'Boys' blooms at Japan box office

Teen drama grabs top spot

By MARK SCHILLING

TOKYO -- "Boys Over Flowers," a pic based on a hit TBS series about a working-class girl at an elite prep school who must contend with a four-man clique of rich, gorgeous guys, grabbed the top spot at the Japanese B.O. on its opening weekend of June 28-29.

 Out on 350 screens, the Mao Inoue  starrer earned a smashing just ove 1 billion yen ($9.47 million), beating "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" for first place. This is nearly twice the opening bow of the 2007 TBS romantic drama smash, "Sky of Love" (final B.O. $36.7 million).

 Distrib Toho expects the pic to make over 10 billion yen ($94.2 million), which would make it the highest-grossing domestic pic so far this year.

 Meanwhile, "Indiana Jones" took in $18.8 million in its first week on release and passed the 2 million admissions milestone after only 11 days, with a total take of $24.5 million. The pic opened on June 21 on 789 screens.