Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom Anime Film Opens at #2

©丸山くがね・KADOKAWA 刊/劇場版「オーバーロード」聖王国編製作委員会

Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom (Gekijō-ban Overlord Sei Ōkoku-hen), the new film project for the Overlord anime, ranked at #2 in its opening weekend. The film sold 198,000 tickets and earned 317,859,004 yen (about US$2.19 million). The film opened with regular screenings in Japan on September 20, but also had IMAX screenings beginning one week earlier on September 13. If the earlier IMAX screenings are included, the film has sold a total of 270,000 tickets and earned a cumulative total of 457 million yen (about US$3.15 million).

Naoyuki Itou returned to direct the film at Madhouse, and is also credited as scriptwriter and for composition. Yukie Sugawara returned for the film and is credited for script collaboration. Satoshi Tasaki also returned as character designer and chief animation director. Fumiyuki Go returned as the sound director at Bit Grooove Promotion. Shūji Katayama of Team-MAX returned to compose the music at Kadokawa. Kadokawa Animation is distributing the film.

Crunchyroll will screen the film in North America on November 8, and will also screen the film in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

© ABC-A・東映アニメーション

The Wonderful Precure! The Movie! Doki Doki Game no Sekai de Daiboken (Wonderful Precure! The Movie! Grand Adventure in a Thrilling Game World) film dropped from #2 to #4 in its second weekend. The film earned 189,101,930 yen (about US$1.30 million). The film has earned a cumulative total of 723,538,940 yen (about US$4.99 million).

The film opened in Japan on September 13. The film ranked at #2 in its opening weekend. The film sold 295,000 tickets and earned 367 million yen (about US$2.59 million) in its first three days, marking the second-highest three-day opening weekend for the Precure franchise, just below last year's Precure All Stars F movie. Wonderful Precure! The Movie! Doki Doki Game no Sekai de Daiboken sold 405,000 tickets and earned 497 million yen (about US$3.51 million) in its first four days, including September 16 (which was the Respect for the Aged Day holiday in Japan).

The film follows Komugi and Iroha on a new adventure, when they are sucked into the world of the video game Doki Doki Tanukingdom (Thrilling Raccoon-Dogkingdom). Characters from the Soaring Sky! Precure (Hirogaru Sky! Precure) and Maho Girls Precure! (Mahō Tsukai Precure!) anime also appear in the film.

Naoki Miyahara (The First Slam Dunk unit director) directed the film. Yoichi Kato (Yo-kai Watch) penned the script. Takayuki Murakami was the unit director. Erika Fukasawa composed the music.

©Negi Haruba, KODANSHA/"The Quintessential Quintuplets Specials2" Production Committee.

The Quintessential Quintuplets Specials 2, the latest anime special of Negi Haruba's The Quintessential Quintuplets (Gotōbun no Hanayome) romantic comedy manga, ranked at #5 in its opening weekend. The anime earned 154,182,270 yen (about US$1.06 million) in its first three days.

The anime debuted its three-week limited screening on September 20.

Masato Jinbo (The Quintessential Quintuplets the Movie) directed the anime at Bibury Animation Studio, and was in charge of series scripts. Haruba is credited for collaborating on the scripts, and Masato Katsumata (The Quintessential Quintuplets ∬, The Quintessential Quintuplets the Movie) designed the characters.

Mrs. Green Apple // The White Lounge in CINEMA, the screening of the Mrs. Green Apple band's 2023-2024 concert tour, dropped from #4 to #6 in its second weekend. The film ranked at #4 in its opening weekend.

Transformers One, the new animated film prequel to the Transformers franchise, ranked at #8 in Japan in its opening weekend. The film earned 117,529,500 yen (about US$811,100) in its first three days.

The film also opened in the U.S. on September 20 and earned US$25 million over its opening weekend, landing at #2 at the U.S. box office.

Transformers One centers on the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron, and takes place on Cybertron, the shared homeworld of both the protagonist Autobots and antagonist Decepticons.

Steven Spielberg is an executive producer for the animated film, alongside Brian Goldner, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, and Valerii An. Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley directed the film. Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man and the Wasp) wrote the script. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Michael Bay, Mark Vahradian, and Aaron Dem are producers.

© 創通・サンライズ

The special edition of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM ranked at #9 in its opening weekend. The film earned 128,921,900 yen (about US$889,700) from Friday to Sunday. Together with earlier screenings of the film, the film has earned a cumulative total of 5,048,982,557 yen (about US$34.8 million) as of September 25, and has sold 3,005,829 tickets.

The special editions of the film feature over 500 cuts of footage updated. The first special edition of the film, with an epilogue cut (or cuts) added, will play from September 20 to October 3. Another special edition, with a different epilogue cut (or cuts) added, will run from November 1 to November 14.

Director Mitsuo Fukuda explained that due to time, the staff members could not complete every section to their satisfaction in the version that opened in theaters on January 26. With the special editions, they updated those cuts and refined parts that felt off after screenings. Fukuda added, "I think we can call this the complete edition of Seed FREEDOM."

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM opened in Japan on January 26. The film debuted at #1 in the Japanese box office. It sold 634,182 tickets for 1,065,983,130 yen (about US$7.20 million) in its first three days, marking the Gundam franchise's highest three-day opening in box office earnings. The film is the highest-earning Gundam film in Japan ever.

Bandai Namco Filmworks and Fathom Events screened the film in the United States and Canada on May 7-8, screening with subtitles on May 7, and with an English dub on May 8.

© キヅナツキ・新書館/ギヴン製作委員会

Eiga Given: Umi e (Given The Movie: To the Sea), the second film in the two-part sequel anime film project, ranked at #1 in the mini-theater rankings in its opening weekend. The film opened on September 20.

Eiga Given: Hiiragi mix, the first film in the two-film project based on Natsuki Kizu's Given manga, debuted in Japan on January 27.

The manga's television anime adaptation premiered on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block in July 2019. The anime is the "first anime based on a boys-love manga" to air on Noitamina. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired, and started streaming an English dub in August 2022.

An anime film based on the manga opened in Japan in May 2020. Crunchyroll is streaming the film.

An original anime disc (or original video anime) titled Given: Uragawa no Sonzai (Given - on the other hand) – which focused on Mafuyu and Ritsuka during the events of the Given movie – shipped with the limited edition of the manga's seventh volume in December 2021. Crunchyroll started streaming the OVA episode in July 2022.

Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2, link 3), comScore via KOFIC, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM press release

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.