Image via The Samurai and the Prisoner live-action film’s X/Twitter account
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Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s live-action film adaptation of Honobu Yonezawa’s The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurōjō) samurai historical mystery novel dropped from #2 to #3 in its second weekend. The film sold 108,000 tickets and earned 151,785,820 yen (about US$933,800) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 440,000 tickets and earned a cumulative total of 614,039,360 yen (about US$3.77 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.
Image via Gekijōban ☆ Keroro Gunsō Fukkatsu Shite Sokkō Chikyū Metsubō no Kiki de Arimasu! film’s website
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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, 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.
Image via Anpanman films’ X/Twitter account
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Soreike! Anpanman: Pantan to Yakusoku no Hoshi (Pantan and the Promised Star), the 37th film in the franchise, 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.
Image via Nintendo of America’s website
© 2026 Nintendo and Universal Studios
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — Nintendo, Illumination, and Universal Pictures’ sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie — dropped from #5 to #8 in its 10th weekend. The film earned 93,170,200 yen (about US$573,300) from Friday to Sunday. The film has sold a total of 5.64 million tickets, and has earned a cumulative total of 7,757,955,230 yen (about US$47.73 million).
The film opened at #1 at the Japanese box office. The film sold 1.121 million tickets and earned 1,601,093,600 yen (about US$9.96 million) in its first three days.
The film opened in the United States and the United Kingdom on April 1, in other select territories on April 3, and in Japan on April 24.
Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and Nintendo representative director and fellow Shigeru Miyamoto again produced Illumination and Universal Pictures’ new film. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and screenwriter Matthew Fogel returned from the previous film for the new project. Brian Tyler returned to compose the soundtrack.
Image via Detective Conan movies’ X/Twitter account
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Detective Conan: Highway no Datenshi (Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway), the Detective Conan franchise’s 29th film, dropped from #7 to #9 in its 12th weekend. The film earned 66,912,000 yen (about US$411,700) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 13,453,063,500 yen (about US$82.78 million).
The film is now the fourth consecutive film in the franchise to earn more than 10 billion yen, beginning with 2023’s Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine film.
The film sold 2,318,009 tickets and earned 3,502,137,800 yen (about US$21.9 million) in its first three days, making a new opening-weekend record for the franchise, and debuting at #1 at the Japanese box office.
The new film centers on the character Chihaya Hagiwara, member of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and the leader of its motorcycle division. Miyuki Sawashiro now voices the character, replacing the late Atsuko Tanaka. The movie also features Kanagawa inspector Jugo Yokomizo, teenage detective Masumi Sera, Chihaya’s late younger brother Kenji Hagiwara, and Kenji’s Police Academy classmate Jinpei Matsuda.
The 4K restoration of Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service film dropped off the top 10 in its second weekend, but still earned 86,194,100 yen (about US$530,300) from Friday to Sunday. The film’s restoration screening has earned a cumulative total of 340,606,800 yen (about US$2.09 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.
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.
