Even the Dark Knight didn’t come close to defeating the blue cat robot. Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars 2021, the 41st feature film in the Doraemon anime franchise, earned 281 million yen (2.37 million USD) on 229,000 admissions on its second weekend. It was 29 percent down from its opening weekend but enough to keep keeping its No.1 position for two consecutive weekend, beating The Batman that made 247 million yen (2.08 million USD) on its first Saturday and Sunday.
In total so far, the 107-minute film has earned 800 million yen on 660,000 admissions to become the top-grossing Japanese anime film of 2022. However, the film’s firs two-week gross was only a half of that of the previous 40th film Nobita’s New Dinosaur released in August 2020.
In its 12th weekend, JUJUTSU KAISEN 0 dropped to fourth from last weekend’s third. Its total domestic gross has reached 12.71 billion yen (107.45 million USD) on 9.07 million admissions, making it the 21st top-grossing film of all-time in Japan, surpassing Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace with 12.7 billion yen.
Ensemble Stars!! -Road to Show!!-, the all-new anime feature film from Happy Elements’ male idol-themed game franchise Ensemble Stars!!, ranked ninth in its second weekend. No confirmed numbers on box office performance so far.
Weekend box office Top 10 in Japan (March 12-13, 2022)
(ticket sales basis)
1 (1). “Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars 2021” – 800 million yen
2 (2). “Yomei 10-nen” – 930 million yen
3 (new). “The Batman” – 370 million yen
4 (3). “JUJUTSU KAISEN 0” – 12.71 billion yen
5 (new): “Wedding High” – 87 million yen
6 (new): “Kamen Rider OOO 10th: Core Medal of Resurrection” – 82 million yen
7 (4). “Aikoku Jyoshi Kurenai Bushido”
8 (new). “JO1 THE MOVIE ‘Mikansei’ GO to the TOP” – 58 million yen
9 (6). “Ensemble Stars!! -Road to Show!!”
10 (7). “Ushikubi-mura”
Sources: Eiga.com, Pixiin
©Fujiko Pro, Shogakukan, TV Asahi, Shin-ei, ADK 2021
