Live-Action Cells at Work! Film Opens at #1 With 845 Million Yen – News

The live-action film of Akane Shimizu‘s Cells at Work! (Hataraku Saibō) manga ranked at #1 in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The film sold a total of 612,000 tickets and earned a total of 844,768,310 yen (about US$5.49 million) in its first three days.

The film opened in Japan last Friday. The film has 4D (4DX and MX4D) and IMAX screenings in Japan.

Hideki Takeuchi (live-action Nodame Cantabile, Thermae Romae, Fly Me to Saitama) directed the film, with a script by Yūichi Tokunaga (live-action Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Liar x Liar, Princess Jellyfish). Warner Bros. Japan distributed the film. Official HiGE DANdism performed the theme song “50%.”

Shimizu launched the original Cells at Work! manga in the March 2015 issue of Kodansha‘s Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine, and ended it in January 2021. Kodansha USA Publishing is releasing the manga in English.

The first television anime of the original manga premiered in July 2018. The second season premiered in January 2021, alongside the anime of the Cells at Work! Code Black spinoff manga.

Kodansha USA Publishing is also releasing the following spinoff manga in English: Cells at Work: Bacteria!, Cells at Work!: Neo Bacteria!, Cells at Work! White Brigade, Cells at Work! Baby, Cells NOT at Work!, Cells at Work! Code Black, Cells at Work and Friends!, Cells at Work! Lady, and Cells at Work: Platelets!.

Several other spinoffs exist such as Kae Hashimoto‘s Hataraku Saibō Illegal (Cells at Work! Illegal), Yū Maeda‘s Hataraku Saibō Muscle (Cells at Work! Muscle), Choko Aozora and Meku Kaire‘s Hataraku Saibō Neko (Cells at Work! Cat), and Koma Warita and Ryō Kuji‘s Hataraku Saibō Okusuri (Cells at Work! Medicine).

The live-action film of author Reiko Hiroshima and illustrator jyajya‘s children’s novel series Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendō ranked at #4 in its opening weekend. The film sold 121,000 tickets and earned 156,918,800 yen (about US$1.02 million) in its first three days.

The film opened last Friday.

The film stars Yūki Amami (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler, Mary and The Witch’s Flower) as the mysterious shop proprietor Beniko.

Hideo Nakata (Ring, Dark Water) directed the film, and Reiko Yoshida (K-ON!, Violet Evergarden, Liz and the Blue Bird, The Heike Story) penned the script. Masaru Yokoyama composed the music.

The novel series’ story centers on the mysterious candy and snack shop Zenitendō, which only lucky people can find. The shop’s proprietor is a woman named Beniko, and she can recommend the perfect candy for each person’s troubles. However, things might not turn out as hoped if people eat or use the confections incorrectly. Whether Beniko’s sweets bring fortune or misfortune is up to the people who receive them.

The novel series debuted in May 2013, and is ongoing. The franchise has more than 1.4 million copies in print. A stage play adaptation ran in Tokyo in August 2023.

The novel series inspired the Eiga Fushigi Dagashiya Zenitendō anime, which was one of four segments in the new installment of the Toei Manga Matsuri omnibus film series revival. The omnibus film opened in theaters in Japan in August 2020. The film was slated to premiere in theaters in Japan in April 2020, but it was delayed due to the pandemic.

The television anime based on the novels premiered in September 2020, and started a new arc in April 2022. A new series premiered with the anime’s 85th overall episode on the NHK Educational channel in April 2023. Another new series premiered on April 5 earlier this year.

Attack on Titan The Movie: THE LAST ATTACK, a compilation of Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS, dropped from #6 to #8 in the Japanese box office in its sixth weekend. The film earned 46,940,400 yen (about US$304,700) from Friday through Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 1,540,133,900 yen (about US$9.99 million).

The film opened on November 8 for a three-week limited engagement in Japanese theaters. It sold 175,000 tickets and earned 249,435,720 yen (about US$1.59 million) in its first three days.

Crunchyroll has licensed the film for release in theaters in early 2025 in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, and other select Latin American countries.

The film is 145 minutes long, with 5.1ch surround sound, and is a “brushed-up” edition of the two parts of the final season. Linked Horizon‘s “Nisen-nen… Moshiku wa…. Niman-nen ato no Kimi e” (To You in 2,000… or… 20,000 Years From Now) returns as the theme song.

The Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS (Shingeki no Kyojin The Final Season Kanketsu-hen) Part 1 anime aired as a one-hour special in March 2023. The Part 2 anime aired in November 2023.

Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS parts 1 and 2 also streamed in Japan in single-episode format, serving as episodes 88-94 of Attack on Titan The Final Season. Toonami aired Part 2 on January 6.

The Pui Pui Molcar the Movie: MOLMAX film dropped out of the top 10 in its third weekend.

Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2), comScore via KOFIC