It took Hideaki Anno over 14 years to finish his Neon Genesis Evangelion remakes, but it looks like the sacrifice was well worth the effort for Anno and Studio Khara. As of now, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time has surpassed the three previous films at the box office with a whopping 6.9 billion yen (around $63.7m) haul.
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time premiered on March 8 after several scheduling mishaps due to the pandemic and is now going on strong for the fourth week in a row, sitting atop Japan’s box office charts after having sold a total of 4,513,374 tickets. Thrice Upon A Time is still lacking a date for an official North American or worldwide release, although judging from the previous Rebuild of Evangelion films, it could take years for that to finally materialize.
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While Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time heads into its fifth week, it’ll have hard overcoming the commercial success of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, which absolutely demolished previous Japanese box office records throughout a 4-month run in theaters, most of which were held by Hideo Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Despite having such a high mountain to climb, Thrice Upon A Time did manage to claim a new record for the biggest IMAX box office on an opening day in Japan by reaching the $740,000 mark, maybe thanks to the collectible goodies some lucky attendants were handed, even if there weren't any EVA Unit 01 monitors up for grabs.
One aspect where Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time is also doing better than its predecessors is critical reception, with the final chapter receiving overall positive reviews, unlike the much-criticized 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo. When Anno set out to remake the lauded anime, he always intended to enhance its visual quality. However, most critics have felt the differences and quality of storytelling was severely impacted in the process.
The previous three films also got a nice boost this time around, as Studio Khara made sure to re-release them in the same IMAX, MX4D, and 4DX formats, thus providing the opportunity to fully digest Evangelion’s complicated storyline in proper fashion. Perhaps theaters in other parts of the world can pull off a similar event to encourage moviegoers to go watch it.
It’s unclear how long Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time will stay in theaters. However, just in case it comes somewhat close to Demon Slayer levels of success, the latter will be getting a boost as Demon Slayer: Mugen Train lands in North America on April 23.
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time is now playing in theaters in Japan.
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Source: khara_inc|Twitter