Japanese Pokémon box office earnings exceed ¥40 billion

Ninth movie continues to do poorly, however

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Originally reported on Pokeani

This article brought to you by Bulbanews, your community Pokémon newspaper.

Toho has announced that the sum of the box office earnings of all the Pokémon movies has exceeded ¥40 billion (approx. US$342 million). This includes the ninth movie of the series, Pokémon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea: Manaphy, which completed its official theatrical run Friday, though over 250 cinemas will continue screening it. [1]

		Box office gross		Cumulative total
1998	Mewtwo Strikes Back	¥7.3 billion*	$62.4 million
1999	Revelation Lugia	¥6.2 billion*	$53.0 million	¥13.5 billion	$115.4 million
2000	Lord of the Unknown Tower: Entei	¥4.85 billion	$42.5 million	¥18.35 billion	$156.9 million
2001	Celebi: A Timeless Encounter	¥3.90 billion	$33.3 million	¥22.25 billion	$190.2 million
2002	Guardians of the Water Capital: Latios and Latias	¥2.67 billion	$22.8 million	¥24.92 billion	$213.0 million
		Box office gross		Cumulative total
2003	Wishing Star of the Seven Nights: Jirachi	¥4.50 billion	$38.5 million	¥29.42 billion	$251.5 million
2004	The Visitor of the Space Fissure: Deoxys	¥4.38 billion	$37.4 million	¥33.80 billion	$288.9 million
2005	Mew and the Wave-Guiding Hero: Lucario	¥4.30 billion	$36.8 million	¥38.10 billion	$325.7 million
2006	Pokémon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea: Manaphy	¥3.0 billion	$25.6 million	¥41.10 billion	$351.3 million

Note:

Dollar figures are based on the conversion rate ¥100 = US$0.855.
Revenue data for 1998 and 1999 are extrapolated from box office profits.
Revenue data for 2006 is as of Aug. 23.

The ninth movie itself, however, has not fared so well compared to the last three movies:

2006	July 15 - 16	July 22 - 23	July 29 - 30	Aug. 5 - 6	Aug. 12 - 13	Aug. 19 - 20	Aug. 26 - 27
Overall ranking	⇨ 2nd	⇩ 3rd	⇩ 4th	⇩ 5th	⇧ 4th	⇩ 6th	⇩ 8th
Domestic movies	⇨ 2nd	⇨ 2nd	⇩ 3rd	⇩ 4th	⇧ 3rd	⇩ 4th	⇩ 6th
Anime movies	⇨ 1st	⇨ 1st	⇩ 2nd	⇨ 2nd	⇨ 2nd	⇨ 2nd	⇨ 2nd