The basketball movie based on Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk manga, The First Slam Dunk, has continued holding the number 1 position at the Japanese box office for 5 consecutive weeks. The movie has earned 6.7 billion yen (USD 50.8 million) in its 32 days run since its release on December 3, 2022.

The movie has had an attendance of 4.6 million people during this time period. It has earned 362 million yen (2.75 million USD) on 276,000 admissions in its fifth week.

The movie has IMAX screenings in 40 theatres & Dolby Atmos screenings in 34 theatres across Japan. The Dolby Cinema screenings were added later on December 10.

This is the highest grossing movie of the franchise. The movie has beaten Kaguya-Sama Love Is War The Kiss That Never Ends, That Time I Reincarnated As A Slime: Scarlet Bond, One Piece Film Red and James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of The Water at the Japanese box office since its release.

The First Slam Dunk movie is followed by Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume No Tojimari movie.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of Water was released on 1466 screens in Japan and it merely earned 477 million yen (USD 3.48 million) with 259,000 admissions on its first weekend. Japan is the only country where Avatar failed to grab the no.1 spot at the box office.

Whereas, One Piece Film Red ranked 7th in this weekend after it fell out of the top 10 list last week. The movie is expected to reach 19 billion yen soon.

The top 10 movies at the Japanese box office this week are:

1. THE FIRST SLAM DUNK
2. Suzume No Tojimari
3. Avatar: Way Of the Water
4. Dr. Koto Clinic
5. From Siberia With Love
6. Lonely Castle In The Mirror
7. One Piece Film Red
8. Black Night Parade
9. Kamen Rider Geez X Revise Battle Royale
10. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime The Movie: Scarlet Bond

The First Slam Dunk movie’s teaser is filled with intriguing art and exciting theme songs. Check out the teaser here:

The opening theme song is performed by The Birthday, while 10-FEET will perform the ending theme song “Zero Sensation”.

MediaLink a Chinese distributor company announced that it will release The First Slam Dunk movie in Hong Kong and Macau on January 12.

The movie is based on the basketball manga SLAM DUNK serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump from 1990 to 1996.

The manga depicts the story of the main character Sakuragi Hanamichi, a basketball novice who joins the Shohoku High School basketball club, and how his talent rapidly blossoms as he clashes with his teammate Nagarekawa Kaede and competes against other strong schools.

The series has sold more than 120 million copies in Japan, and a TV anime of 101 episodes was broadcast from 1993 to 1996.

The manga was also made into a game. In 2006, the “Slam Dunk Scholarship” was established to support young basketball players. In 2018, Mr. Inoue newly drew the cover of the comic, “Redesigned version” (same), and in 2020, the illustration collection “PLUS / SLAM DUNK ILLUSTRATIONS 2” (same) was released. 

The new movie is directed and written by Inoue Takehiko, the author of the original story, and produced by Toei Animation/Dandelion Animation Studio.

Among the listed staff members are character designer/animation director Yasuyuki Ebara (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) and technical directors Katsuhiko Kitada (Attack on Titan episodes, Major: Yūjō no Winning Shot), Naoki Miyahara (Digimon Adventure, Popin Q), Toshio Ōhashi (LayereD Stories 0), and Yū Kamatani (Looking for Magical DoReMi, Precure Super Stars!).

Daiki Nakazawa is directing the CG, and Yūta Ogura is producing the CG. Kazuo Ogura is directing the art. Yota Tsuruoka is directing the sound with Koji Kasamatsu.

Additionally, details about two books that are related to the movie were also revealed.

The first book, titled SLAM DUNK JUMP, contains 24 select chapters of the 276 chapters from the manga, which form a basis for the movie’s plot. The book was released on Nov 8, 2022.

The second book, titled THE FIRST SLAM DUNK re:SOURCE, is described as special book which contains and analyzes the very fundamentals of the movie. It also contains illustrations drawn by Inoue during the films’ production process and also a lengthy interview. The book will be released on Dec 15, 2022.

The voice cast of the five members of Shohoku has been renewed from the TV anime version, with Sogo Nakamura as Ryota Miyagi, Jun Kasama as Hisashi Mitsui, Shinichiro Kamio as Kaede Ryukawa, Subaru Kimura as Hanamichi Sakuragi, and Kenta Miyake as Goken Akagi.

Source: Mantan Web