eiga.com has released its list of box office totals for 2008, covering both foreign and domestic films. Based on the top ten lists, it appears that domestic films greatly outperformed foreign pictures last year, boosted by several strong releases.

The top foreign film was the latest "Indiana Jones" installment, pulling in 5.71 billion yen at the box office. Meanwhile, the top domestic release was Hayao Miyazaki's "Gake no Ue no Ponyo," which took in nearly triple that amount at 15.4 billion yen. "Hana Yori Dango Final," whose DVD release last month achieved the second-highest opening week sales in Japanese movie history, ranked 2nd on the list, grossing 7.75 billion yen in theaters.

The top ten domestic films were:

1. Gake no Ue no Ponyo (15.4 billion)
2. Hana Yori Dango Final (7.75 billion)
3. Yougisha x no Kenshin (5.0 billion)
4. Pokemon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior (4.8 billion)
5. Aibou (4.44 billion)
6. The Magic Hour (3.92 billion)
7. 20th Century Boys (3.9 billion)
8. Doraemon: Nobita and the Green Giant Legend (3.37 billion)
9. Mari to Koinu no Monogatari (3.18 billion)
10. Okuribito (3.0 billion)

CanCam model Ayumi Sakai will be making her debut as a singer next month. Her song, "Kanashimi wo Itoshisa de," is being used as the theme song of the new "Tokumei Kakarichou Tadano Hitoshi" series on TV Asahi, which officially starts on Thursday.

"Kanashimi wo Itoshisa de" is written by well-known producer Yasushi Akimoto. The single is set to go on sale February 11, but the song has been available as a chaku-uta since Saturday.