Still fresh off its win for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, Yojiro Takita's "Okuribito" pulled in 320 million yen in box office revenue for the weekend of February 28 and March 1. Since its release in September of last year, this is the first time that the film has been ranked #1 at the box office.

Usually, newer movies are the ones to take the top ranking, so for a movie to take #1 five months after its release is extremely rare.

According to Shochiku, an estimated 300,000 people went to watch the film over the two weekend days. The total revenue for the film since its premiere now exceeds 3.8 billion yen.

The DVD for "Okuribito" will be released in Japan on March 18. Amuse Soft Entertainment reached their goal of orders for 100,000 copies in a month starting from the end of January. In the week after the Academy Awards, the company received orders for an additional 100,000 copies.

Kunio Kato's animated film "Tsumiki no Ie" ("La Maison En Petits Cubes") is experiencing a similar boost after picking up Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards. DVDs are currently sold out as Toho rushes to produce and ship additional copies.