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Japanese Box Office, August 2–3: Ponyo's 3rd Week at #1

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Hayao Miyazaki's first feature film in nearly four years, remained perched on top for a third time at the Japanese box office during the August 2–3 weekend. 602,000 people watched the film that weekend to add 780 million yen (about US$7 million) to its total. That is 96% of the movie's take in the previous weekend. In the movie's first 16 days at the box office, 4,359,000 people spent 5.26 billion yen (US$48 million) to see it. That is 82% of the box office that Miyazaki's Spirited Away earned in the same time span during that movie's 2001 theatrical release.

Kunihiko Yuyama's Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl: Giratina to Sora no Hanataba Shaymin, the Pokémon franchise's 11th feature film, stayed at #2. Hajime Kamegaki's Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna (pictured at right), the fifth feature movie in the Naruto ninja franchise, opened at #3. It earned 218,855,700 yen (US$1,992,000) on 252 screens with 198,054 viewers.

Boys Over Flowers: Final (Hana Yori Dango Final), Yasuharu Ishii's live-action film finale based on Yōko Kamio's Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) romantic comedy manga, fell from #4 to #5 in its sixth weekend. It has now earned at least 6 billion yen (US$55 million). The Sky Crawlers, Mamoru Oshii's first fully animated work since 2004's Ghost in the Shell sequel Innocence, opened at #7.

GeGeGe no Kitarō: Sennen Noroi Uta (GeGeGe no Kitarō : The Thousand-Year-Curse Song), the live-action film sequel based on Shigeru Mizuki's supernatural manga, dropped from #8 to #10 in its fourth week.

Source: Kogyo Tsushinsha, Variety Japan, Nikkei, Nikkei Trendy Net

Image © Masashi Kishimoto, Scott/Shueisha, TV Tokyo, Pierrot © Naruto the Movie Production Committee 2008