'How to Train Your Dragon' holds top spot in North America box office
Mason Thames is the star of the new live-action version of 'How To Train Your Dragon'
"How to Train Your Dragon," a live-action reboot of the popular 2010 animated film, set the North American box office ablaze again in its second week, industry estimates showed Sunday.
The family-friendly film from Universal and DreamWorks Animation tells the story of a Viking named Hiccup (Mason Thames) who strikes up a friendship with Toothless the dragon.
Its $37 million haul was enough to beat out Columbia Pictures' zombie sequel "28 Years Later," which took in $30 million despite coming nearly two decades after the last release in the trilogy, "28 Weeks Later."
"This is an excellent opening for the third episode in a horror series," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
"The weekend figure is above average for the genre, and pending final numbers it's approximately three times the opening of the last episode."
Critics' reviews and audience ratings have been strong for the Danny Boyle-directed threequel, which picks up -- as the title suggests -- more than a generation after the initial outbreak of the Rage Virus.
"The long layoff has had no negative impact; in fact, it's given the sequel time to add a new younger age group to the audience," Gross added.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend was the poor performance of Pixar Animation's "Elio," which limped into third place with $21 million in ticket sales, on a $150 million budget.
Gross said that while the tally would be respectable for most animation studios, it was the lowliest theatrical debut in Pixar's history -- despite excellent reviews.
Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," another live-action remake, added $9.7 million in its fifth week, extending a triumphant run for the film about a Hawaiian girl (Maia Kealoha) and her blue alien friend (Chris Sanders).
The fourth-placed entry has now grossed a whopping $910 million worldwide, according to Exhibitor Relations.
In fifth place -- and also in its fifth week -- is "Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning," the latest, and supposedly final, entry in the hugely successful Tom Cruise spy thriller franchise.
The Paramount film took $6.6 million in North America, pushing it to $540 million worldwide.
"Kuberaa" ($1.8 million)
© 2025 AFP
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Japan Today
6 days ago
- Japan Today
'How to Train Your Dragon' holds top spot in North America box office
Mason Thames is the star of the new live-action version of 'How To Train Your Dragon' "How to Train Your Dragon," a live-action reboot of the popular 2010 animated film, set the North American box office ablaze again in its second week, industry estimates showed Sunday. The family-friendly film from Universal and DreamWorks Animation tells the story of a Viking named Hiccup (Mason Thames) who strikes up a friendship with Toothless the dragon. Its $37 million haul was enough to beat out Columbia Pictures' zombie sequel "28 Years Later," which took in $30 million despite coming nearly two decades after the last release in the trilogy, "28 Weeks Later." "This is an excellent opening for the third episode in a horror series," said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. "The weekend figure is above average for the genre, and pending final numbers it's approximately three times the opening of the last episode." Critics' reviews and audience ratings have been strong for the Danny Boyle-directed threequel, which picks up -- as the title suggests -- more than a generation after the initial outbreak of the Rage Virus. "The long layoff has had no negative impact; in fact, it's given the sequel time to add a new younger age group to the audience," Gross added. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend was the poor performance of Pixar Animation's "Elio," which limped into third place with $21 million in ticket sales, on a $150 million budget. Gross said that while the tally would be respectable for most animation studios, it was the lowliest theatrical debut in Pixar's history -- despite excellent reviews. Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," another live-action remake, added $9.7 million in its fifth week, extending a triumphant run for the film about a Hawaiian girl (Maia Kealoha) and her blue alien friend (Chris Sanders). The fourth-placed entry has now grossed a whopping $910 million worldwide, according to Exhibitor Relations. In fifth place -- and also in its fifth week -- is "Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning," the latest, and supposedly final, entry in the hugely successful Tom Cruise spy thriller franchise. The Paramount film took $6.6 million in North America, pushing it to $540 million worldwide. "Kuberaa" ($1.8 million) © 2025 AFP
Tokyo Weekender
16-06-2025
- Tokyo Weekender
How a Terrible Japanese Porn Franchise Became the World's Longest-Running Film Series
There's a lot to be said about Japan's porn industry. It's huge , earning tens of billions of dollars a year. It helped keep people indoors during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. And it even has its own porn actress theme park . It pushes the envelope on the definition of porn. The world of Japanese adult entertainment also has another claim to fame: the creation of the (likely) longest-running film series on the planet. However, it's really more of a claim to infamy, as it belongs to the Groper Train (Japanese title: Chikan Densha ) movies. List of Contents: Defining the Longest-Running Film Series A Dark Journey Into the Films The Destructive Reality Behind Groper Train Final Stop for Groper Train Related Posts Still from 'Chikan Densha: Ikenai Yume Ryoko' (2014) | IMDB Defining the Longest-Running Film Series How, exactly, do you define the world's 'longest-running' film series? If you're going by which series debuted first, then Universal's The Mummy — kicking off in 1932 and last in cinemas in 2017 before going on hiatus — is due the title. You could also make a case for Batman , since his first serial came out in 1943, and we're still getting new movies about the Dark Knight. Those, however, would be the oldest franchises. If you measure the longest series by the number of entries it produced, some sites will tell you that the title should go to the Wong Fei-Hung filmography about the titular Chinese martial artist and folk hero who's been portrayed by Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung and other actors who starred in 123 movies. However, 123 is just a little over half of the number of entries in the Groper Train movies. The exact number is actually a matter of some discussion, as a lot of the Groper Train films — and information on them — have been lost. Online sources put their total number at 227 films. The films in the series were written and directed by dozens of different people and were primarily distributed by Xces Film, Okura and Shintoho, according to the documentary Riding the Groper Train — Part Two . And if that last studio name sounds familiar, it's because it is related — in a roundabout way — to Toho, which is best known as the producer and distributor of Godzilla , Akira Kurosawa movies and Studio Ghibli productions. Still from 'Chikan Saishu Densha' (1978) | IMDB A Dark Journey Into the Films The Groper Train films primarily and sort of self-explanatorily take place on trains where a woman — and also a man in one gay take on the theme — gets molested by a groper. You'd think that such a concept might wear thin after a few dozen movies, but the Groper Train series has been around since 1975. The films in the series are all fictional, featuring adult film actors — although some of the earliest entries were shot guerilla-style on real trains. Many of the early films that were shot on a set still featured exterior scenes on actual station platforms as well. Stylistically, the Groper Train series is a classic pink film. Japanese pink films, or pinku eiga , emerged in the 1960s as erotic, low-budget independent films that blended soft-core porn with stronger narratives, artistic styles and experimental storytelling. To qualify as a pink film, a work generally had to include a minimum number of sex scenes, though Japanese censorship laws prohibited the depiction of actual intercourse or genitalia. During their peak, pink films were controversial, yet tolerated as training grounds for emerging talent. For instance, director Takahisa Zeze — the force behind acclaimed films like Tapestry , one of the best Japanese movies of 2020 , and Tonbi , a poignant film with a focus on single fatherhood — was once part of a group called the 'Four Heavenly Kings of Pink.' Obviously, none of the Groper Train films rise to those levels of filmmaking, but the point is that they weren't just porn without a story. They had actual plots — some of the films were framed as detective thrillers, for instance, and at least one involved time travel — and that allowed them to stick around and eventually break filmmaking records. Still from 'Chikan densha: Chibusa ga Yureru' (1990) | IMDB The Destructive Reality Behind Groper Train The reality behind Groper Train is sobering. Sexual assault on Japanese trains is a pervasive problem, so well-known around the world that the governments of Canada and the UK are warning tourists about it . Even the Japanese word chikan — meaning molester, groper or simply pervert — has started to appear in international travel advisories. Most victims, though, remain Japanese. A 2024 government survey found that 56.3% of women and 15.2% of men had experienced groping on trains, with up to 3,000 attacks occurring per year. And that's just the reported cases. It's alleged that most attacks happen in the morning when the trains are packed, meaning that many of the victims are minors on their way to school. Nearly 40% of victims don't engage the groper out of fear and end up traumatized by the assault, suffering from physical and mental distress, flashbacks and agoraphobia. Studies have shown that the best way to stop a groper is to get the people around you to intervene. There are some apps that help with that, with one of them, Digi Police, downloaded 800,000 times between its release in 2016 and April 2024. The only real long-term solution to groping is other passengers stepping up to help. A study has shown that 96.8% of gropers stop when they're called out by a third party, because train perverts are cowards who prey on the vulnerable. Final Stop for Groper Train In the documentary Riding the Groper Train – Part Two , pink director and actor Yutaka Ikejima said that Japan used to release up to three Groper Train movies each for cinema's three peak seasons, i.e., during the New Year period, Golden Week and the summer. And different studios were free to make their own films under the Groper Train umbrella — resulting in dozens of new films per year. In 1986 alone, that meant 17 new Groper Train releases. However, since then, the numbers have steadily fallen, and the franchise now seems to be dead. The last installment came out in 2020, with only one movie released in 2019, none in 2018 and two in 2017. Maybe now's the time for The Mummy to emerge from hiatus and reclaim the crown. Related Posts Kaho Shibuya Reveals the Bright and Dark Sides of the Japanese Porn Industry A Complete Beginner's Guide to Live-Action Japanese Cinema What's Up with Japan's Women-only Cars?
Yomiuri Shimbun
16-06-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
‘How to Train Your Dragon' Soars in Box Office Debut with $83.7 Million, Beating ‘Lilo & Stitch'
(Universal Pictures via AP) This image released by Universal Pictures shows Mason Thames, as Hiccup, riding Night Fury dragon, Toothless in a scene from 'How to Train Your Dragon.' LOS ANGELES (AP) — 'How to Train Your Dragon' took flight at the box office this weekend, proving that some remakes still have teeth. The Universal live-action adaptation of the beloved animated franchise soared to a strong $83.7 million debut in North American theaters, according to Comscore estimates Sunday. The film, directed by franchise veteran Dean DeBlois, follows the unlikely friendship between a young Viking named Hiccup (Mason Thames) and a dragon called Toothless. The reboot easily outpaced 2019's 'How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,' which opened with $55 million. The latest film earned more than $114.1 million internationally, bringing the global total to $197.8 million. 'This is yet another example of a live-action remake really delivering on the promise of the marketing,' said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. 'I think the longevity and playability of some of these films particularly in the summer has been nothing short of miraculous.' 'How to Train' also claimed the No. 1 spot ahead of Disney's 'Lilo & Stitch,' which slipped to second place after topping the charts for three weekends. That hybrid live-action remake added another $15 million, pushing its domestic total past $386.3 million. 'Materialists,' a modern-day New York love story starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans, rounded out the top three films of the week with a $12 million debut. The romantic dramedy features Johnson as a savvy matchmaker caught between two suitors: a broke, struggling actor who happens to be her ex, and a wealthy 'unicorn' who seems too good to be true. 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' slid to fourth place, taking in $10.3 million and avoiding a dip into single-digit territory. The John Wick spinoff 'Ballerina' fell to fifth place with $9.4 million, despite strong reviews from both critics and audiences. Directed by Len Wiseman, the action film stars Ana de Armas and features Keanu Reeves reprising his role in a supporting turn. Dergarabedian said 'Ballerina' could have a surge later down the line similar to 2014's 'John Wick.' 'It took a while for that franchise to really catch on,' he said. 'You saw a huge outpouring of interest for the first 'John Wick' when it hit home video or streaming, I should say, and I think the same will happen here.' In sixth place, 'Karate Kid: Legends' earned $5 million followed by 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' at seventh with $3.9 million. Wes Anderson's latest 'The Phoenician Scheme' brought in $3 million eighth place. 'The Life of Chuck,' based on a Stephen King story, placed ninth with $2.1 million. Rounding out the top 10 was 'Sinners.' The Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B. Jordan, drew $1.4 million – which is impressive since the movie is available to watch at home through online and digital platforms after being released two months ago. Overall, the box office is up 23% from this point in 2024. Dergarabedian said he's looking forward to films in the coming weeks that could have a positive presence at the box office, such as 'Eilo,' 'F1,' 'Superman' and '28 Days Later.' Top 10 movies by domestic box office With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore: 1. 'How to Train Your Dragon,' $83.7 million 2. 'Lilo and Stitch,' $15.5 million. 3. 'Materialists,' $12 million. 4. 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,' $10.3 million. 5. 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,' $9.4 million. 6. 'Karate Kid: Legends,' $5 million. 7. 'Final Destination: Bloodlines,' $3.9 million. 8. 'The Phoenician Scheme,' $3 million. 9. 'The Life of Chuck,' $2.1 million. 10. 'Sinners,' $1.4 million.
