Oh wow, I had a huge Pokemon collection when I lived in the US in the late 90s/early 00s but I threw them all away before we moved back (I was a bit over the craze by then). If only I had known.

I remember having my Yu-Gi-Oh Deck before but my Mom threw it because she thought I was into the gambling cards

New infor about USA release date for DS movie on 16th March
https://twitter.com/DemonSlayerUSA/stat ... 66918?s=20

Probably something like 8 years.

Didn't have the time today to put together a Weekend Forecast.

But I'm thinking about tracking Evangelion's performance today with the "hourly" (need to rename that) system that I typically do when a big film opens. It opened on Monday, and while it has burned off some demand since then it seems, pre-sales for it today are very high. Pre-sales will naturally be higher for a fanbase-driven film like this, but they're still very impressive given it's been out for 5 days now.

Highest Saturday Pre-Sales (2014-) [~50% of Market]

495,308 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *1st Saturday*
404,653 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *2nd Saturday*
260,329 - Yo-Kai Watch: It's the Secret of Birth, Nyan! (2014)
257,536 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *3rd Saturday*
176,259 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *5th Saturday*
170,054 - Frozen II (2019) *1st Saturday*
164,961 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *4th Saturday*
138,795 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
134,713 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *9th Saturday*
134,399 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
133,265 - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
126,032 - Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
117,302 - Detective Conan: Crimson Love Letter (2017)
116,563 - Yo-Kai Watch: Great King Enma and the 5 Stories, Nyan! (2015)
114,570 - One Piece Film Gold (2016)
113,434 - Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer (2018)
112,474 - Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time (2021)
108,780 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *7th Saturday*
106,945 - Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire (2019)
106,493 - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (2020) *11th Saturday*
103,969 - Frozen II (2019) *2nd Saturday*
x94,641 - Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare (2016)
x93,216 - Beauty and the Beast (2017) *1st Saturday*
x92,166 - Avengers: Endgame (2019)
x91,384 - Weathering With You (2019)
x88,838 - Toy Story 4 (2019)
x85,557 - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
x84,025 - Aladdin (2019)
x78,000 - Beauty and the Beast (2017) *2nd Saturday*

As mentioned above, this is very impressive. This would have been impressive had it opened over the weekend versus this past Monday, but since this is a fanbase-driven film which should have burned off a good bit of its demand over the past 5 days, I'd say this is even more impressive than whatever the number would have been had it opened today (unless it was like 200,000 or something close).

So far, every film that has had 100,000+ in reservations on Saturday has gone on to open above ¥1 billion over the weekend. In fact, Endgame is the only film on the list above that failed to open above ¥1 billion (barely).

So this strongly suggests Evangelion will do so as well this weekend, and if it does, that'd be pretty remarkable, again, given it's been out for 5 days already.

Huge start. 5th biggest start to the day since 2015.

Should definitely be good for 250,000+, and could reach 300,000. The likelihood of it opening above ¥1 billion are looking more and more likely. Don't want to call it yet, but its chances are like 99% at this stage.

Everything from on the chart from Code Blue up, except for Endgame, opened above ¥1 billion.

Indeed that's huge.

What will it be at at the end of the weekend? ¥2.5b+?

Might break ¥3 billion! Over its first five days (Mon.-Fri.), I'm estimating that it sold around 1.3 million admissions, which would be a gross around ¥2 billion using an average ticket price similar to its first day. And with this weekend likely to exceed ¥1 billion, it'll either be very close to ¥3 billion or perhaps just over.

Do remember that the first 3 million moviegoers will receive an exclusive giveaway item, so it'll be noticeably strong until they're gone. After this weekend, it should be around 2 million admissions or a bit higher, so two-thirds will be gone after seven days in release.

So it could be the second film ever to reach ¥3 billion by its first sunday!
(Yeah, I know it would after 7 days instead of the usual 2/3 days, but it'd be remarkable nevertheless)

Its going to be more tha halfway through Evangelion 3.0 gross in just a week.

It will actually be one of the fastest films to reach ¥3 billion. If it doesn't do it on day 7 (on Sunday), it'll definitely get there on day 8 (Monday). I don't have a chart for this milestone. Unlike ¥5 billion (which is almost always announced when a film breaks it), ¥3 billion isn't reported on as often and has to be calculated.

But I just put a quick one together below anyway (might format it later to look more official/like my other lists).

3 days - Demon Slayer: Mugen Train (¥29 million shy of just 2 days...)
6 or 7 days - Howl's Moving Castle
6 or 7 days - The Matrix Reloaded*
6 or 7 days - Spirited Away
7 days - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest*
7 days - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
7 days - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
7 or 8 days - Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time
7 or 8 days - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
7 or 8 days - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith*
8 days - Toy Story 4
8 days - Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8 days - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8 or 9 days - Alice in Wonderland
8 or 9 days - The Da Vinci Code
9 days - Frozen II
9 days - Weathering With You
9 days - Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire
9 days - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
9 days - Your Name.
9 days - Stand By Me, Doraemon
9 days - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
9 days - Rookies
9 days - Ponyo
9 days - Bayside Shakedown: Save the Rainbow Bridge!

*includes previews.

Anything with an OR means it occurred a day or two (or possibly three in a couple cases) before the start of its second weekend based on its total on Friday (2 week total - 2nd weekend gross = total on that prior Friday).

There could be a few more films that did so in 9 days (a lot of big films tend to get there at the end of their second weekend), but I excluded any of them if day 10 was a possibility in order to keep the list a reasonable length since adding day 10 entries add many films to the list.

Oh, looks like Evangelion saturday opening will be comparable to Film Gold huh?
Though it'll probably be bigger in the next few hours.

One Piece Film Gold is probably the best comparison, yep.

The evening/night showings will determine where it winds up. Remember that Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures are still under restrictions and aren't playing it after 5pm since it needs to finish by close at 8pm (it's over 2.5 hours long). Therefore it could see a slow-down after 5pm (certainly after 7pm).

I might do the 3pm update before turning in, but if not and for the next few updates (4pm, 5pm, and maybe 7pm), I'll post them all at once in the morning before the 9pm and final update.

If I had to predict where it may end up today now, I'm thinking around 275,000.

That's honestly a great weekend considering how much it already did throughout the week.

That's a great Saturday and it is starting to pick up and might surpass Film Gold right now.

Got over 250,000, but as expected, it slowed down a lot after 5pm, and after 7pm especially since Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures have to close before 8pm.

And for reference, every film from Code Blue up (except for Avengers: Endgame) managed to debut above ¥1 billion over the weekend. So it's in great shape to do so as well, assuming Sunday doesn't drop too much. But Sunday actually should be up a bit for it since it's Toho Cinemas Day, which will boosts its admissions a bit from that, but also from the shorter hours in Tokyo and nearby prefectures that may have pushed some business into Sunday too.

Despite opening on Monday (to claim the biggest Monday ever and biggest single-day in the month of March ever), its opening weekend here is shaping up to be pretty similar to the opening weekend of its predecessor. It'll probably come in a little lower, but coming anywhere near its opening weekend after five days in release already is pretty remarkable.