The First Slam Dunk movie continues to dominate the theaters as it remains at the #1 spot for a sixth consecutive weekend after its release in Japan on December 3, overshadowing Makoto Shinkai's Suzume no Tojimari. This was a given, considering the film earned 6.7 billion within its first month.
The movie follows the story of Ryota Miyagi, the point guard of the Shohoku high-school basketball team. He had an older brother, Sota, who inspired his love for basketball.
The film sees Ryota and his teammates -- Hanamichi Sakuragi, Takenori Akagi, Hisashi Mitsui, and Kaede Rukawa -- challenge the current inter-high basketball champions, the Sannoh High.
The First Slam Dunk movie remains on #1 for the sixth consecutive weekend
The First Slam Dunk, the new anime film based on Takehiko Inoue's namesake basketball manga, remained at #1 for its sixth consecutive weekend since its release as the film managed to sell 319,000 tickets, earning 480,867,330 yen (about US$ 3.63 million) in the past weekend.
These ticket sales were enough to stay above Suzume no Tojimari, which managed to sell 281,000 tickets, earning 375,243,090 yen (about US$ 2.83 million) in the past weekend.
In its first weekend, The First Slam Dunk movie managed to sell 847,000 tickets, having earned 1,295,808,780 yen (about US$ 9.50 million). Since then, the film has sold a total of 5.27 million tickets for a cumulative total of 7,685,000,000 yen (about US$ 58.2 million) in the 38 days since the film premiered in Japan.
In comparison, Suzume no Tojimari sold 1.33 million tickets to earn 1.88 billion yen (about US$ 13.49 million) in its opening weekend. Additionally, the film sold a cumulative total of 9.13 million tickets, earning 12.13 billion yen (about US$ 92 million).
Makoto Shinkai's Suzume no Tojimari is now the #27 highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, all while being the #10 highest-grossing anime film at the same time.
This just goes to show how the movie has done a good job at the box office, especially in the opening weeks, after which the film must have lost its hype, causing The First Slam Dunk movie to take the #1 spot. But as for the cumulative earnings, the Suzume film has managed to earn US$ 33.8 million more than the it, which is about 4.4 billion yen.
Additionally, Meitantei Conan Haibara Ai Monogatari: Kurogane no Mystery Train compilation film debuted at #4 at the Box office, followed by Dr. Coto's Clinic at #5, Lonely Castle in the Mirror at #7, and Black Night Parade at #10.