Film is 1st Japanese live-action film this year to earn as much

The official Twitter account for the live-action film of Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama manga announced on Monday that the film has earned more than 3 billion yen (US$27.4 million) at the Japanese box office after 30 days in theaters. The film is the first Japanese live-action film to hit this milestone this year.

The film opened in Japan on July 14, and it earned 980 million yen (US$8.9 million) in its first four days. The film also inspired a live-action net show that debuted on Docomo's dTV streaming service on July 15, one day after the film's opening.

Sorachi began the manga in 2004 and it continues to be ranked among the top-selling manga in Japan. The manga has more than 50 million copies in print in Japan. Viz Media published the first 23 volumes in English. Shueisha published the manga's 69th volume on July 4. The manga entered its final arc last July.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in 2006 and continued (with several extended hiatuses) until 2013. The fifth and latest Gintama television anime series premiered on January 8, and the show began airing reruns in April. Crunchyroll streamed the most recent series as it aired in Japan, and is also streaming English-dubbed episodes. The television anime's official website is listing that the anime will return in October on Tokyo TV with a "Porori Arc."

The manga also inspired two anime films, including the "final" Gekijōban Gintama Kanketsu-hen: Yorozuya yo Eien Nare film that opened in 2013, and various OVAs and event anime.

[Via Otakomu]