A real hit in Japan, the prequel to the famous manga has just dethroned Pokémon and could soon tackle a famous wizard.
French fans are waiting for news of the latest film My Hero Academia and the phenomenon One Piece : Red, but it’s another manga heavyweight currently making headlines on the big screen. Adapted from the eponymous manga by Gege Akutami, pre-published between April and July 2017 in Shueisha’s Jump GIGA magazine, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 has been on view in Japanese cinemas since December 24.
The mastery of occult energy at the heart of this prequel
Directed by Seong Ho Park and produced by the animation studio MAPPA, this feature film is a prequel to the manga Jujutsu Kaisen. On the technical staff side, Yui Umemoto officiates as assistant director, Hiroshi Seko signs the script and Tadashi Hiramatsu is credited for the character design. Finally, Kimura Kentaro does the 3D and Hiroaki Tsutsumi, Yoshimasa Terui and Alisa Okehazama compose the music. Plot-wise, we follow Yuta Okkotsu, an out-of-the-ordinary 16-year-old who struggles to lead a normal high school life. On a daily basis, the boy is possessed by a plague, a particularly dangerous evil spirit that does not hesitate to attack anyone who would attack its host. Indeed, the creature in question is none other than the ghost of Rika, her childhood friend who died in tragic circumstances. Following yet another incident caused by the plague within his school, Yuta meets a certain Satoru Gojo, professor at the school of exorcism in Tokyo, who decides to teach him how to master occult energy.
Soon in the top 15 of the most profitable films in Japan?
Aired in Japan for a month, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is establishing itself as one of the phenomena of animated film. In this month of operation alone, the feature film has indeed managed to bring together 6.81 million spectators in dark rooms. Which gives us a total of 9.3 billion yen in revenue, or about 72 million euros. More than positive results which allow in particular Jujutsu Kaisen 0 to rank (for the moment) in tenth place in the ranking of Japanese animated films with the most admissions in Japan. It is even ahead of the famous Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back (1998) and its 6.5 million admissions. Still without a release date for the moment in France, the production of Seong Ho Park now has a new objective: to enter the top 15 of the most profitable films in Japan. For this, it will be necessary to exceed a certain Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which had raised 13.5 billion yen in revenue.