Chiikawa Film Eyes ¥10 Billion After Fourth Weekend at No. 1

Japan's summer box office still belongs to a pack of anxious, pocket-sized heroes. Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island spent a fourth weekend at the top of the chart, adding about 602,000 tickets and ¥895 million (roughly $5.6 million) from Friday through Sunday. After 24 days in theaters, Toho's first Chiikawa feature has sold 6.45 million tickets and taken in ¥9.28 billion — about $58 million — with a 10-billion-yen payday now in clear view.

That already places the film among 2026's three highest-grossing openings in Japan. Writer-illustrator Nagano penned the screenplay from the manga's Siren Arc, with Kei Oikawa directing at Cypic. Behind the plush-toy smiles sits a seaside story Japanese critics have called much darker than the franchise's cute reputation, and audiences have not blinked.

Cinemas are still stoking the rush. From August 22, a third wave of limited admission gifts — wind-up "Happy Siren♪" toys of Chiikawa, Hachiware, and Usagi — arrives at participating theaters. The movie opened in Japan on July 24 and is expanding through Southeast Asia this month, including a Malaysia rollout this week.

Elsewhere on the ranking, the fifth live-action Kingdom film, Kingdom: Decisive Battle of the Soul, climbed back to No. 5, while Crayon Shin-chan the Movie: Super Strange! My Yōkai Monster Vacation held at No. 6. For a first Chiikawa feature, the weekend's verdict is simple: the little guys are not done yet.

Official: Official site · X