Two anime films, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle and The First Slam Dunk made a strong comeback in the Japan box office during the weekend of August 16-18.
Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, part of the Haikyu!! Final duology, held a special event titled The Dumpster Battle Last Match in Tokyo on August 18, which was also live-streamed in theaters across Japan.
This event, combined with the movie’s revival screening, helped the film reach the sixth spot in the weekend box office ranking for the first time since mid-June.
Since its release in February 2024, the film has grossed 11.5 billion yen, making it the 35th highest-grossing film ever released in Japan.
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK, originally released in December 2022, also returned to theaters with revival screenings in over 380 locations starting on August 13.
In its first weekend back, the movie secured the ninth spot in the box office, bringing its total earnings to 16.2 billion yen, making it the 12th highest-grossing film in Japan.
Notably, it surpassed Avatar in Japan’s all-time rankings. This revival marks a successful continuation for THE FIRST SLAM DUNK, which had a strong initial run that ended in August 2023.
Other films also performed well during this weekend. Crayon Shin-chan: Oratachi no Kyoryu Nikki, the latest film in the Crayon Shin-chan series, maintained its second-place ranking, earning 321 million yen in its second weekend.
The newest My Hero Academia movie also held steady in third place with total earnings of 2.3 billion yen since its August release.
Meanwhile, the fourth Kingdom live-action film, Kingdom: Return of The Great General, moved up to fourth place in its sixth weekend, becoming the highest-grossing film in the Kingdom live-action series.
However, the live-action adaptation of Blue Period, which debuted in eighth place the previous weekend, did not remain in the top 10 in its second weekend.
