Wonderful Precure! Anime Opens at #2 With 2nd Highest Precure Film Opening – News

The Wonderful Precure! The Movie! Doki Doki Game no Sekai de Daiboken (Wonderful Precure! The Movie! Grand Adventure in a Thrilling Game World) film ranked at #2 in its opening weekend. The film sold 295,000 tickets and earned 367 million yen (about US$2.59 million) in its first three days, marking the second-highest three-day opening weekend for the Precure franchise, just below last year’s Precure All Stars F movie. Wonderful Precure! The Movie! Doki Doki Game no Sekai de Daiboken sold 405,000 tickets and earned 497 million yen (about US$3.51 million) in its first four days, including Monday (which was the Respect for the Aged Day holiday in Japan).

The film opened in Japan on September 13.

The film follows Komugi and Iroha on a new adventure, when they are sucked into the world of the video game Doki Doki Tanukingdom (Thrilling Raccoon-Dogkingdom).

Characters from the Soaring Sky! Precure (Hirogaru Sky! Precure) and Maho Girls Precure! (Mahō Tsukai Precure!) anime also appear in the film.

Naoki Miyahara (The First Slam Dunk unit director) directed the film. Yoichi Kato (Yo-kai Watch) penned the script. Takayuki Murakami was the unit director. Erika Fukasawa composed the music. Risa Miyadani (Aikatsu! Planet) designed the characters. Yoshio Tanioka was the art director, while Sayoko Yokoyama was the color key artist. Yuki Ōshima and Kana Sasaki were the directors of photography. Daiki Nakazawa was the CG director. Miho Sugawara was the sound director. Moeha Nochimoto and Chihaya Yoshitake performed the film’s ending theme song “Happy≒Future,” while Ami Ishii and Rie Kitagawa perfomed the insert song “Daisuki na Kizuna” (Beloved Bond).

Mrs. Green Apple // The White Lounge in CINEMA, the screening of the Mrs. Green Apple band’s 2023-2024 concert tour, ranked at #4 in its opening weekend.

My Hero Academia THE MOVIE: You’re Next (My Hero Academia: You’re Next), the fourth anime film in the My Hero Academia franchise, stayed at #7 in its seventh weekend. The film earned 102,757,900 yen (about US$726,300) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 3,285,242,700 yen (about US$23.21 million).

The film opened in Japan on August 2. It sold 608,500 tickets, and earned approximately 895 million yen (about US$6.28 million) in its first three days. The film is simultaneously screening in IMAX, MX4D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema. TOHO International will bring the film to U.S. theaters on October 11. The film will be available with English subtitles and dub releases.

The original villain characters for the film are members of a mysterious, big criminal organization called the “Gorrini Family.”

Tensai Okamura (Darker than Black) directed the film at BONES. Returning staff members from the television series and previous films include scriptwriter Yōsuke Kuroda, character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi, and composer Yuki Hayashi. Vaundy performs the theme song “Homunculus” as well as the film’s ending theme song “Gift.”

Original manga creator Kōhei Horikoshi served as the general supervisor and original character designer. The film has an original story that takes place around the same time as where the TV anime is currently, with the collapse of safe society. In the film, a mysterious giant fortress and a man who resembles the former “Symbol of Peace” suddenly appear in a society that has collapsed due to war.

Eiga Crayon Shin-chan: Ora-tachi no Kyōryū Nikki (Crayon Shin-chan the Movie: Our Dinosaur Diary), the Crayon Shin-chan franchise‘s 31st 2D animated film, dropped from #5 to #8 in its sixth weekend. The film earned 72,421,400 yen (about US$511,800) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 2,358,605,400 yen (about US$16.67 million).

The film opened on August 9 at #2 at the Japanese box office for the weekend of August 9-11. The film sold 365,000 tickets and earned 455,302,200 yen (about US$3.05 million) in its first three days, and sold 510,000 tickets and earned 636 million yen (about US$4.32 million) in its first four days including Monday (August 12 was the Mountain Day holiday in Japan).

The film follows the friendship between the Nobara family’s pet dog Shiro and a “small dinosaur.” Their connection helps the growth of Shinnosuke and the Kasukabe Defense Squad.

Takumi Kitamura guest stars in the film as Billy, a biology researcher who loves dinosaurs and works with the Kasukabe Defense Squad. Ozwald comedian duo Yū Hatanaka and Shunsuke Itō also guest star in the film as Chū and Ammoner Itō, respectively.

Shinobu Sasaki (director of many Duel Masters anime including the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Duel Masters TV anime) directed the film. Moral, who writes scripts for the Crayon Shin-chan TV series, wrote the screenplay.

Rock band My Hair is Bad perform the film’s theme song “Omoide o Kakenukete” (Run Past Your Memories).

The live-action film of Tarō Nogizaka‘s Natsume Arata no Kekkon (Arata Natsume’s Marriage) manga dropped from #4 to #9 in its second weekend. The film earned 71,001,660 yen (about US$501,700) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 282,969,960 yen (about US$1.99 million).

The film opened in Japan on September 6 and debuted at #4. The film sold 87,000 tickets and earned 125,503,140 yen (about US$889,000) in its first three days.

Yukihiko Tsutsumi (director of live-action 20th Century Boys, Beck, Ikebukuro West Gate Park) directed the film. OLIVIA Rodrigo’s song “Vampire” serves as the theme song for the film.

The film stars Yuuya Yagira (live-action Gintama‘s Tōshirō Hijikata) as the titular Arata, and Yuina Kuroshima (live-action Fullmetal Alchemist‘s Lan Fan) co-stars as Shinju Shinagawa.

Kingdom: Taishogun no Kikan (Return of the General), the fourth live-action Kingdom film, dropped from #6 to #10 in its 10th weekend. The film earned 70,875,400 yen (about US$500,700) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 5.23 million tickets, and earned a cumulative total of 7,681,606,400 yen (about US$54.27 million).

The film opened on July 12. It sold 1,065,000 tickets and earned 1.629 billion yen (about US$10.28 million) in its first three days. The film sold 1.46 million tickets in its first four days, including Monday (which was the Marine Day holiday in Japan), and earned 2.2 billion yen (about US$13.89 million) in that time.

The film covers the manga’s Shi Ka (Zi Xia) arc and the Battle of Bayou — the first time Shin (Xin) and Ō Ki (Wang Qi) stood on the battlefield together, to fend off the invasion by the mighty Chō (Zhao) from the north. Anne (Anne Watanabe) returns to the cast as the pivotal character Shi Ka (Zi Xia). Other cast members include Kataoka Ainosuke VI as Fuu Ki (Feng Ji), Kōji Yamamoto as Chō Sō (Zhao Zhuang), Yuki Yamada as Man Goku (Wan Ji), Eri Murakawa as You Li (Yū Ri), Hinako Sakurai as Dong Mei (Tō Bi), and Yūki Araki as Kyō.

Kento Yamazaki, Ryō Yoshizawa, Takao Osawa, and Kanna Hashimoto all reprised their respective characters Shin (Xin), Ei Sei (Yin Zheng), Ō Ki (Wang Qi), and Ka Ryō Ten (He Liao Diao), respectively, from the previous films. Nana Seino, Hiroshi Tamaki, and Kōichi Satō from the second film also reprised their respective characters Kyо̄ Kai, Sho Hei Kun (Lord Changping), and Ryo Fui (Lu Buwei).

Shinsuke Satō (live-action Gantz, Death Note Light up the NEW world, Bleach) returned as director. Manga creator Yasuhisa Hara and Tsutomu Kuroiwa (One Piece Film Gold, live-action Black Butler, GANTZ:O) returned to write the script.

In the manga’s story, Arata is a former delinquent who works at a children’s welfare center. After consulting with the bereaved family members of one of the victims of the serial killer Shinju Shinagawa, Arata visits Shinju in prison. In order to try to get to the truth of the incident, he proposes marriage to her. Shinju, who is on death row, then starts to toy with Arata.

The first film of Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Dōkōkai Kanketsu-hen, the Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Dōkōkai) franchise‘s new anime film trilogy, dropped off the top 10 in its second weekend, but still earned 44,660,230 yen (about US$315,500) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 167,759,610 yen (about US$1.18 million). The film opened at #8. The film earned 98,052,020 yen (about US$695,000) in its first three days.

The Colors Within (Kimi no Iro), the new anime feature film by Science SARU and director Naoko Yamada (K-ON!, The Heike Story, A Silent Voice), dropped off the top 10 in its third weekend.

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