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Live-Action The Samurai and the Prisoner Film Drops to #4, New Sgt. Frog Film to #10
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's live-action film adaptation of Honobu Yonezawa's The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurōjō) samurai historical mystery novel dropped from #3 to #4 in its third weekend. The film earned 94,901,360 yen (about US$585,000) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 600,000 tickets and earned a cumulative total of 824,553,640 yen (about US$5.08 million).
The film opened in Japan on June 19, and ranked at #2 in its opening weekend. The film sold 196,000 tickets and earned 274,140,380 yen (about US$1.68 million) in its first three days.
Yen Press released the novel in English, and it describes the story:
The winter of 1578, four years prior to the Honnnoji Incident. Araki Murashige has betrayed his ally Oda Nobunaga and holed up in Arioka Castle—but a string of strange incidents within the castle walls has him at his wits' end. The desperate warlord's only hope in solving these mysteries is imprisoned in the castle's dungeon: a man named Kuroda Kanbei, one of Oda's most gifted strategists. When all the conflict and intrigue reach their end, what will Murashige and Kuroda have up their sleeves?
Yonezawa (Hyōka, SHOSHIMIN: How to become Ordinary) and Kadokawa published the novel in June 2021. The novel won the Naoki Prize (a biannual Japanese literary award for new and rising authors), and won Kadokawa's 2021 Fūtarō Yamada award. It also ranked #1 in the Mystery ga Yomitai!, Shūkan Bunshun Mystery Best 10, Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!, and Honkaku Mystery Best 10 guidebooks for 2022, and is the first to place at #1 in all four rankings. It ranked at #1 in Rekishi/Jidai Shōsetsu Best 3 (Historical/Period Novels Best 3) award from Asahi Shimbun's Weekly Asahi magazine in 2021.
Soreike! Anpanman: Pantan to Yakusoku no Hoshi (Pantan and the Promised Star), the 37th film in the franchise, stayed at #5 in its second weekend. The film earned 72,105,460 yen (about US$444,500) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 218,783,340 yen (about US$1.34 million).
The film ranked at #5 in its opening weekend. The film earned 123,462,050 yen (about US$759,600) in its first three days.
The film opened in Japan on June 26.
The film centers on a new character named Pantan, played by guest star Tao Tsuchiya. Pantan is a red panda who seeks to find the treasure thought to be in a rainbow star in the night sky, in order to keep a promise made to an adventurer long ago. When Pantan and Anpanman encounter each other, Anpanman lends his abilities to help out Pantan.
Hiroyuki Yano, who has directed numerous previous films in the franchise, returned to direct the new film. Shoji Yonemura, a similar veteran of the franchise, penned the film's script. Franchise composers Taku Izumi and Hiroaki Kondō composed the music.
The 4K restoration of Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service film returned to the top 10 at #8 in its third weekend, and earned 73,242,600 yen (about US$451,500) from Friday to Sunday. The film's restoration screening has earned a cumulative total of 467,137,000 yen (about US$2.87 million). The restoration screening debuted in Japan at #6. The film earned 173,276,300 yen (about US$1.07 million) in its first three days.
Shin Gekijōban ☆ Keroro Gunsō Fukkatsu Shite Sokkō Chikyū Metsubō no Kiki de Arimasu! (New Sgt. Frog the Movie: The Earth Is in Mortal Peril as Soon as We Come Back!), the new 20th anniversary anime film project for the Sgt. Frog franchise, dropped from #4 to #10 in its second weekend.
The film ranked at #4 in its opening weekend. The film earned 150,809,200 yen (about US$927,900) in its first three days.
The film opened in Japan on June 26.
Yūichi Fukuda (live-action Gintama, Saint Young Men, HK/Hentai Kamen) is the supervising director and scriptwriter for the film. Fumitoshi Oizaki (Sgt. Frog character designer, Romeo X Juliet, Etotama, Akuma Kun, The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl) directed the anime at Bandai Namco Pictures, and Satoshi Koike (Etotama, Soul Eater Not!, Princess Connect! Re:Dive season 2) served as character designer. In addition to the opening theme song, ano also performed the "Kashippanashi Destiny" theme song for the film.
In addition to the film, an all-new Sgt. Frog television anime, titled Keroro Gunsō ☆, will debut in fall 2026. The television anime will have a brand-new cast, while this summer's film still features the existing cast in the franchise.
Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
