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2009's Top Anime Movies at Japanese Box Office

posted on by Egan Loo
Pokémon at #1; Eva 2.0 more than doubles 1.0's take; Conan sets franchise record

No film in 2009 approached the success of 2008's Ponyo (15.50 billion yen or about US$171 million) in Japan. However, nine Japanese animated films did earn more than 1 billion yen (US$10.8 million) in 2009 in their domestic market — whereas only six anime films earned more than 1 billion yen in 2008.

The second film in Khara's four-part remake of Gainax's Evangelion anime grossed more than twice much as the first film did in 2007. Warner earned more than twice as much distributing Summer Wars (1.63 billion yen or US$17.5 million) in 2009 than it did with The Sky Crawlers (700 milllion yen or US$7.5 million) in 2008. Precure All Stars DX: Minna Tomodachi—Kiseki no Zenin Daishūgō is the first film in the Precure franchise to gross more than 1 billion yen. Similarly, Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser set a new record for the Detective Conan franchise.

Three films — Evangelion 2.0, Summer Wars, and Precure All Stars DX — garnered more than 1 billion yen each, even though they opened on less than 200 screens. One Piece Film Strong World opened too late in December to be included in this tally, but it earned US$32,238,129 after three weekends on less than 200 screens as well. Each screen averaged 5,523,614 yen (US$62,196) in just the first two days — the new record for a nationwide release in Japan after the passing of fire safety laws.

Rank Title Distributor Director Box Office in Yen Box Office in US$ Image
1 Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life (Pocket Monster Diamond & Pearl: Arceus Chōkoku no Jikū e) TOHO Kunihiko Yuyama 4.67 billion yen US$50.2 million
2 Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Ha) Clockworks, Khara Hideaki Anno 4.0 billion yen US$43 million
3 Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser TOHO Yasuichiro Yamamoto 3.5 billion yen US$37.6 million
4 Doraemon: Shin Nobita no Uchū Kaitakushi TOHO Kôzô Kusuba, Shigeo Koshi 2.45 billion yen US$26.3 million
5 Summer Wars Warner Mamoru Hosoda 1.63 billion yen US$17.5 million
6 Major: Yūjō no Winning Shot TOHO Takao Kato 1.05 billion yen US$11.3 million
7 Naruto Shippūden: Hi no Ishi o Tsugumono TOHO Masahiko Murata 1.02 billion yen US$11.0 million
8 Precure All Stars DX: Minna Tomodachi—Kiseki no Zenin Daishūgō Toei Takashi Otsuka 1.01 billion yen US$10.9 million
9 Crayon Shin-chan: Otakebe! Kasukabe Yasei Ōkoku TOHO Akira Shigino 1.0 billion yen US$10.7 million
- The Rebirth of Buddha Toei Takaaki Ishiyama 970 million yen US$10.4 million
- Fresh Precure! Omocha no Kuni wa Himitsu ga Ippai!? Toei Atsuji Shimizu 800 million yen US$8.6 million
- Duel Masters: Lunatic God Saga/Penguin no Mondai - Shiawase no Aoi Tori de Gopennasai TOHO Waruo Suzuki, Keidai Hattori About 660 million yen About US$7.1 million
- Chō Gekijōban Keroro Gunsō Gekishin Dragon Warriors de Arimasu! Kadokawa Pictures Junichi Satō, Susumu Yamaguchi 460 million yen US$5.0 million
- Gegege no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!! Toei Tsuyoshi Koga 410 million yen US$4.4 million
- Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror TOHO Shinsuke Satō About 360 million yen About US$3.8 million
- Soreike! Anpanman: Dadandan to Futago no Hoshi Tokyo Theatre/Mediabox Jun Kawagoe About 340 million yen About US$3.7 million

Source: animeanime.biz


This article has a follow-up: Japanese Box Office, January 2-3 (Updated) (2010-01-11 15:57)
follow-up of 2009's Top Movies at Japanese Box Office
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