After nearly three decades of officially stepping onto the big screen, the “Detective Conan” brand has never cooled down with audiences, not only in Japan but also around the world. Having just created a historical milestone with the 26th film last year, “Detective Conan” continues to write its name on the golden board of Japanese cinema with the latest film, “Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Star”.
The movie “Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Star” officially premiered in Japan on April 12. Up to now, the film has reached the revenue mark of 15.3 billion yen (~2.46 trillion VND), becoming the highest-grossing film at the Japanese box office and the 21st at the global box office in 2024. However, the journey that helped “The Million Dollar Star” conquer this milestone is much more impressive.
On its opening day of April 12 alone, “A Million Dollar Star” attracted nearly 630,000 moviegoers and grossed nearly 1 billion yen in revenue. After three days of release, the film grossed a total of 3.3 billion yen from 2.2 million tickets sold, becoming the film with the highest opening weekend in the series, surpassing the blockbuster film that shook the summer of 2023, “Black Iron Submarine”.
If the 2023 achievement of “Black Iron Submarine” was already impressive, “1 Million Dollar Pentagram” proves that the famous detective can do even more. The film took only 22 days to enter the “10 billion yen club” of the Japanese box office, and 44 days to surpass the achievement of “Black Iron Submarine” – when the previous film's record of 13.8 billion yen took 191 days to be set.
And after 73 days of release, the film has reached 15 billion yen – a huge number that probably will be difficult for any film to surpass this year in Japan. Director Chika Nagaoka also officially became the first female director in Japan to have a film surpass the 15 billion yen revenue mark.
In terms of ticket sales, “1 Million Dollar Star” also helped the Conan film franchise set a record for Japanese cinema in general. The film is the third franchise to accumulate 100 million tickets in the entire series, after Doraemon and Godzilla. However, it is worth noting that it took Doraemon 33 films to achieve this feat, while Godzilla took 29 films in 62 years. As for “Detective Conan”, the number is 27 years with 27 films, becoming the fastest film series to surpass 100 million accumulated tickets of all time.
If recently, Conan movies often focus on the action and explosion aspects, making many “die-hard fans” feel a bit disappointed, then in movie 27, director Chika Nagaoka has brought all the characteristics that conquered a large audience/reader of Conan back to the big screen.
If the previous film featured a series of big names in the Black Organization, the 27th film brings together the most beloved supporting characters in the series, including the “super thief” Kid, the Western detective Hattori Heiji and his childhood friend Tomoya Kazuha, making fans of these characters extremely excited.
The film flexibly combines elements of deduction and crime solving, reducing the scenes of explosions and fighting – which makes fans of the two detectives extremely satisfied when the film returns to the appearance of a more detective work. And the appearance of the Heiji – Kazuha couple also brings many humorous – romantic segments, which are the specialties that attract female fans of the Conan series in general.
With these shining milestones at the Japanese box office, “1 Million Dollar Star” is expected to continue to create an “earthquake” following movie 26 in Vietnam when it officially releases next August.