The statistics are in for the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie "Evangelion 1.0 You are (not) Alone" that premièred this weekend, covering episodes 1~6 of the TV series with new changes and materials.

The 4th Angel, Shamshel showing off its bones and
Eva using a gattling gun is one of the many changes.

According to Newtype and Cinema Topics, in Shinjuku alone there were already 800 people or more queueing by 4am on Saturday morning. They had to change from the 224 seating CineSquare cinema to the larger 1046 seating Shinjuku Milano 1 theatre to accommodate the fans. The theatre was full up 7 times during Saturday and people were applauding after the movie ended. On the following Sunday there were a total of 5542 viewers giving the theatre a total of 15,639,500 Yen (US$135,000) revenues over the weekend.

National stats for this weekend première in 84 cinemas are 236,158 viewers and a revenue of 280,424,200 Yen (US$2,428,396). An average of over 3 million Yen (US$26,000) per cinema.

The Petit Eva 4 Panel Manga with
JAko-chan offering Eva-01 a battery lunch.

I think it's a good reception considering its fanbase and how much of the movie has already been seen.

For comparison's sake, Ghibli's "Spirited Away" had 810,000 Japanese viewers and revenues of 1 billion yen over its weekend according to Tabulo and a Spirited Away fansite. However, you do have to consider how Ghibli's movies cover a much wider audience obviously and that it premièred in 343 cinemas.

Anyway, I look forward to watching this! Second movie won't be out until sometime in 2008.