Thanks Corpse,

Long time lurker--I usually cite you for as a source for Japanese box office due to your resources. Particularly Shin Godzilla. Appreciate your hard work.

Shin Godzilla eventually ranked among the Top 5 most-attended Godzilla films, an incredible achievement considering it took 50 years for another film in the series to sell over 5 million tickets.

The film also nearly swept the 40th Japan Academy Prize Ceremony.



Godzilla Box-Office History
# Of Films: 31 / Years Active: 1954-Present

Admissions:
12.55 million - Godzilla vs. King Kong (1962) #13 All-Time
9.61 million - Godzilla (1954) #19 All-Time
8.34 million - Godzilla Raids Again (1955) #26 All-Time
7.20 million - Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964) #41 All-Time
5.69 million - Shin Godzilla (2016) #75 All-Time
5.41 million - Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) #86 All-Time
5.13 million - Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) #94 All-Time
4.21 million - Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966)
4.20 million - Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)
4.00 million - Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
3.90 million - Godzilla (1998) *Hollywood*
3.80 million - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
3.40 million - Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla (1994)
3.20 million - The Return of Godzilla (1984)
2.70 million - Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
2.50 million - Destroy All Monsters (1968)
2.48 million - Son of Godzilla (1967)
2.40 million - Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
2.23 million - Godzilla (2014) *Hollywood*
2.00 million - Godzlla vs. Biollante (1989)
2.00 million - Godzilla 2000 (1999)
1.78 million - Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
1.74 million - Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
1.70 million - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla III (2002)
1.48 million - All Monsters Attack (1969)
1.35 million - Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)
1.33 million - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
1.20 million - Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S (2003)
1.00 million - Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)
0.98 million - Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
0.97 million - Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Also, you're welcome and thanks -- as long as you and everyone else find value in the updates provided in this thread, I'll continue to keep the thread active.

I'm sure you'll be interested in the release of Godzilla: Monster Planet this November, Toho's first animated feature in the iconic series:

I had no idea the original Godzilla vs King Kong was so successful. It's too bad the franchise never reached the same levels again. As a fan of the films, Shin Godzilla's breakout was very exciting to see. I hope all the future films build on that success. The upcoming Hollywood adaptions are introducing more iconic characters like Mothra and Ghidorah, so I hope they do better than the 2014 film.

Is Netflix co-producing the upcoming Godzilla's anime film? Read somewhere that they will stream it worldwide in over 190 countries.

Well consider the giant monster boom of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1962 only King Kong vs. Godzilla and another kaiju film were released I believe. By the time 1964 rolled around 3-6 kaiju movies were being made per year and not just by Toho. Then of course the industry went into a financial hole during the 70s and some still don't think it's entirely recovered from that.

All being said, the 1990s movies were blockbusters and a couple were the top grossing Japanese films of the year. The Millennium series not so much, though GMK apparently won the Best Grossing Silver Award. It was wonderful to see Shin Godzilla so dominant at the box office last year. Though I'm skeptical Godzilla 2 will make much of a dent. Kong: Skull Island was high on traditional monster action, but it faded fast. I think it was the subject matter of Shin Godzilla that drew audiences more than the character/monster action.



They're streaming it after the theatrical release late this year. Polygon is producing the movie and Toho will distribute.

gman's the latest Jap flick know-all. Cool.

Biggest Fifth Weekends/Five Week Totals (2001-)

¥1.069 billion, (+10%), ¥10.52 billion - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
¥890.0 million, (-06%), ¥13.26 billion - Spirited Away (2001)
¥889.1 million, (-07%), ¥9.86 billion - Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
¥888.9 million, (+16%), ¥10.47 billion - Bayside Shakedown: Save the Rainbow Bridge! (2003)
¥862.5 million, (-20%), ¥11.16 billion - Your Name. (2016)
¥851.2 million, (+13%), ¥9.94 billion - Ponyo (2008)
¥841.0 million, (-01%), ¥9.28 billion - Frozen (2014)
¥834.5 million, (+47%), ¥7.50 billion - Finding Nemo (2003)
¥782.5 million, (+44%), ¥6.68 billion - The Last Samurai (2003)
¥756.6 million, (-18%), ¥9.69 billion - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
¥526.7 million, (-23%), ¥8.37 billion - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
¥520.8 million, (-07%), ¥6.95 billion - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
¥518.4 million, (+02%), ¥7.00 billion - Avatar (2009)
¥504.1 million, (+10%), ¥4.55 billion - Zootopia (2016)
¥500 million+

Beauty and the Beast is unlikely to make this list since it'd have to drop 13% this weekend, and 20% is likely the best it'll manage (which is still excellent), but just in case it pulls it off, here are the biggest fifth weekends/five week totals

How much the recent Fairy Tail movie made?

Not much, something like 150 million ($1.3 million) or so.

Walt Disney Picture's Top Grossing Films (1980-)

Rank. Gross ¥ ($) / Admissions - Film (Year)
01. ¥25.48 billion ($249.6 million) / 20.03 million - Frozen (2014) #3 All-Time
02. ¥11.80 billion ($142.8 million) / 7.30 million - Alice in Wonderland (2010) #19 All-Time
03. ¥11.63 billion ($96.3 million) / 7.48 million - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) #20 All-Time
04. ¥11.00 billion ($102.4 million) / 8.60 million - Finding Nemo (2003) #21 All-Time
05. ¥10.90 billion ($102.4 million) / 8.40 million - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) #25 All-Time
06. ¥10.80 billion ($130.7 million) / 7.20 million - Toy Story 3 (2010) #26 All-Time
07. ¥10.02 billion ($82.3 million) / 7.75 million - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) #30 All-Time
08. ¥9.37 billion ($76.8 million) / 7.60 million - Monsters, Inc. (2002) #39 All-Time
09. ¥9.18 billion ($77.7 million) / 7.22 million - Big Hero 6 (2014) #43 All-Time
10. ¥8.96 billion ($91.3 million) / 7.05 million - Monsters University (2013) #48 All-Time
11. ¥8.87 billion ($114.9 million) / 5.86 million - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) #49 All-Time
12. ¥8.82 billion ($78.2 million) / 6.29 million - Beauty and the Beast (2017) *Estimate* [After 5 Weeks] #50 All-Time
13. ¥7.63 billion ($70.6 million) / 5.91 million - Zootopia (2016) #71 All-Time
14. ¥6.86 billion ($56.4 million) / 5.60 million - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2006) #86 All-Time
15. ¥6.83 billion ($65.8 million) / 5.57 million - Finding Dory (2016) #88 All-Time
16. ¥6.80 billion ($60.3 million) / 5.10 million - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) #89 All-Time
17. ¥6.53 billion ($63.5 million) / 4.98 million - Maleficent (2014) #93 All-Time
18. ¥5.73 billion ($46.6 million) / 4.46 million - Cinderella (2015)
19. ¥5.26 billion ($51.1 million) / 4.40 million - The Incredibles (2004)
20. ¥5.15 billion ($46.0 million) / 4.24 million - Moana (2017) *Estimate* [After 11 Weeks]
21. ¥5.00 billion ($60.5 million) / 3.80 million - Up (2009)
22. ¥4.90 billion ($40.2 million) / 3.95 million - Dinosaur (2001)
23. ¥4.25 billion ($37.2 million) / 3.50 million - Aladdin (1993)
24. ¥4.04 billion ($33.6 million) / 3.40 million - Inside Out (2015)
25. ¥4.00 billion ($44.2 million) / 3.20 million - Wall-E (2008)

Upcoming Major Releases:
07/01/17 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
07/15/17 - Cars 3
12/23/17 - Coco

On the topic of Alice in Wonderland, what was the reason for the sequel's enormous (~80%) drop from its predecessor? Although it dropped around the same in most markets around the world, I thought Japan's fascination with Alice as a cultural icon might have allowed the sequel to retain more of the original's audience.

It pisses me off how popular Beauty and the Beast is.

So, I guess Your Name has pretty much come to the end of its run in Japan now? Very impressive run, though for me it wasn't quite as fun to follow as Frozen. Page 180ish and onward of this thread is some of my favourite stuff at KJ. That little frigid bitch just kept going.

Frozen was definitely the more surprising run for me (I predicted only 5 billion yen before its opening). I knew Your Name was going to be a big hit, although I never expected another 25 billion yen grosser only 2.5 years later after Frozen. Funny how earlier in both of their runs it looked like even Spirited Away might be going down but later ended up safe (as well as Titanic). I hope we get another phenomenon to follow in the next few years- it's always so exciting when a film defies box office trends and just keeps increasing or staying flat week after week.

Can anyone confirm that there's 'mysterious hand' that have a power to decrease Frozen theatre count to prepare for Ghibli's When Marnie Was There? Or is it just a rumor?
Anyway, will Your Name still have a chance to cross 25 billion yen mark? KogyoTsushin is still putting it as 24.94. When will Toho play 'see Your Name for one last time' trump card?

I thought it would have performed better than it did, but clearly audiences just weren't interested in a sequel to the 2010 release. Tim Burton not directing and Depp's fading popularity certainly played a role in its under-performance as well.

It wasn't to do with any release (Marnie in this case), although the release of Maleficent in July did have an impact on it because Disney typically puts all their effort into the release of their newest tentpole in Japan, severely cutting screens/showtimes of their present release even if they have a film still performing very well at the box-office. It happened last year with Zootopia as well when Finding Dory was released, and I'm sure Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will result in Beauty and the Beast being cut heavily on July 1st (this exact day will probably decide if it beats Alice in Wonderland to become Disney's highest-grossing live-action film).

This strategy benefits their newest tentpole, but it's also cutting into the late legs of their films that develop excellent WOM. Disney's been doing this since around 2013.

Frozen's home video release date was announced which began the sharp weekly declines, and then the actual home video release was in late July, and that always results in a film losing all/nearly all of its theaters in Japan. Disney just released it on home video a bit too early, but in their defense, releasing it while interest was very high and during Summer vacation was ideal -- it later became the biggest seller of all-time on DVD/Blu-Ray afterall.

Your Name. is still playing at 12 theaters: 2 in Aichi; 1 in Iwate; 1 in Akita; 1 in Tokyo; 1 in Kanagawa; 1 in Nagano; 1 in Gifu; 1 in Shizouka; 1 in Kyoyo; 1 in Shimane; and 1 in Tokushima.

So, while only playing at 1 location (2 in Aichi) in just 11/47 prefectures now, it's still available in 8/9 regions of the country meaning just about anyone can still see it in theaters (a couple locations will require a bit of traveling). Typically when a film is down to a dozen or so theaters, they're primarily around just Tokyo and now so spread out like this -- it was carefully planned by Toho I'm sure.

It'll likely keep the majority, if not all, of its last remaining locations until its home video release in July, at which point Toho will probably announce its final total.

Pg. Bump (Weekend Actuals - 05/20-21 ->>)