After holding the top spot for two consecutive weekends, the advance theatrical screenings of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-, a re-edited version of the upcoming Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX TV series, moved down to second in its third weekend. The release collected 271 million yen (1.75 million USD) on 180,000 admissions, decreasing by half from last weekend, according to Kogyo Tsushinsha. While exceeding the gross box office, it fell just short of the live-action film 366 nichi (“366 days”), which drew 181,000 viewers in its fourth week of release. The screenings reached one million ticket sales on January 31 according to the anime’s official X (formerly Twitter). The anime’s official website also confirmed that it had earned a cumulative of 1,935,716,409 yen (12.47 million USD) from 1,186,791 ticket sales in 17 days (January 17 – February 2) since debuting in Japanese theaters.
In its seventh weeked, Gekijouban Nintama Rantaro Dokutake Ninja-tai Saikyou no Gunshi (translated to “Nintama Rantaro the Movie: The Strongest Strategist of the Dokutake Ninja Squad”) moved up four spots to third, the highest position since its opening weekend of December 20-22. The film was in seventh place last weekend. The film’s official X account announced that the cumulative total gross already surpassed two billion yen (12.89 million USD), making it the ninth top-grossing Japanese animated film which opened in 2024.
The live-action film adaptation of Akane Shimizu’s manga series Cells at Work! remained in fourth place, the same as last weekend, in its eighth weekend of release. With a cumulative total gross of 5.7 billion yen (36.73 million USD) on 4.31 million admissions, it has now become the fifth top-grossing Japanese film opened in 2024, surpassing Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM with 5.38 billion yen.
Gekijouban Project Sekai Kowareta SEKAI to Utaenai MIKU (“Project Seikai the Movie: The Broken World and The Miku Who Can’t Sing”), the theatrical anime film inspired by the HATSUNE MIKU: COLORFUL STAGE! smartphone game, also stayed in the same sixth-place position in its third weekend. The live-action film adaptation of Kengo Hanazawa’s action manga series UNDER NINJA went down to seventh, four places down from its opening weekend.
A new anime film adaptation of Riyoko Ikeda’s classic historical shojo manga The Rose of Versailles opened in 156 theaters in Japan on January 31, ranking ninth in its opening weekend. The film also ranked sixth in Filmarks’ first-day satisfaction ranking with an average rating of 3.70/5.0 based on 1,194 reviews.MAKE A GIRL, independent anime creator Gensho Yasuda’s first original anime feature film project based on his independent 2020 3DCG short film Make Love, opened in 109 theaters on January 31 and didn’t appear in the overall box office top 10 ranking. The film ranked 11th in Filmarks’ first-day satisfaction ranking with an average rating of 3.21/5.0 based on 182 reviews.
Advance theatrical screenings of SK8 the Infinity EXTRA PART, a new 25-minute OVA from the SK8 the Infinity anime series, went down to fourth in Kogyo Tsushinsha’s mini-theater ranking after making a first-place debut last weekend. The screenings are planned to continue in ten theaters for four weeks. The DVD and Blu-ray is set to release in Japan on March 19, 2025.
Weekend box office Top 10 in Japan (January 31- February 2, 2025)
(ticket sales basis with notes in parentheses marking previous week’s placement)
| Rank | Title | Weekends since Release |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (2) | 366-nichi | 4 |
| 2 (1) | Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX – Beginning- | 3 |
| 3 (7) | Gekijouban Nintama Rantaro Dokutake Ninjia-tai Saikyou no Gunshi | 7 |
| 4 (4) | Cells at Work! | 8 |
| 5 (5) | Grand Maison Paris | 5 |
| 6 (6) | Gekijouban Project Sekai Kowareta SEKAI to Utaenai Miku | 3 |
| 7 (3) | UNDER NINJA | 2 |
| 8 (new) | Isho, Koukai | 1 |
| 9 (new) | The Rose of Versailles | 1 |
| 10 (8) | Moana 2 | 9 |
Sources: Kogyo Tsushinsha box office ranking / mini-theater ranking, Eiga.com, Filmarks, “Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX” official website, “Nintama Rantaro” anime film official X (formerly Twitter)©SOTSU, SUNRISE
