‘Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale’ Smashes Weekend Japanese Box Office

The theatrical film "Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale" made a splash in Japanese cinemas. The anime movie, directed by Tomohiko Ito, earned 425 million yen from its opening weekend alone.

Crunchyroll reported that the movie, based on the light novels of Reki Kawahara, was an instant hit among cinemagoers. "Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale" sold more than 308,000 tickets in 151 cinemas from the Feb. 18-19 and earned them 425,762,760 yen. Those are the two things that propelled them to the top of the Japanese box office.

To date, this is the best premiere weekend record for the film's distributor, Aniplex. Due to the warm reception of fans, "Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale" is projected to gross more than 2.5 billion yen by Japanese website, Eiga. And since it will also be screened in the United States beginning Mar. 9, it is likely that the movie will net a bigger amount.

Anime News Network pointed out that "Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale" pulled in a wide range of audiences; students from both middle and high school and anime enthusiasts in the 30-40 age bracket. It is also interesting to note that middle and high school students went to cinemas either in groups or as couples.

The achievement "Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale" has allowed it to surpass another anime film, Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name."  Additionally, it was also in direct competition with the live adaptation of Matcha Hazuk's "One Week Friends."

The film itself is not the only accomplishment by "Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale." Its theme song, sung by LiSA, was released a week before the movie on Feb. 15. The singer's 11th single sold 270,000 units, enabling it to climb to 4th place in the Oricon weekly single chart.