Bocchi the Rock! Re: movie leads weekend rankings; anime films again conquer Japan box office

Bocchi the Rock! TV anime's Season 2 renewal is riding on the box office success of its compilation films. The first of the recap duology opened in Japanese theatres this Friday, and it's already made it to the top of the list of high-grossing films during the June 7-9 weekend.

According to Kogyo Tsushin's box office reports, the first Bocchi the Rock! Recap film attracted 140,000 moviegoers and grossed 218 million yen during its opening weekend. The awe-inspiring debut of the re-edited version of the feel-good anime and its future installment might just revive the franchise, leading to a much-wished-for proper TV sequel. Meanwhile, the second movie of the batch, Bocchi the Rock! Re:Re: is slated to hit the big screen in Japan on August 9. North America also awaits the compilation movies' premieres, with Crunchyroll and Sony handling their distribution. The official release dates have yet to be announced.

The girl band anime franchise is based on Aki Hamaji's popular manga series. Its original TV adaption aired from October to December 2022, with Crunchyroll now streaming it.

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The streamer describes the series as follows:

Hitori Gotoh, “Bocchi-chan,” is a girl who’s so introverted and shy around people that she’d always start her conversations with “Ah...” During her middle school years, she started playing the guitar, wanting to join a band because she thought it could be an opportunity for even someone shy like her to also shine. But because she had no friends, she ended up practicing guitar for six hours every day all by herself. After becoming a skilled guitar player, she uploaded videos of herself playing the guitar to the internet under the name “Guitar Hero” and fantasised about performing at her school’s cultural festival concert. But not only could she not find any bandmates, before she knew it, she was in high school and still wasn’t able to make a single friend! She was really close to becoming a shut-in, but one day, Nijika Ijichi, the drummer in Kessoku Band, reached out to her. And because of that, her everyday life started to change little by little...

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Anime films ranking at Japan box office

Following the music-comedy series' example, the 27th Detective Conan film expanded its long-running spell at the Japanese box office for the ninth week. As the next movie generating the second-highest collection of 170 million yen, Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram saw 119,000 viewers attending this weekend's screening. Now, earning its credit as the best box office performer for the franchise, the 2024 Case Closed film has raked in a cumulative collection of over 14.6 billion yen (~US$92.98 million). It presently stands as the 16th top-grossing movie in the Japanese Top 100 All-Time Ranking.

Other anime films on the Top 10 Weekend Ranking are Umamusume: Pretty Derby—Beginning of a New Era, Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture Act 2, and IDOLiSH7 The Movie: Live 4bit Beyond the Period.

June weekend: Top 10 movies on the Japan box office

1. (Theatrical compilation) Bocchi the Rock! Re: (new) | ANIME
2. Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram (previously at #3 - ninth week) | ANIME
3. The Dangerous Detective Returns (previously at #2 - third week)
4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (previously at #1 - second week)
5. Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Beginning of a New Era (previously at #4 - third week) | ANIME
6. Teasing Master Takagi-san the Movie (previously at #5 - second week)
7. Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture Act 2 (new) | ANIME
8. IDOLiSH7 The Movie: Live 4bit Beyond the Period (56th week) | ANIME
9. Diary of a Different Country (new)
10. BELIEVE – The Men Who Didn't Give Up on Japanese Basketball (new)