With the release of many new films postponed, the top 10 rankings at the Japanese box office for this weekend include seven previously released films, including Weathering With You. The film became a box office hit in Japan, bringing in huge profits for the director Makoto Shinkai and the studio. A year later, the profits for Japan’s movie theaters is down by around 100 per cent from where it once was.
100 theaters reopened in Japan three weeks ago. Tokyo recently entered the second phase of its multi-phase recovery road map last week, which includes the reopening of theaters (among other establishments).
Shinrei Kissa Extra no Himitsu: The Real Exorcist ranked #1 for the past four weekends, while The Dead Don’t Die and Anna opened at #2 and #5, respectively. The 4K remaster of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira anime film ranked at #4. Weathering With You film dropped from #2 to #7. The film opened in 359 theaters and 448 screens in Japan last July. It became the #7 highest-earning domestic film of all time in Japan and was the highest-grossing film in Japan in 2019.
The film centers on a runaway high school boy named Hodoka. He ends up working at an occult magazine in Tokyo to support himself. One day, Hodoka meets a girl who can control the weather, and they start a new business together.