Fuji TV's Hero, starring Takuya Kimura,took the number one spot at the weekend's box office in Japan (Sep 8-9), becoming an instant hit with earnings of $9.54m (Y1.08bn).

Distributor Toho opened Fuji TV's Hero on 475 screens, the widest ever release for a domestic film, topping Fuji/Toho's own Monkey Magic which opened on 461 screens on July 14.

Following Toho's figures, the weekend total gave Hero the second highest per screen average of the year with $20,084 and the most successful opening weekend for a domestic title in 2007. Toho is predicting a Y9-10bn ($79.5-88.3m) finally tally.

Hero Producer Chihiro Kameyama hopes the film surpasses his own all-time live action box office champion, Bayside Shakedown 2 ($153.21m).

'I am delighted that Hero has come off to such a great start... I am in the fortunate position of being able to break my own record. If any title, Hero has a great chance to be the one to achieve that status, so I'm really excited,' announced Kameyama.

Hero is set for a wide pan-Asian release, opening on a record 250 screens in Korea on October 25 through Keowon Film, boosted by the casting of Korean star Lee Byung-Hun an elite detective.

Hero also opens in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia in mid-October.

The film is directed by Masayuki Suzuki (Nin x Nin: Ninja Hattori-kun, The Movie) and also stars Hiroshi Abe, Takako Matsu and Kiichi Nakai.

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