Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Nankyoku Kachi Kochi Daibōken (Doraemon the Movie 2017: Great Adventure in the Antarctic Kachi Kochi), the 37th anime film in the Doraemon franchise, has earned more than 4.14 billion yen (about US$38.2 million) in 44 days at the box office in Japan. The film is now the highest-grossing anime in the current 12-installment Doraemon film series that began with the 2006 film Doraemon: Nobita No Kyoryu.

Doraemon Shin Nobita no Nihon Tanjō, the 36th Doraemon anime film, earned more than 4.12 billion yen (US$38.0 million) to hold the previous record for the film series. The new series of Doraemon films features a main voice cast that changed with the 2005 premiere of the ongoing television series. The current film series has earned more than 40 billion yen (about US$361 million).

Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Nankyoku Kachi Kochi Daibōken dropped from #4 to #6 in its seventh weekend. The anime earned about 692 million yen (about US$6.07 million) and sold about 590,000 tickets to top the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. The film opened in Japan on Mach 4 on 371 screens.

The film has an original story in which Nobita and his friends find a strange frozen ring, which guides them to Antarctica in search of its owner. There, they stumble upon some ancient ruins and begin an adventure, facing the danger that the Earth may become frozen.

The film features three new characters: Paopao, a mysterious creature that looks just like a creature that appeared in the 2009 film Doraemon: Shin Nobita no Uchū Kaitakushi; Professor Hyakkoi, an old man who arrives on Earth and seeks the ring to save the frozen star Hyōga Hyōga; and Kaara, a mysterious girl who arrives on Earth accompanying Professor Hyakkoi.

Atsushi Takahashi (Blue Exorcist film, Rideback director) directed and scripted the film, and TOHO is distributing. The film also received a manga adaptation by Shintarō Mugiwara, as well as a Nintendo 3DS game that shipped on March 2.

Source: Animate Times