Hercules opened on top of the Japanese box office with $1.32 million (?143 million) from 72,000 admissions and 653 screens this weekend, while Denzel Washington‘s The Equalizer taking the third spot with $722,000 (?78 million) from only 183 screens.
Overall, it was a relatively quiet weekend in Japanese theaters.
Local manga adaptation romance Kinkyori Renai took $1.03 million (?112 million) for second place, but was top in terms of admissions, with 91,400, the way movies are ranked locally. The live-action version of Rin Mikimoto‘s manga franchise, which has also been a TV series, dropped 10 percent from its take over the previous weekend.
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The higher 3D ticket prices for Hercules and bigger proportion of adult tickets sold, versus the younger audience for Kinkyori Renai, pushed the Dwayne Johnson-starrer into the revenue lead.
Further down the Japanese box-office chart, Grace of Monaco, the Grace Kelly biopic starring Nicole Kidman, fell to sixth after opening in the third spot last weekend.
Stand by Me Doraemon, which had a dubbed English screening over the weekend at Tokyo International Film Festival, dropped to the 10th spot after a nearly three-month run that has earned it $74 million (?8 billion) in Japan. The Takashi Yamazaki-directed 3D CG installment of the long-running manga, TV series and theatrical franchise is due for release in an unprecedented 59 overseas territories.
Twitter: @GavinJBlair
