New Death Note Film Beats Out "your name" To Top Japan's Box Office

The live-action Death Note Light up the NEW world film opened at # 1 at the Japanese box office during the October 29-30 weekend, beating out Makoto Shinkai's your name. (Kimi no Na wa.) anime film. your name.had topped the weekend charts for nine consecutive weekends since the film opened on August 26. The film ranked #2 during its 10th weekend.

Additionally, the Eiga Mahō Tsukai Precure! Kiseki no Henshin! Cure Mofurun! anime film debuted at #4, the live-action Yamikin Ushijima-kunThe Finale film fell from #2 to #7 in its second weekend, and Kyoto Animation's A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) anime film fell from #8 to #10 in its seventh weekend.

So far the live-action Death Note Light up the NEW world film earned 458,645,800 yen (about US$4.37 million) during its opening weekend. The film opened on 342 screens, and sold 342,309 tickets. Comparatively, the 2006 live-action Death Note film earned 405,629,000 yen (US$3.86 million by today's conversion) and sold 306,385 tickets in its first weekend.

your name.'s box office totals as of Monday reached 17.19 billion yen (about US$163.7 million), 67 days after the film opened. The film is the ninth highest-grossing film ever in Japan, and is approaching the earnings of the eighth highest-grossing film (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at 17.3 billion yen) and the seventh highest-grossing film (Bayside Shakedown 2 at 17.35 billion yen).

your name. previously surpassed the 2013 Japanese box office total of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises (12.02 billion yen) and the 2008 total of Ghibli and Miyazaki's Ponyo anime film (15.5 billion yen). The only anime films to earn more than your name. are Ghibli and Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. The film is now projected to possibly approach 20 billion yen (US$200 million).

Death Note Light up the NEW world opened in Japan on October 29. The Anime! Anime! news website began streaming a clip from the film on Saturday that features an argument between L's successor Ryūzaki (played by Sousuke Ikematsu) and investigator Tsukuru Mishima (Masahiro Higashide).

The film stars:​

• Masaki Suda (live-action Assassination Classroom's Karma Akabane, live-action Kuragehime's Kuranosuke Koibuchi) as Yūki Shien, a cyber terrorist who reveres Kira.​
• Sousuke Ikematsu (The Last Samurai's Higen, MOZU's Kazuhiko Shingai) as Ryūzaki, L's successor and a world-famous detective.​
• Masahiro Higashide (live-action Parasyte's Hideo Shimada, live-action Ao Haru Ride's Kō Mabuchi) as Tsukuru Mishima, a "Death Note otaku" and an investigator pursuing the Death Notes​
• Rina Kawaei (Azumi: Bakumatsu-hen stage play) as Sakura Aoi, the most terrible Death Note user ever, an indiscriminate murderer, and the complete opposite of Light Yagami.​
• Mina Fujii as Shō Nanase, an investigator on the Death Note task force.​
• Eiichiro Funakoshi as Kenichi Mikuriya, a Supreme Court justice who possesses a Death Note.​
• Erika Toda as Misa Amane (Toda is reprising the role from the previous live-action films.)​
• Shidou Nakamura as Ryuk (Nakamura is reprising the role from the previous live-action films and anime.)​
• Sota Aoyama as Tōta Matsuda (Aoyama is reprising the role from the previous live-action films.)​
• Miyuki Sawashiro as the voice of the new Shinigami character Ama.​
• Tori Matsuzaka as the voice of the new Shinigami character Bepo.​

In addition, Tatsuya Fujiwara and Ken'ichi Matsuyama both reprised their roles as the self-righteous killer Light Yagami and the legendary detective L, respectively, for the film.

Shinsuke Sato (live-action Gantz, Gantz: Perfect Answer, Library Wars films) directed the film. Namie Amuro peformed the film's theme song "Dear Diary," as well as the insert song "Fighter."​