'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' Opens Big In Japan

TOKYO – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened at No.1 in Japan at the weekend, taking 288.5 million yen ($3.68 million) over the three days from just over 227,500 admissions at 431 screens.

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David Fincher and Rooney Mara attended the Japan premiere on Jan. 30 and the film has been getting a lot of attention in the local media. Elsewhere in Asia, the India and Vietnam releases have been pulled over attempted censorship of some of the movie’s more graphic scenes.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is reportedly aiming for a 20 billion yen ($25 million) total box office following its impressive opening.

Always Sanchome no Yuhi `64 was knocked off the top spot in its fourth week of release. The third installment of the Sunset on Third Street series that take a nostalgic look at post-war Tokyo has now racked up a cumulative box office of 2.49 billion yen from nearly 2 million admissions.

In third place Kirin no Tsubasa – Gekijouban Shizanmono has also scored a strong cumulative 1.05 billion yen in just over two weeks.

The Ken Watanabe-starrer Hayabusa Harukanaru Kikan debuted in fourth place with a less than impressive 128 million yen ($1.6 million) from almost 109,000 admissions at 311 screens. Toei will have been hoping for a better start from its big-budget production of the story of Japan's unmanned space probe that returned to earth in 2010 after a troubled mission. This is the second of three versions of the Hayabusa story made by different studios, with a 3D version due for release next month.

Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney), the live-action version of the popular Capcom video game series, directed by Takashi Miike, bowed at fifth with 118 million yen from 275 screens.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol spent its ninth week in the top 10, hanging on by its fingertips to the last spot in the rankings.