Japan Box Office: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM Makes Record-Breaking No.1 Debut

18 years since the first announcement back in 2006, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM , the feature film sequel from the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed franchise, finally opened in 352 theaters across Japan on January 26, 2024. According the official website , the 124-minute film earned 1,065,983,130 yen (7.23 million USD) on 634,182 admissions in its first three-day weekend of January 26-28. The opening weekend gross not only debuted the film at #1 in the box office ranking, but also became the best first-week box office record in the Gundam franchise of all-time. Compared to the most recent Gundam film, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway released in 2021, SEED FREEDOM 's first weekend gross was 416.4 percent of that of Hathaway , and its ticket sales was 502.8 percent. Meanwhile, the film ranked #2 in Filmarks' first- day satisfaction ranking with an average rating of of 4.23/5.0 based on 3,490 reviews. The film was originally announced in 2006 after the broadcast of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny , but the years passed without any updates. Its production was re-announced in May 2021, as part of the "Gundam Seed Project ignited" project to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the franchise. Then the film's official title and release date was revealed after the broadcast of the final episode of Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury in July 2023. RELATED : Gundam Seed Character Designer Draws Takanori Nishikawa's New Artist Visual Last weekend's No.1film, the live-action adaptation of Golden Kamuy , based on Satoru Noda's adventure manga, dropped to second in its second weekend with 367 million yen (2.49 million USD) on 238,000 admissions, bringing its total gross to 1.1 billion yen (7.48 million USD) in 790,000 admissions. SPY x FAMILY CODE: White , the first feature film from the SPY x FAMILY anime franchise, ranked fourth in its sixth weekend, two positions down from last weekend. Kitaro Tanjou: GeGeGe no Nazo , the film to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the GeGeGe no Kitaro original manga author Shigeru Mizuki 's birth, ranked seventh in its 11th weekend, two positions up. As reported , the film earned 2,344,966,920 yen (15.83 million USD) on 1,643,274 admissions from November 2023 to January 2024 — becoming the top-grossing film in the whole GeGeGe no Kitaro franchise, including live-action films. Godzilla Minus One moved down two spots to tenth in its 13th weekend. The film's official Twitter account has reported that its cumulative total domestic gross had reached 5.59 billion yen (37.97 million USD) on 3.63 million admissions by January 28 in 87 days since its release. Now it has become the fifth top-grossing film released in Japan in 2023, surpassing Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (5.38 billion yen). The first part of the two-part new anime film from the given franchise — given The Movie: Hiiragi Mix — opened in 30 Japanese theaters on January 27. While not appearing in the overall weekend box office ranking top 10, it ranked #1 both in Kogyo Tsushinsha's mini theater ranking and Filmarks' first-day satisfaction ranking with an average rating of 4.27/5.0 based on 57 reviews. Weekend box office Top 10 in Japan (January 26-28, 2024) (ticket sales basis with notes in parentheses marking previous week's placement) Sources: Kogyo Tsushinsha , Mini Theater Ranking , Eiga.com , Fillmarks , "Godzilla Minus One" official Twitter © SOTSU・SUNRISE

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