Kokuho, the three-hour Japanese epic about a family of kabuki performers that premiered at Cannes, has surpassed the ¥5bn ($34m) mark at the Japanese box office.
The drama, directed by Lee Sang-il, hit the landmark on June 10, according to distributor Toho, and has recorded 3.57 million admissions to date.
Released on June 6, the film has achieved the rare feat of increasing its own takings every weekend since it opened.
The last feature to outperform itself for four consecutive weekends in Japan was 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Kokuho is the first film distributed by Toho to achieve this since the company began reporting box office results in 2000.
In its fifth weekend (July 4-6), the film earned $4.4m (¥646m) from 440,000 admissions and ranked top of the box office. That represents a 105.9% increase over the previous weekend (June 27-29), when the film earned $4.15m (¥610m). Its opening weeked (June 6-8) brought in $2.36m (¥346m) from 245,000 admissions.
It is Japan’s fourth highest-grossing film released in 2025 to date and its highest-grossing live-action domestic film. The top three releases this year are Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback ($98m/¥14.4b), Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning ($33.5m/¥4.92b) and Doraemon: Nobita’s Art World Tales ($31m/¥4.56b) according to box office site PickScene.
Kokuho producer Chieko Murata told Screen that strong word-of-mouth has played a large part in the ongoing success of the film.
“Younger audiences who have never seen Kabuki nor had never had interest in Kabuki decided to go see the film because of word of mouth and good reviews,” she said.
“We know that Cannes films tend to have difficulty in achieving commercial box office success but Kokuho has good balance of quality and entertainment… so we are thrilled the film has been accepted by a wide audience.”
Produced by Aniplex Inc., Kokuho (“national treasure”) centres on the son of a yakuza boss, played by Ryo Yoshizawa, who is taken under the wing of a renowned kabuki actor, played by Ken Watanabe, following the death of his father. The young man dedicates his life to the art of kabuki – a classical form of Japanese theatre known for its costumes and elaborate makeup – alongside the biological son – played by Ryusei Yokohama – of the veteran actor.
The story is adapted from Shuichi Yoshida’s 2017 novel of the same name with a screenplay written by Satoko Okudera, known for her work on Mamoru Hosoda’s animated hits Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Wolf Children.
Korean-Japanese filmmaker Lee previously directed the Yoshida novels Villain, which won five awards from the Japan Academy following its release in 2010, and Rage, which also starred Ken Watanabe.
After its debut at Cannes in Directors’ Fortnight, Kokuho screened at Shanghai International Film Festival last month and has been selected to play at New Zealand International Film Festival in August.
Tokyo-based Aniplex Inc. has sold the film to territories including South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Paris-based Pyramide International, which handles sales outside Asia, has also closed deals for Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg, and Switzerland, and will itself release in France on November 5.
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