TOKYO – The latest installment in the “Doraemon” animated series for kids, “Doraemon: Nobita’s Space Heroes,” bowed atop the Japanese box office for the March 7-8 weekend.
Released on 365 screens, the film earned $5.3 million on 557,000 admissions from 365 screens. This was 7% better than the opening frame of the previous “Doraemon” entry, which went on to earn $29.5 million last year.
Also debuting was “Solomon’s Perjury (Part 1).” The first element of a two-part mystery based on a bestselling novel by Miyuki Miyabe that begins with a 14-year-old boy’s death in a schoolyard, earned $991,000 on 91,900 admissions from 311 screens. The concluding part, also directed by Izuru Narushima, will open on April 11.
Last week’s number one, “American Sniper,” slipped to number two in its third week on release.
“Big Hero 6” fell from number two to number four in its 12th week in the theaters. As of March 8 the animated feature’s cume was $79 million from 7.05 million admissions, overtaking “Monsters University” as the fifth highest-earning Pixar or Disney animated release in the Japanese market.
