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Miyazaki's Ponyo Drops to #12 with US$2.4 Million (Updated)

The Box Office Mojo website reports that Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's Ponyo anime film has earned an estimated US$2,429,000 during the August 21-23 weekend. In its second weekend in American theaters, Ponyo drops from #9 to #12 at the box office as it faces three new films. With 927 theaters, Ponyo had an estimated per-screen average of US$2,620. Ticket sales dropped 32.3% from the first weekend.

With a current estimated total of US$8,140,000, Ponyo is now the 7th highest grossing theatrical anime release in the United States and has moved ahead of Howl's Moving Castle (US$4,711,096). After their second full weekend of release, Princess Mononoke (1999) had earned US$592,844 on 38 theaters, Spirited Away (2002) had earned US$1,110,559 on 53 theaters, and Howl's Moving Castle (2005) had earned US$1,482,895 on 202 theaters.

The film's story follows an ordinary boy named Sosuke (Frankie Jonas in the English dub) and his friendship with Ponyo (Noah Cyrus), an unusual goldfish from the seas. The other English-language castmembers include Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, and Betty White. The Yahoo! Movies and Apple websites have been streaming the trailers.

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds topped two other new films (Shorts, Post Grad) as the new #1 movie with an estimated US$37,602,000.

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Update: Box Office Mojo reports that the final, actual weekend tally for Ponyo was US$2,425,644 to add to its cumulative total of US$8,136,515. It earned an average of US$2,617 per screen.