Japan Box Office: THE FIRST SLAM DUNK Still Scores, Kaguya Makes Its 8th Place Debut
Even the world’s most successful film’s sequel can’t beat the Japanese basketball anime film. In its third weekend, THE FIRST SLAM DUNK earned a still-strong 547 million yen (3.99 million USD) on 365,000 admissions, keeping its No.1 position for three consecutive weekends.
In 16 days since its release on December 3, the cumulative total gross of the new anime feature film adaptation of Takehiko Inoue’s basket ball-themed sports manga in the 1990s has reached 4.189 billion yen (30.5 million USD) on 2.81 million admissions, already making it the sixth highest grossing Japanese film of 2022.
Coming in second was, again, Makoto Shinkai’s latest feature Suzume, which had kept the same position for three weekends. In its sixth weekend, the film earned 414 million yen (3.01 million USD) on 316,000 admissions, bringing its total to 9.344 billion yen (68.08 million USD) on 6.939 million admissions. It is expected to reach the 10 billion yen mark before the end of this year.
Avatar: The Way of Water, the long-waited sequel to James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar, released on 1,466 screens in Japan, the largest number in its history, on December 16. However, it earned a little disappointing 477 million yen (3.48 million USD) on 259,000 admissions in its first weekend, making its third place debut in Japan. The 192-minute film was released simultaneously in 135 countries/regions all over the world, and Japan became the only country where the film failed to debut at No. 1.
In its fourth weekend, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime The Movie: Scarlet Bond, a new anime feature film sequel based on Fuse’s Japanese fantasy light novel series, was down two positions to sixth. Its cumulative total domestic gross has reportedly reached 1.058 billion yen (7.76 million USD) on over 800,000 admissions. Crunchyroll will release the film in all major global territories (excluding Asia) in early 2023.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends-, an all-new feature anime film based on Aka Akasaka’s romantic comedy manga, was released in 51 theaters on December 17, then ranked eighth in its opening weekend. The film also ranked third in Filmarks’ first day satisfaction ranking with an average rating of 4.11/5.0 based on 63 reviews.
One Piece Film Red ranked ninth in its 20th weekend, staying in top 10 for 20 consecutive weekends since its release on August 6.
RELATED: One Piece Film Red Sails Through Japan Box Office Top 10 for 20 Consecutive Weeks
Weekend box office Top 10 in Japan (December 17-18, 2022)
(ticket sales basis)
1 (1). “THE FIRST SLAM DUNK” – 4.18 billion yen
2 (1). “Suzume” – 9.34 billion yen
3 (new). “Avatar: The Way of Water” – 646 million yen
4 (new). “Dr. Koto Shinryojo” – 478 million yen
5 (3). “Lager yori Ai wo Komete” – 670 million yen
6 (4). “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime The Movie: Scarlet Bond” – 1.058 billion yen
7 (5). “Tsuki no Michikake” – 670 million yen
8 (new). “Kaguya-sama: Love is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends-“
9 (7). “One Piece Film Red”
10 (6). “Black Adam”
“Kaguya-sama: Love is War -The First Kiss That Never Ends-” trailer:
Sources: Eiga.com, Pixiin, Filmarks
(C)I.T.PLANNING,INC. (C)2022 SLAM DUNK Film Partners
©Aka Akasaka/SHUEISHA, PROJECT KAGUYA
