Story Categories: box office, Film, Japan, Toei, TV,

TOKYO -- "Aibo -- Gekijoban" (Partners -- Theatrical Version) has topped the Japanese box office for the peak Golden Week weekend, according to figures released by Kogyo Tsushinsha.

   The Seiji Izumi-helmed cop thriller bowed on May 1 and in its first five days of release scored Y1.2 billion ($11.4 million). Distrib Toei predicts the pic will out-earn its biggest recent B.O. winner, the WWII epic "Yamato," which finished with $48.7 million in 2006.

  Released on 300 screens on May 1 -- and drawing crowds attracted by first-day-of-the-month 'Movie Day' discounts -- the pic recorded $2.36 million from 202,500 admissions -- or first day numbers 50% higher than "Yamato."

    The pic also got a boost from the string of Golden Week public holidays from May 3 to 6. Theaters were packed at every screening, making "Aibo"'s opening B.O. numbers the highest of any Toei pic in the current decade.  

   Starring Yasufumi Terawaki and Yutaka Mizutani as a combo of cops famous in their department for solving tough crimes, "Aibo" started as a TV drama  broadcast on the TV Asashi two-hour "Saturday Wide Theater" and has racked up more than 100 episodes in six seasons. The pic's helmer, Seiji Izumi, and main cast are all from the TV series.