‘Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You!’ Tops Japanese Box Office On its Opening Day!

In just two days of its premiere date, Gekijoban Pocket Monster: Kimi ni Kimeta! or Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You! is ranked number one in the Japanese box office. The film premiered on Saturday and has sold around 436,000 tickets from over 368 theaters earning it an outstanding 516 million yen in those two days alone.

This is the 20th anime movie of the Pokemon franchise anad part of the celebration of the franchise’s 20th anniversary. It first premiered in the Japan Expo convention in France last July 6, 2017 in original Japanese dub with French subtitles then its official premiere in Japan was on July 15, 2017.

The difference with this among the other Pokemon movies is that it’s an entire retelling of Ash’s original journey in the Kanto region. The teaser trailer of the film was first revealed in December 15, 2016 during the airing of Oha Suta in Japan. The full trailer was officially released in March which was then followed with a new trailer on April announcing the movie’s premiere dates.

Pokemon’s first stage of international popularity began on its handheld GameBoy Color and trading card game. The immense hype has paved way for an anime adaptation which has been received well by both children and adults alike. Aside from the mentioned Pokemon media, it also had its Augmented Reality game Pokemon GO which is still one of the most downloaded applications for both Google Play and the Apple App Store.

There is still no word yet for a US release yet But let’s hope that would be released the soonest for Pokemon fans in the West can enjoy.

While this movie was ranked number 1 in the Japan box office, the Gintama live action film ranked #2 in ticket sales followed by Studio Ponoc and Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s Mary and The Witch’s Flower at number 3.

Source: Matan Web.