Japan Box Office: Saint Seiya: The Beginning Live-Action Film Makes 8th Place Debut
Under the Japanese title Saint Seiya: The Beginning — titled Knights of the Zodiac in other regions — the live-action film adaptation of Masami Kurumada’s classic Saint Seiya action fantasy manga finally released in 323 theaters across Japan on April 28, ranking at eighth place in its opening weekend. Specific first-week box office figures have not yet been officially announced due to the Golden Week holiday.
Mackenyu (Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist and Roronoa Zoro in One Piece‘s live-action adaptations) plays the protagonist Seiya, as his first lead role in a Hollywood film. The film’s estimated budget is $60 million, according to Variety. According to an interview with Toei Animation’s producer Yoshiyuki Yoshizawa on Shueisha Online, Toei Animation funded 100 percent of the total production cost.
After staying on the No.1 spot for two consecutive weekends, the Detective Conan anime franchise’s 26th feature film, Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine, dropped to second place, defeated by the newcomer The Super Mario Bros. Movie. In its third weekend, the latest Detective Conan movie earned 1.189 billion yen (8.71 million USD) on 831,000 admissions, bringing its total to 7.97 billion yen (58.4 million USD) on 5.37 million admissions. It has now become the fifth top-grossing film in the Detective Conan anime franchise, surpassing the 24th film Detective Conan The Scarlet Bullet (2021 / 7.65 billion yen).
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Tokyo Revengers 2 Chi no Valentine-hen -Unmei- (“Bloody Halloween Arc -Fate-“), the first of the two-part sequel of the live-action film adaptation project inspired by Ken Wakui’s Tokyo Revengers manga, ranked fourth in its second weekend, down two positions from its debut weekend.
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK continues to show its persistent box office performance in Japan, ranking fifth in its 22nd weekend. Meanwhile, Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia, the 42nd anime feature film in the nationally popular Doraemon franchise, went down two positions to sixth in its ninth weekend.
RELATED: THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Rises to Become 5th Highest-Grossing Anime Film of All Time
Weekend box office Top 10 in Japan (April 28-30, 2023)
(ticket sales basis)
1 (new). “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” – 1.8 billion yen
2 (1). “Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine” – 7.97 billion yen
3 (new). “Tokyo Mobile Emergency Room The Movie” – 792 million yen
4 (2). “Tokyo Revengers 2 Chi no Valentine-hen -Unmei-” – 1.17 billion yen
5 (3). “THE FIRST SLAM DUNK” – 13.53 billion yen
6 (4). “Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia” – 4.083 billion yen (as of April 24)
7 (6). “Shin Kamen Rider” – 2.02 billion yen
8 (new). “Knights of the Zodiac” (box office not announced as of May 2, 2023)
9 (8). “Ustukushii Kare eternal” – 350 million yen
10 (7). “My Happy Marriage” – 2.44 billion yen
“Knights of the Zodiac” trailer:
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