How did Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu" do during its time in Japanese theaters? This page provides a detailed week-by-week look at how the franchise's third movie did at the Japanese box office.

Week One (Saturday, July 8th - Sunday, July 9th)

In its first week in theaters, Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu" came in as the Number 2 movie in Japan.


Here's how the Top Ten looked during the third movie's opening weekend:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	NEW	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	1
2	NEW	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	1
3	NEW	"Digimon Adventure 02" & "Magical DoReMi #"	Toei	1
4	1	Reindeer Games	Shochiku	2
5	4	The Cider House Rules	Asmik	2
6	2	Gladiator	UIP	4
7	NEW	Dogma	Gaga/Humax	1
8	5	She's All That	Shochiku	2
9	3	The Hurricane	Gaga/Humax/ Toho-Towa	3
10	6	Suzuran ~ The Story of the Young Girl Moe ~	Shochiku	4

Source:  Eiga.com (posted July 11th, 2000)

First place went to the Japanese debut of the Tom Cruise film Mission: Impossible 2. The movie debuted The film would go on to be the top grossing non-Japanese movie of the year.

Other new films debuting this weekend included the Double Feature "Digimon Adventure 02" & "Magical DoReMi #", which came in at Number Three, and the Japanese debut of the Ben Affleck/Matt Damon 1999 film Dogma, which debuted at Number Seven.

A reporter for the site Eiga.com recalls how on 7:30 AM the morning of July 8th, the premier of Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu," there were about 300 people lined up at the theater they went two, with around 30 of them saying they had been camping out since the night before. This number was reportedly even greater than the line to go see Mission: Impossible 2. The reporter speculates the cause of the long lines may be the first-come first-serve Pokémon Trading Card game cards being given away as a bonus for coming to see the movie.

Week Two (Saturday, July 15th - Sunday, July 16th)

In its second week in theaters (July 15th - July 16th) Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu" dropped to third place.


Here's how the Top Ten looked during the movie's second week in theaters:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	1	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	2
2	NEW	Stuart Little	Sony	1
3	2	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	2
4	NEW	Juvenile	Toho	1
5	5	The Cider House Rules	Asmik	2
6	4	Reindeer Games	Shochiku	3
7	3	"Digimon Adventure 02" & "Magical DoReMi #"	Toei	2
8	6	Gladiator	UIP	5
9	NEW	Card Captor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card	Shochiku	1
10	7	Dogma	Gaga/Humax	2

Source:  Eiga.com (posted July 18th, 2000)

The film that knocked Pocket Monsters out of its Number Two spot was the Japanese release of the 1999 film Stuart Little. The Number One spot, meanwhile, continued to be held by Mission: Impossible 2.

Other newcomers this week include Juvenile, a Japanese film that also served as Takashi Yamazaki's directorial debut; and Card Captor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card, a movie that acts as the finale to the original 1990s Card Captor Sakura TV series.

Week Three (Saturday, July 22nd - Sunday, July 23rd)

The third Pocket Monsters movie spent its third week in fourth place.


Here's how the Top Ten looked during the third movie's third week in theaters:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	1	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	3
2	2	Stuart Little	Sony	2
3	NEW	The Boy Who Saw the Wind	Buena Vista	1
4	3	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	3
5	7	"Digimon Adventure 02" & "Magical DoReMi #"	Toei	3
6	5	The Cider House Rules	Asmik	4
7	8	Gladiator	UIP	6
8	4	Juvenile	Toho	2
9	9	Card Captor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card	Shochiku	2
10	6	Reindeer Games	Shochiku	4

Source:  Eiga.com (posted July 25th, 2000)

The only newcomer this week is The Boy Who Saw the Wind, a Japanese animated film adaptation of the C. W. Nicol novel of the same name. The rest of the Top Ten was more or less a shuffling of the films that had been there the week before.

Week Four (Saturday, July 29th - Sunday, July 30th)

The third Pocket Monsters movie managed to climb its way back into the Top Three in its fourth week in theaters.


First, a look at the Top Ten:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	NEW	The Perfect Storm	Warner	1
2	1	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	4
3	4	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	4
4	3	The Boy Who Saw the Wind	Buena Vista	2
5	5	"Digimon Adventure 02" & "Magical DoReMi #"	Toei	4
6	6	The Cider House Rules	Asmik	5
7	2	Stuart Little	Sony	3
8	8	Juvenile	Toho	3
9	9	Card Captor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card	Shochiku	3
10	7	Gladiator	UIP	7

Source:  Eiga.com (posted August 1st, 2000)

In its fourth week in theaters the film Mission: Impossible 2 was finally dethroned from its Number One spot by newcomer The Perfect Storm. Eiga.com notes how, besides Pokémon, pretty much all the kids movies have left the top spots.

Week Five (Saturday, August 5th - Sunday, August 6th)

The fifth week in theaters wasn't a great one for Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu" as it fell down three spaces to the Number Six spot.


First, a look at the Top Ten:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	2	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	5
2	1	The Perfect Storm	Warner	2
3	NEW	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Shochiku	1
4	4	The Boy Who Saw the Wind	Buena Vista	3
5	NEW	Shanghai Noon	Toho-Towa	1
6	3	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	5
7	NEW	School Festival of the Dead / Mask Academy	Toei	1
8	8	Juvenile	Toho	4
9	7	Stuart Little	Sony	4
10	6	The Cider House Rules	Asmik	6

Source:  Eiga.com (posted August 8th, 2000)

The Top Three saw Mission: Impossible 2 and The Perfect Storm swap places while the Japanese release of the 1999 Matt Damon film The Talented Mr. Ripley debuted at Number Three.

Week Six (Saturday, August 12th - Sunday, August 13th)

In its sixth week in theaters Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu" fell one spot, down to Number Seven.


First, a look at the Top Ten:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	1	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	6
2	2	The Perfect Storm	Warner	3
3	NEW	Taxi 2	Herald	1
4	NEW	Rules of Engagement	Gaga/Humax	1
5	3	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Shochiku	2
6	NEW	Sakuya: Slayer of Demons	Warner	1
7	6	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	6
8	9	Stuart Little	Sony	5
9	5	Shanghai Noon	Toho-Towa	2
10	8	Juvenile	Toho	5

Source:  Eiga.com (posted August 15th, 2000)

The Top Two remained the same, with Mission: Impossible 2 and The Perfect Storm staying put another week. At this point Mission: Impossible 2 is the only other film in the Top Ten to have been in theaters as long as Pocket Monsters, proving that even though it is slipping the third Pocket Monsters movie is still going strong. The Top Three is rounded out by Taxi 2, a French action comedy.

Other newcomers include the Japanese release of the Tommy Lee Jones / Samuel L. Jackson film Rules of Engagement, coming in at Number Four; and the Japanese tokusatsu film Sakuya: Slayer of Demons. The American animated film Titan A.E. also debuted this weekend, though it only managed to debut at Number Eleven.

Week Seven (Saturday, August 19th - Sunday, August 20th)

The third Pocket Monsters movie continues to remain in the Top Ten during its seventh week in theaters.


First, a look at the Top Ten:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	NEW	White Out	Toho	1
2	1	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	7
3	2	The Perfect Storm	Warner	4
4	3	Taxi 2	Herald	2
5	5	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Shochiku	3
6	4	Rules of Engagement	Gaga/Humax	2
7	8	Stuart Little	Sony	6
8	7	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	7
9	6	Sakuya: Slayer of Demons	Warner	2
10	9	Shanghai Noon	Toho-Towa	3

Source:  Eiga.com (posted August 22nd, 2000)

The only newcomer this week is White Out, a Japanese film about a group of terrorists taking over a dam. The movie managed to be the first Japanese film released in Japan in 2000 to debut at Number One.

Week Eight (Saturday, August 26th - Sunday, August 27th)

The third movie's eighth week in theaters brings another fall in the ranking, down to the Number Nine spot.


First, a look at the Top Ten:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	Weeks in Theaters
1	1	White Out	Toho	2
2	2	Mission: Impossible 2	UIP	8
3	3	The Perfect Storm	Warner	5
4	4	Taxi 2	Herald	3
5	5	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Shochiku	4
6	6	Rules of Engagement	Gaga/Humax	3
7	7	Stuart Little	Sony	7
8	NEW	The Future Diary On The Film	Shochiku	1
9	8	Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu"	Toho	8
10	9	Sakuya: Slayer of Demons	Warner	3

Source:  Eiga.com (posted August 29th, 2000)

The Top Ten remained unusually steady this weekend, with the first seven films keeping the exact same spot they occupied the previous week. The only newcomer is The Future Diary On The Film, a documentary that's a spin-off of a similar segment on the TV variety show Unnan no Honto ko! As a result the Number Eight and Number Nine films from the previous week slid down accordingly.

Week Nine (Saturday, September 2nd - Sunday, September 3rd)

It took nine weeks but it's finally happened; Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu" has fallen out of the Japanese box office's Top Ten.

Based on information posted by Eiga.com it seems that the debuts of the parody film Scary Movie and the comedy drama Wonder Boys pushed last week's Number 9 and Number 10 movies -- Pocket Monsters The Movie "Lord of the "Unknown" Tower ENTEI" & "Pichu and Pikachu" and Sakuya: Slayer of Demons -- out of the Top Ten.

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