“Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Treasure Island,” the 38th feature installment in the Doraemon anime franchise about a blue robot cat from the future and his boy companion, topped the Japanese box office for the March 3-4 weekend.


With Toho releasing on 381 screens, the film earned $8 million on 717,000 admissions in its opening frame. This was 22% better than the first weekend of the previous entry, “Doraemon the Movie 2017: Great Adventure in the Antarctic Kachi Kochi,” which went on to set a series record with $42 million last year.


Disney’s “Black Panther” opened second. The film made $2.9 million on 199,000 admissions on Saturday and Sunday. Over four days it lifted that to $4.76 million, putting it on course for a total in excess of $15 million.


Warner’s Clint Eastwood thriller “The 15:17 to Paris” opened in fifth. Opening on March 1, the film took $1.13 million in its first weekend and $1.91 million over four days.