Master And Commander finished its first weekend at the Japanese box office, with Y187,552,450 ($1.7 million) on 136,257 admissions, for a Y718,591 ($6,592) average on 261 screens. The film, which opened on February 28, is expected to finish with a total of Y2 billion ($18.3 million). "Not a bad number for a film of this type and about what we were expecting," said a Buena Vista spokesman.

Meanwhile, in its second week on release Lord Of Rings: Return Of The King continued to lord it over the rest of the pack, while its take dropped 30.3% to $2,464,804 on the nine-major cities chart. Among the new openers, Warriors Of Heaven And Earth led the way with $192,206 on 7 seven screens for a $27,458 average. The film, a big-budget period drama, is described as the Korean answer to The Last Samurai.