#Movie Breaks IMAX Opening Day Record in Japan

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time, the final installment in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, has set a new IMAX opening day record of US $740,000. The film overall has sold more than 530,000 tickets, grossing a total of 828 million yen (US $7.6 million) since its March 8 box office opening. IMAX’s earnings were about 10% of the total grossing amount despite this percentage coming from only 1%-2% of total screens. IMAX sold out many of its viewing slots even with the pandemic-related 8 P.M. curfew, including slots that were set at 6 A.M. The film’s current runtime is 155 minutes.

The film experienced multiple delays from its original opening date of June 27, 2020 due to COVID-19 in Japan. The latest delay from January 23 was made after the state of emergency, which ended on March 7, was announced in 11 prefectures including Tokyo. The first three films in the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance, and Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, screened in 2007, 2009, and 2012 respectively.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time was written and chiefly directed by Hideki Anno, with Atsushi Nishigori serving as chief animation director and Yusuke Matsui as CG animation Director. Hikaru Utada returns to perform the film’s theme song titled “ONE LAST KISS.” She previously performed the theme songs for the first three films within the series as well. The film stars Megumi Hayashibara as Rei Ayanami, Megumi Ogata as Shinji Ikari, and Yuko Miyamura as Asuka Langley Shikinami. 

Anime News Network describes the film as:

In the aftermath of the Fourth Impact, stranded without their Evangelions, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei find refuge in one of the rare pockets of humanity that still exist on the ruined planet Earth. There, each of them live a life far different from their days as an Evangelion pilot. However, the danger to the world is far from over. A new impact is looming on the horizon—one that will prove to be the true end of Evangelion.

Source: Anime News Network, Deadline