USD) in its first Saturday and Sunday in Japan, which was 105 percent of that of the first film but only 23.6 percent of that of Suzume.
Suzume‘s cumulative total for the three days from Friday to Sunday (including the IMAX advance screening on November 7) reached 1.884 billion yen (13.14 million USD) on 1.33 million admissions. The three-day performance was 138.7 percent (attendance) and 147.4 percent (gross) of Shinkai’s 2016 film Your Name., and 114.9 percent (attendance) and 114.7 percent (gross) of those of his 2019 film Weathering With You, making it the number one rocket start in his career.
The 121-minute film ranks second on Filmarks’ first day satisfaction ranking with an average rating of 4.00/5.0 based on 6,585 reviews, while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was in first place with 4.10/5.0 on 7,222 reviews.
Crunchyroll is teaming up with Sony Pictures and Wild Bunch International to bring Suzume to global audiences outside of Asia in early 2023.
RELATED: Suzume Has Best Japanese Box Office Opening for Makoto Shinkai Anime Film Ever
In its 15th weekend, One Piece Film Red dropped to third, bringing its total to 18.2 billion yen (129.7 million USD) on 13.16 million admissions.
Surprisingly, Uta no Prince-sama The Movie: Maji LOVE ST☆RISH TOURS, the second concert film from the Uta no Prince-sama anime franchise, jumped up to fourth from last weekend’s eighth in its 11th weekend. If this momentum will continue for a little more, it may surpass the 2019 first film Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love Kingdom‘s total box office gross of 1.82 billion yen (13 million USD).
Sword Art Online -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night ranked sixth in its fourth weekend, three positions down from last weekend.
Weekend box office Top 10 in Japan (November 12-13, 2022)
(ticket sales basis)
1 (new). “Suzume” – 1.884 billion yen
2 (new). “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – 490 million yen
3 (1). “One Piece Film Red” – 18.2 billion yen
4 (8). “Uta no Prince-sama The Movie: Maji LOVE ST☆RISH TOURS”
5 (2). “Karada Sagashi” – 1 billion yen
6 (3). “Sword Art Online -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night”
7 (new). “Tsuchi wo Kurau 12-kagetsu”
8 (5). “Sadako DX” – 210 million yen
9 (new). “Achira ni Iru Oni”
10 (9). “RRR”
“Suzume” JP trailer:
Sources: Eiga.com, Pixiin, Filmarks
©2022 “Suzume no Tojimari” Production Committee
