Japan Box Office: ‘Bakuman’ Lands in Top Spot

Mark Schilling

TOKYO: The Hitoshi One comedy “Bakuman,” based on a best-selling comic about two high school boys who dream of publishing their work in the country’s biggest comic magazine, topped the box office in its first weekend on release.

Opening on 325 screens with Toho distributing, the film earned $2.1 million on 184,000 admissions. These are nearly the same figures as for One’s 2011 hit romantic comedy “Moteki,” which finished with $18.4 million.

Last week’s number one, the Warner-distributed teen romance “No Longer Heroine,” slid to second place in its third week on release with $1.5 million on 148,000 admissions, while running its cumulative total to $12.5 million from 1.3 million tickets sold.

The only new entry to the top ten, at number seven, was “Arpeggio of Blue Steel – Ars Nova Cadenza,” the second of a two-part dystopian SF animation directed by Seiji Kishi. Opening on 60 screens with Showgate releasing, the film scored $561,000 on 42,170 admissions for a healthy per-screen average of $9,400.

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