Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine opened in China on 27/6 and surpassed Brad Pitt's F1 at the box office. Leading in revenue compared to other currently showing films, it earned over 200 million CNY (28 million USD, as of 2/7). Market observers predict Conan 2025 will gross over 400 million CNY in China, the best performance among all Conan films.
Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine, adapted from Gosho Aoyama's manga, revolves around a mysterious case on a snowy mountain in Nagano Prefecture.
At the Shanghai premiere, producer Kondo Hidemori revealed that this year's unique new character is Morofushi Takaaki, a brilliant deductive thinker and strategist. Morofushi Takaaki is fond of Sun Tzu's Art of War, a book on military strategy and tactics written by Sun Wu during the Spring and Autumn period before the Common Era. On the poster, the team depicts Morofushi Takaaki holding a feather fan and wearing a hat, resembling Zhuge Liang's portrayal in films and television.
In the film, Morofushi Takaaki is a key character working for the prefectural police. He encounters Mori Kogoro when the detective is invited to investigate the mystery on the snowy mountain, accompanied, as usual, by Conan and Ran (Mori's daughter).
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Morofushi Takaaki (left) on the poster. Image: Sina |
Kondo Hidemori is a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and always keeps a copy at home to reread. The producer conceived the character of Morofushi Takaaki 18 years ago, basing him on Zhuge Liang, the politician and military strategist who served the Shu Han kingdom.
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The character Morofushi Takaaki. Image: Toho |
Upon its Japanese release in May, the film earned 14.3 billion yen (99.5 million USD), the third-highest grossing among the 28 Conan films. Debuting in 1997, the film series about the shrunk detective has maintained an annual release schedule, becoming a long-standing animation franchise with enduring popularity. Last year, Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween topped the Japanese box office and ranked among the top 10 highest-grossing Japanese films in history.
The Conan manga, with its first volume published in 1994, has yet to see its conclusion. On NHK last year, artist Gosho Aoyama said he had considered releasing the final installment but abandoned the idea due to the continued readership of new chapters. He stated he would only stop when the work became more tiring than enjoyable. The artist said, "Currently, the joy outweighs the hardship. I want to work until I die."
By Nhu Anh (according to Sina)
