Amin Abbas

DUBAI: The Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time movie ranked first place in its opening weekend in Japan on March 8.

The movie sold more than 2.1 million tickets for over 3.3 billion yen (over US$30 million) in its first seven days in 466 theaters in Japan. The movie sold 33.6% more tickets for 45.1% more yen than the previous  film, “Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo” during its respective first seven days.

Also, the new Evangelion set a record for highest IMAX earnings on an opening day in Japan, with the equivalent of US$740,000 in IMAX tickets. It has also set a record for the highest percentage of IMAX opening day gross for a local film in Japan, with IMAX accounting for 10% of the film’s opening day gross on only 1%-2% of the total screens.

The staff had delayed the film from Jan. 23 to March 8, after careful consideration due to the new state of emergency declared in four prefectures in Japan on Jan. 8, and then extended to a total of 11 prefectures. The film had an earlier delay due to concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and its spread inside and outside of Japan. The film was originally scheduled to open in Japan on June 27, 2020.

The first three films in the tetralogy, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance, and Evangelion: 3.0 You Can [Not] Redo, debuted in 2007, 2009, and 2012 respectively.

In celebration of the release of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time, a special video music titled ‘One Last Kiss’ performed by Hikaru Utada, directed by Hideaki Anno, creator and director of Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, was released on March 8.

The song received huge praise from the fans of the franchise around the world. ‘One Last Kiss’ was released as a theme song for the film ‘Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time’ movie.