I'm guessing the drop being so small compared to what the usual locations suggested in admissions is due to getting back 4d screens?

And it should be a pretty interesting couple weekends ahead for sure. 1mln in a week is a huge number to move this late in the run, I think there's a good chance it doesn't get there.

If they continue to push it for several more weekends, Jack Sparrow's 45 billion yen prediction might actually come true.

The 4DX showings definitely helped, but there were also a number of theaters missing from the usual locations totals this weekend. It's not unusual for something to happen at a few locations every day for the program to miss them, but I'm betting that some theaters closing early on Saturday evening due to the earthquake likely increased that number this past weekend.

Everything performed better than the usual locations suggested this past weekend, not just Demon Slayer.

And 1 million admissions is definitely a high number to sell in a week (March 27-April 2) for a film in its 24th week of release, but do remember that's probably less than 20% of Demon Slayer's core fanbase. Only the diehards come out to buy fanbooks, for example, and the second fanbook last month sold over 1 million copies in three days. I'm guessing that this stat helped them in determining the figure to use for this next giveaway. Those fans will probably be most of the same people coming out (again) this upcoming week to get the giveaway.

The timing is exemptional as well. Restrictions lifted in Tokyo to allow more showings (varies by location), new format expansion (Dolby), and the start of Spring Break. Not even accounting for the giveaway, those are three reasons for people to come out just naturally.

And don't underestimate scalpers. They'll be coming out to get one (or more) to sell online. This happened with all the past giveaways, and happened recently with the McDonald's Happy Meal stickers too.

Honestly Corpse, I tell myself more and more that even if the fans will see the film again, sell a million tickets during the 24th week will be very difficult. Ok there are factors which can make believe that everything is going to be fine as you stated them but that seems too huge to me, that remains to be seen and then if the weekend is around ¥400mn, the days of next week will have to be really huge to sell the 1 million tickets even though I think it's the holidays. Corpse if i'm not wrong with the high price of tickets due to 4DX, 1 millions tickets represents around ¥1.65Bn ($ 15M) right ?

There's no reason to have any doubts with this film after all it's done these past 23 weeks so far. It's huge because it's huge. If it doesn't sell 1 million tickets between March 27-April 2, it's going to be damn close. And I wouldn't doubt it going above 1 million either.

Not many theaters have reservations for Saturday available yet, but for those that do, such as the Movix Cinema in Saitama I'm currently looking at that's Dolby Cinema equipped, it's already selling a ton of tickets. The Dolby Cinema screen's (291-seats) first showing (9:15AM) only has 71 seats left (as of this post) four days out. The next showing (2PM) on the Dolby Cinema screen is around 70% full, and the last showing (6:45PM) on the screen is about 30% full already too.

I haven't checked many locations yet since I'm looking at the Dolby Cinema locations first, since that's where the first sellouts will occur from fans going out to see it again in a new format, but I'm confident every other location is going to be doing just as well either before Saturday or on Saturday. Dolby Cinema tickets are also about the same price as 4DX showings from what I remember.

Spring Break brings out a lot of families and their children, as well as students, so selling 1 million tickets probably shouldn't equate to grossing quite as high as ¥1.65 billion. The Dolby Cinema expansion will further boost its average ticket price, but just to be safe, I wouldn't go higher than ¥1.55 billion until we get some numbers first.

So after all $400 million is not that far away if they manage to sell the 2 million tickets, especially since after that there are more than 2 months before the film is released on bluray vidéo ... on June 16th. Especially since as you said a few days ago they can still do one last final event and without forgetting the golden week next month (by the way maybe if there is a last event it will be during the golden week, that would make sense)

I don't think anything special will occur over Golden Week since Toho will be all-in with Detective Conan once it opens ahead of Golden Week in a few weeks. This is probably why the 5th and 6th giveaways are only one-week apart since providing suitable seating/showtimes for them would be difficult after mid-April.

The first part of the Rurouni Kenshin finale film (Warner Bros.'s biggest franchise since Harry Potter in the market) also opens a week before Golden Week, so it and Conan will be dominating the seating and showtimes over the holiday period.

Oh ok thank you for this information, if there is a last event it will probably be in May or just before the video release in early June.

If I'm not mistaken Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time is also going to get help with 1 million gifts this weekend, so it will easily stay #1 this weekend if it sees an increase, but with the release of monster hunter and everything we know about demon slayer, these next 2 weekends (and even weeks) are going to be very interesting to follow.

The push will happen once more before home media release and given the size of this movie it might still do decent numbers after digital release. I remember Your Name or Frozen did earn a decent amount from theaters after its digital release.

This movie keeps moving targets

You're right! Thanks for mentioning his because I somehow missed the announcement on Sunday.

Evangelion was probably the slight favorite to be #1 again, since Demon Slayer requires a certain unknown increase and Monster Hunter requires a certain unknown debut, but this should confirm it staying on top. I don't know if it'll increase (the giveaway isn't particularly special since it's not exclusive art), but a strong hold should be expected at the very least. It also has stage greetings this weekend now that restrictions in Tokyo have been lifted, so that'll help it out even further.

Going to be an exciting weekend, and Spring Break period.

The domain for Jujutsu Kaisen-Movie (jujutsukaisen-movie.jp) was created today. No official announcements have been made, but it wouldn't be surprising.

Bayside Shakedown (1998) sort of opened the door for live-action TV shows to receive the theatrical release treatment from its success as the first domestic live-action film to gross over ¥10 billion. And for the last 20 years, it's very common for any just decently rated TV dramas or comedies to get a theatrical release, a lot of time being a film (or films as big ones can become franchises) that either concludes a season, connects the plot between seasons, or ends the series itself.

Anime receiving theatrical releases is far from new, they've been around forever and plentiful, but they've always just been non-canon original films largely unrelated to the anime or manga itself that could be skipped. But now given the success of Demon Slayer having a theatrical release that continued where season one of the anime left off (which became the biggest movie ever with ease), we can probably expect a lot of anime to follow this strategy moving forward. Jujutsu Kaisen, giving its incredible success right now that's reminiscent of Demon Slayer's, could be the first big one to do this by continuing where season one of its anime is leaving off with a theatrical release.

And I believe Attack on Titan will also receive the theatrical release treatment for its conclusion. The "final" season that's about to end isn't finishing the source material, so they'll be just enough left for a theatrical conclusion. The "final" season debuted two months after the Demon Slayer movie, so I have little doubt MAPPA saw its success and decided to save enough material for a theatrical film to conclude it.

How much money can the jujutsu kaisen get for a cannon movie? How big is its fanbase so far in Japan now?

Way too early to speculate on the box office of a potential JJK movie.

As for its popularity... Demon Slayer shattered manga sales records, and would likely still be doing so if it didn't end relatively early for a Weekly Shonen Jump series. If you exclude what Demon Slayer did in 2020, Jujutsu Kaisen may not reach the same sales that DS achieved in 2020, but it is on track to shatter those same records it did this year. It's following a very similar trajectory in sales, and has currently sold over 19 million books this year so far (including its prequel volume and fanbook).

JJK is still pretty new though, and it's especially difficult to judge how big it has grown since it's been hindered by stock issues for half a year now because its publisher (Shueisha) simply can't print enough books to avoid shortages, largely due to Demon Slayer (though its sales have slowed recently since it's over) and just about all of their other titles doing significant sales. Supply will need to meet demand before its popularity (size of its fanbase) can be somewhat gauged.

2020 was the biggest year ever for the manga industry, and 2021 is continuing where it left off. Shueisha themselves printed somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 million books in 2020.

JJK is certainly BIG but how big is not yet sure. I can see it breaking non-DS records over its opening and see a small scale DS run which would be good enough to break MANY records though I still do not think Spirited Away will go down anytime soon.

I mean..... I think in order for a movie to enter to the top 10 all time (¥16B and above), that movie needs to get all demographic audiences. Need to go beyond its fanbase (here is its anime fanbase for example) and go into the casual movie goers. If not, the movie will perform pretty much like typical run for a hardcore fanbase movie with very big OW and maybe the next 2 weeks, then will drop fast.

If its movie can pass Avatar (¥15.7B) to enter to the top 10 all time in Japan, it is already a very big achivement.

I do not think that's always true. There are cases like Bohemian Rhapsody that did 13B 3 years back with a relatively small opening and great legs and I do not think that movie was attracting all 4-quadrants. As for JJK it seems that its manga fanbase is already HUGE and its still growing which would help it generate better WoM from its fanbase and cross over to casual audience.

Also DS toppled Avatar out of Top 10. The mark to enter Top 10 now is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' 17.3B.

A lot of people think Demon Slayer opened up the manga industry to more people (females and older generations in particular) due to not only its sales reaching previously unseen heights, but also because of Jujutsu Kaisen emerging as a phenomenon immediately as Demon Slayer was ending. In addition, many other series are doing abnormally well compared to any previous years, especially newer ones. It usually takes years for a new series to find an audience (Demon Slayer was out 3 years before it took off), but many are finding immediate success that is matching or exceeding long-established series. Those new demographics that enjoyed Demon Slayer may be seeking out other properties now that Demon Slayer has ended.

This seems plausible, and if it's true, then it means that all sorts of demographics have opened up for current and future series to appeal to in any medium it appears in.

But it's important to remember that if it becomes a trend for anime films to adapt the next arc in the story of the anime or manga as a theatrical release, versus creating an original story that can be skipped, it makes it a must-see film that all its fans are going to come out and see. Demon Slayer gained millions upon millions of fans between the time of season one ending and the movie releasing, and they all turned up in order to see what happens next since it was a continuation. We shouldn't expect future anime films that follow this strategy to repeat what Demon Slayer did, but it's likely they'll at the very least be able to capitalize on it and post bigger numbers than the current precedent for them at the box office.

As for BR case, I see it as a typical case for a musical movies which attract female audience, open with small opening weekend then can go with crazy legs.... that kind is opposite to a fanbase movie.


Lets me guess, a canon movie for JJK will have very big opening weekend, but its drop after 1 month in theaters is still a question. The target is top 10 all time ¥17.3B first

A lot of news today!

Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet has already broke the theater count record weeks before it even opens. It's being given a simultaneous release across IMAX, 4DX, MX4D, and Dolby Cinema, in addition to the standard theaters, giving it a current theater count of 498 (new record) when it opens on April 16th. (I bet they find two independent theaters to release it in to bump it to 500.)



This is going to be huge. The last two films were already huge, both selling over 1 million admissions over their opening weekends, but this year's release, which audiences have been waiting an extra year for now, is probably going to eclipse them. It won't beat Demon Slayer's opening weekend, of course, but it could very well earn the second highest opening weekend for an animated film ever, and possibly challenge the Top 5 Biggest Opening Weekend list.

First of I never talked about JJK getting close to Top 10. Its a remote possibility from its manga sales but I do not think it will get there. But the again if it makes 15B+ that's still a GREAT number for it, not many anime movies do that in the market. BR was not your typical musical movie because its legs were insane even for a musical movie. It's 20+ weekend numbers are not your typical musical movie numbers. I brought it up because there are movies that can build fanbase during their run and I am sure even DS did that to some degree.

If JJK continues to see a growth in manga then that's the potential growth for its movie-going fanbase. The bigger its fanbase the better reception and chances for WoM to spread. Also as Corpse mentioned after DS people would be ready to latch onto new properties. It happened similarly in US with Twilight and Hunger Games (again not expecting JJK to be bigger than DS).

For now I would say a target of 10B-15B would be great for JJK and it absolutely needs 1B OW for that to happen.

With a very huge fanbase, ¥1B is not the hard i think. Nowadays I see more movies opened with more than ¥1B ....

Conan movies keep growing. The longevity the franchise has had is really impressive.

Yeah that theater count for Conan is amazing and the recent movies have increased steadily. I wonder how big this one will do with lesser Hollywood competition.

It's amazing that they manage to do that with non-canon movies too.

They're lucky Japan's demographic crisis won't threaten them nearly as much as it threatens the future of Doraemon or Pokemon movies.