The first of four Evangelion science fiction movie remakes, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone, opened to packed houses to take #1 on the top ten chart for this past weekend's box office in Japan. The distributor Nikkatsu announced that 236,158 people spent 280 million yen (about US$2.4 million) at 84 theaters to watch it, the only new film in the top ten. This was one of the rare times that a film opened in less than 100 theaters at first place.

Nikkatsu had planned to show the movie in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward in the 224-seat Cinema Square Tōkyū theater, but changed theaters to the 1,046-stadium-seat Milano 1 just before opening to accommodate the growing crowds. All of that theater's seven opening-day showings sold out with standing-room-only audiences. That theater alone sold 12,500 tickets during the two days for a 15-million-yen (US$130,000) weekend box office take. Each screen that showed the movie nationwide earned an average of 3 million yen (US$30,000).

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-09-03/japanese-box-office-august-25-26-september-1-2