TOKYO -- Distrib Sony Pictures Entertainment is celebrating as "Resident Evil III" opened Nov. 3-4 with a chart-topping Y598 million ($5.24 million) on 330 screens. This is 17 percent more than the first weekend BO of the previous "Resident Evil" pic, which went on to gross $23.7 million in Japan.

Also packing them in was second place "Always 2," the sequel to the smash 2005 nostalgic drama set in 1958 Tokyo. Back with the same helmer, Takashi Yamazaki, and main cast, the pic grabbed $4.74 million for its first weekend, or nearly 1.5 times the bow of the first pic, which finished with $28 million.

The four top pics at the weekend BO, including number three, the romantic drama "Koizora," and number four, Takashi Miike's school gang wars pic "Crows," cleared a total of $17.5 million. This figure hasn't been seen since the second week of July, at the height of the summer season, when "Harry Potter 5" and the domestic smashes "Monkey Magic" and "Pokemon" were vying for the top BO spot. With the Christmas/New Year's season still ahead and bigger weekend numbers yet to come, a once less-than-stellar 2007 may turn out to be a banner year after all, for both Hollywood majors and the Japanese home team.

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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