The Last Samurai and Finding Nemo continue to dominate the Japanese box office in their sixth week on release. Warner Japan, which was originally expecting the Tom Cruise samurai drama to finish with Y10 billion ($93m), has now upped its projection to Y13 billion ($121m). Meanwhile, Buena Vista is now looking to gross Y12 billion ($112m) for Finding Nemo - another increase on a previous estimate.

The two blockbusters have been so dominant that few other films released over the New Year's season have managed to pass the Y1 billion mark.

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS is one prominent victim. Paired incongruously on a double bill with the latest installment of the Hamutaro series - animations based on a popular TV kiddie show about cute hamsters - Godzilla is expected to manage only Y1.2 billion ($11.2m). Hamutaro is not to blame - Godzilla's two previous New Year's outings with the cartoon critter yielded Y2.7 billion ($25.2m) and Y1.9 billion ($17.8m), respectively. Even together, however, they could not stop a computer-made clownfish from swimming away with the all-important family market.