Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Exquisite Magearna was unable to compete with Disney’s Finding Dory, as the two movies made their debut at the Japanese box office this past weekend.
Attracting around 1,493,000 viewers between Saturday 16th – Monday 18th July, Finding Dory generated $18 million in ticket admissions. This is recognised as the highest for any foreign film released in Japan this year, and, after Finding Nemo went on to generate $104 million, it is expected that the sequel will surpass it.
High & Low the Movie, which stars J-pop dance and vocal ensemble Exile and spin-off group Sandaime J Soul Brothers, came in second at the box office, with fans seeing the movie’s cumulative sales climb to $24 million.
And then there was Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Exquisite Magearna, which generated $3.1 million from around 290,000 admissions. In comparison to Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages opening weekend sales were down by 16 percent, which reached $25 million overall.
Given worldwide interest in Pokémon GO, it will be interesting to see how the augmented reality app will impact on ticket sales once it releases in Japan.
[Thanks Variety]