In the box office battle between Disney's bears and Shochiku's dog, the latter again emerged victorious for the second week running.

Helmed by Yoichi Sai, a director better known for his excursions into the underworld and, on TV, his pungent wit, Quill grossed $883,396 on 17 major urban screens, compared to $526,488 for Brother Bear.

Based on the true-life story of a seeing-eye dog, the film is expected to finish near the $47.6m (Y5.0 billion) mark recorded by Shochiku's last big animal epic, the 1987 Hachiko Story.

Meanwhile, the only new opener of the week, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, recorded a $25,595 average on seven screens, just behind The Last Samurai with $26,241 on its 16th week in the theatres.