Kingdom: Daishougun no Kikan (Return of The Great General), the fourth installment in the live-action Kingdom film series based on Yasuhisa Hara’s manga, made its first-place debut this last weekend with record-breaking results.The film starring Kento Yamazaki opened in 532 theaters across Japan on July 12, earning 2,203,455,700 yen (13.91 million USD) on 1,467,002 admissions in its first four days from Friday to Monday, according to Kogyo Tsushin. The opening was 181 percent of that of the previous third installment, Kingdom: The Flame of Destiny released in July 2023. The film’s official website said that its first-three-day gross was not only the highest in the Kingdom live-action film series, but also the highest opening record in the history of Japanese live-action films, making it a blockbuster hit with box-office revenue of 10 billion yen in sight.
Below are the box office results (by day) for July 12-15, according to Eiga.com:
July 12 (Fri) – 369,925,500 yen (gross) / 245,216 (admissions)
July 13 (Sat) – 548,492,400 yen (gross) / 356,442 (admissions)
July 14 (Sun) – 710,191,500 (gross) / 463,162 (admissions)
July 15 (Mon/national holiday) – 574,846,300 yen (gross) / 402,182 (admissions)
Below are the first-weekend box office results for the Kingdom live-action film series:
Kingdom (April 19, 2019 release) – 690 million yen (3-day) 507000 admissions
Kingdom 2: Far And Away (July 15, 2022 release) – 797 million yen (2-day) on 527,000 admissions | 1.379 billion yen (4-day) on 934,000 admissions
Kingdom: The Flame of Destiny (July 28, 2023 release) – 1.051 billion yen (3-day) on 703,500 admissions
Kingdom: Return of the Great General (July 12, 2014 release) – 1.628 billion yen (3-day) on 1.06 million admissions | 2.2 billion yen (4-day) on 1.467 million admissions
Look Back, the anime movie based on the one-shot manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Man), went down second in its third weekend with 196 million yen (1.24 million USD) on 115,000 admissions, bringing its total to 994 million yen (6.27 million USD) on 586,000 admissions.Meanwhile, Look Back ranked #1 in Filmarks’ score ranking for films released in Japan in the first half of 2024 (between January 1 and June 30) with more than 10,000 reviews, with an average rating of 4.42/5.0 based on 13,477 reviews. HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle followed in second with 4.26/5.0 based on 38,132 reviews.Soreike! Anpanman: Baikinman to Ehon no Lulun (Let’s Go! Anpanman: Baikinman and Lulun of the Picture Book), the 35th feature film in the Anpanman anime franchise, ranked third in its third weekend of release, one position down from last weekend. The movie has earned a cumulative 459 million yen (2.9 million USD) on 363,000 admissions in Japan. Case Closed: The Million-dollar Pentagram, the 27th feature film in the Case Closed/Detective Conan anime franchise, ranked fifth in its 14th weekend, up one more position from last weekend. The movie’s cumulative revenue has reached 15.4 billion yen (97.17 million USD) on 10.8 million ticket sales since debuting in Japan on April 12. The third chapter of Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture went down two positions to ninth in its second weekend. The first chapter released in Japan on May 10 and the second on June 7. The final fourth chapter is set to release in Japan on August 2.
Weekend box office Top 10 in Japan (July 12-14, 2024)
(ticket sales basis with notes in parentheses marking previous week’s placement)
1 (new). Kingdom: Daishougun no Kikan
2 (1) . Look Back
3 (2). Soreike! Anpanman: Baikinman to Ehon no Lulun
4 (3). Dear Family
5 (6). Case Closed: The Million-dollar Pentagram
6 (4). 90-sai, Nani ga Medetai
7 (8). A Quiet Place: Day One
8 (5). Ferrari
9 (7). Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture Chapter 3
10 (9). Ienai Himitsu
Sources: Eiga.com 1, 2, Kogyo Tsushinsha weekend box office ranking, Filmarks(c) Yasuhisa Hara/Shueihsa (c)2024 Movie “Kingdom” Production Committee
