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Kaiji Final Game Film Opens at #2, My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising Drops to #7

Kaiji Final Game, the new live-action film inspired by Nobuyuki Fukumoto's Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji manga, ranked at #2 in its opening weekend in Japan. The film sold 248,000 tickets and earned 362 million yen (about US$3.29 million) on Saturday and Sunday, and has sold 437,000 tickets and earned 616 million yen (about US$5.60 million) from Friday to Monday (a national holiday). The film's opening weekend earnings are 3.5% higher than the opening weekend earnings of the previous 2011 film Kaiji 2 - Jinsei Dakkai Game. While the film sold less tickets than Frozen II (on its eighth weekend in Japan), it earned more yen than Frozen 2 during the weekend.

Kaiji Final Game opened in Japan on January 10 on 333 screens. The film is billed as the "last chapter" of the series, with a completely original story by Fukumoto.

Tōya Satō returned fro the previous two films to direct the new film, and Tatsuya Fujiwara also returned to reprise his role as the titular character.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, the second film in the My Hero Academia franchise, dropped from #4 to #7 in its fourth weekend. It earned 72,909,950 yen (about US$663,000) towards a cumulative total of 1,323,255,050 yen (about US$12.03 million). The film opened on December 20 on 313 screens, and sold 224,000 tickets on December 21-22 and earned 283 million yen (about US$2.59 million) on those two days.

As with the previous My Hero Academia: Two Heroes film, manga creator Kohei Horikoshi had overall supervision of the film, and handled the original character designs. Kenji Nagasaki and Yousuke Kuroda returned from the series and the previous film as the director and scriptwriter, respectively. Yoshihiko Umakoshi returned to design the characters, and Yuuki Hayashi once again composed the music. BONES animated the film. Rock band sumika performed the theme song "Higher Ground."

Kamen Rider Reiwa: The First Generation dropped from #5 to #8 in its fourth weekend. It earned 46,643,710 yen (US$424,200) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 824,085,910 yen (about US$7.49 million). The film opened on December 21 and earned 248,578,270 yen (about US$2.27 million) on December 21-22.

The live-action film of Rin Mikimoto's Kiss Me at the Stroke of Midnight (Gozen 0-ji, Kiss Shi ni Kite yo) manga fell from #8 to #9 in its sixth weekend. The film earned 36,011,600 yen (about US$327,500) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned cumulative total of 1,075,222,800 yen (about US$9.78 million).

The film opened in Japan on December 6 on 255 screens. Takehiko Shinjō directed the film, with a script by Haruka Ōkita. GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE's Ryota Katayose stars in the film as Kaede Ayasa, and Kanna Hashimoto stars as Hinana Hanazawa.

Kodansha Comics publishes the manga in English.

Eiga Yōkai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Gakuen Y - Neko wa Hero ni Nareru ka (Yo-kai Watch Jam the Movie: Yo-Kai Academy Y - Can a Cat be a Hero?), the sixth film in the Yo-kai Watch franchise, dropped from #6 to #10 in its fifth weekend. It earned 35,730,600 yen (about US$324,900) from Friday to Sunday for a cumulative total of 673,653,150 yen (about US$6.12 million) total.

The new film's story is set in Y-Academy, an elite school that only allows students with top class abilities to enter. The protagonist Jinpei Jiba and his unique friends take on the mysteries of the school as transforming heroes.

Yo-kai Gakuen Y ~N to no Sōgū~ (Yo-Kai Academy Y: An Encounter With N), the new Yo-kai Watch anime series, continues the film's story in the same academy setting. The series premiered on December 27.

The King of Prism All Stars: Prism Show Best 10 anime film opened outside of the top 10, but still sold 26,000 tickets and earned 45 million yen (about US$408,800) in its first four days. The film opened in Japan on Friday, January 10 in 31 theaters.

On-Gaku: Our Sound, the anime film adaptation of Hiroyuki Ohashi's "Ongaku" manga, ranked at #3 in the mini-theater ranking in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on January 11.

The film won the Ottawa International Animation Festival's Grand Prize for Feature Animation award in September. The film also competed in the sixth annual New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival in the Featured Animation Competition category in November.

The theatrical film edition of the anime of Yasutaka Fujimi, RED ICE, and Shu Hirose's The Island of Giant Insects (Kyochū Rettō) manga ranked at #5 in the mini-theater ranking in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on January 10, and Crunchyroll began streaming the film and OVA on the same day.

Sources: Eiga.com, Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC