2009's Top Anime Movies at Japanese Box Office

posted on 2010-01-04 03:16 EST

Pokémon at #1; Eva 2.0 more than doubles 1.0's take; Conan sets franchise record

---

4No film in 2009 approached the success of 2008's Ponyo (15.50 billion yen or about US$171 million) in Japan. However, nine Japanese animated films did earn more than 1 billion yen (US$10.8 million) in 2009 in their domestic market — whereas only six anime films earned more than 1 billion yen in 2008.

4The second film in Khara's four-part remake of Gainax's Evangelion anime grossed more than twice much as the first film did in 2007. Warner earned more than twice as much distributing Summer Wars (1.63 billion yen or US$17.5 million) in 2009 than it did with The Sky Crawlers (700 milllion yen or US$7.5 million) in 2008. Precure All Stars DX: Minna Tomodachi— Kiseki no Zenin Daishūgō is the first film in the Precure franchise to gross more than 1 billion yen. Similarly, Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser set a new record for the Detective Conan franchise.

4Three films — Evangelion 2.0, Summer Wars, and Precure All Stars DX — garnered more than 1 billion yen even though they opened on less than 200 screens. One Piece Film Strong World opened too late in December to be included in this tally, but it earned US$32,238,129 after three weekends on less than 200 screens as well. Each screen averaged 5,523,614 yen (US$62,196) in just the first two days — the new record for a nationwide release in Japan after the passing of fire safety laws.