Japan’s box office continues to keep the listing of the most beloved anime movies among fans, and still reigning supreme on the list for the second weekend already is “Eiga Doraemon: Nobita to Sora no Utopia” or “Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia” in English.
It is the 42nd movie in the “Doraemon franchise. The film sold around 384,000 tickets and earned approximately $3.51 million over the previous weekend. The film has sold a total of 1.02 million tickets, making a cumulative total of about $9.36 million.
However, its second-weekend gross was 29.5 percent down from the opening weekend. Still, it is 167 percent of the two-day second-weekend gross of the franchise’s previous film, “Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars.”
If this momentum continues, “Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia” could reach the two billion yen mark or around almost $15 million at the Japanese box office.
About ‘Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia’
“Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia” is set in a perfect, utopian world in the sky, where everybody lives happily. Adventurers have equated this land with other mythical cities, such as Atlantis or Ryūgū-jō.
Doraemon, the titular character, together with Nobita, set out on an adventure to find the utopia with the help of a new gadget first introduced in the film. This new gadget is a time zeppelin equipped with a time warp function.
Takumi Dōyama, who also previously worked with “Genbanojō” and other “Doraemon” episodes, is the director. Ryota Kosawa, who worked with “Always: Sunset on Third Street” and “Great Pretender,” wrote the script.
Meanwhile, the television anime’s current cast members reprised their roles for this movie, while Ren Nagase of the idol group King & Prince made his voice acting debut as the “perfect cat robot” Sonya in the film.
What else is on the box office list?
Coming in at the second spot is “The First Slam Dunk” in its 15th weekend, making $1.56 million on 137,000 tickets, more than last weekend’s gross. The hit basketball anime’s total domestic gross has reached $92.5 million on 8.19 million admissions.
The third place belonged to the live-action movie adaptation of Kujira Anan’s “And Yet, You Are So Sweet” romance shoujo manga, yet it went one position down from its opening weekend. Its second weekend gross was around $949,000 on 103,000 admissions, notably a huge 50 percent down.
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village” is consistent on the fourth spot from the previous weekend. This 110-minute feature film edition has earned around $29 million at the Japanese box office alone.
After “Everything Everywhere All at Once” on the fifth spot is the anime movie adaptation of Shinichi Ishizuka’s jazz-themed manga “Blue Giant,” but stayed in this exact spot.
The rest of the anime movies that made it to Japan’s box office are “Suzume,” “BTS: Yet To Come in Cinemas,” “RRR,” and “A Man Called Otto.”
