Film tops Japanese box office for 6th straight weekend

Meitantei Conan Zero no Shikkōnin (Detective Conan: Zero's Executioner), the 22nd film in the Detective Conan series, has earned a total of 7.2 billion yen (about US$64.7 million) as of Monday, becoming the highest-grossing film in the Detective Conan franchise. The film is the sixth consecutive Detective Conan film to become the highest-grossing film in the franchise. The film has also topped the Japanese box office for six consecutive weekends since it opened on April 13.

TOHO said that it is aiming for the film to earn more than 8 billion yen (about US$71.9 million).

Last year's film, Meitantei Conan Kara Kurenai no Love Letter, became the highest-grossing domestic film in Japan in 2017, earning a total of 6.89 billion yen (about US$61.1 million).

Detective Conan: Zero's Executioner had sold 1,289,000 tickets in its first three days to earn 1.67 billion yen (about US$15.6 million). The film's opening Saturday and Sunday sales represented 100.7% of the total that last year's film earned in its first Saturday and Sunday.

Yuzuru Tachikawa (Mob Psycho 100, Death Parade) directed the film. Masaharu Fukuyama performed the film's ending theme song "ZERO." Aya Ueto played the character Kyōko Tachibana, a lawyer representing Ran's father Kogorō Mori. Daikichi Hakata played Fumikazu Haba, a deceased judicial intern and former colleague of Tachibana. Tachibana once worked with him at the same law firm.

The film is a sequel of the series' 20th film, Detective Conan: The Darkest Nightmare, and centers on Tōru "Zero" Amuro. Police chief Hyōe Kuroda, who is rumored to be Rum in the Black Organization, appears for the first time in a film for the franchise.

In the film's story, there is a sudden explosion at Tokyo Summit's giant Edge of Ocean facility. The shadow of Tōru Amuro, who works for the National Police Agency Security Bureau as Zero, appears at the site. In addition, the "triple-face" character is known as Rei Furuya as a detective and Kogorō Mōri's apprentice, and he is also known as Bourbon as a Black Organization member. Kogorō is arrested as a suspect in the case of the explosion. Conan conducts an investigation to prove Kogorō's innocence, but Amuro gets in his way.

Update: The film has earned an exact amount of 7,201,763,500 yen (about US$64,679,038) and has sold 5,526,858 tickets as of Sunday. Source: Cinema Today

Sources: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, Kōgyō Tsushinsha