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Makoto Shinkai's 'your name.' Film Earns 6.2 Billion Yen, Tops Box Office For 3rd Week

Japanese film news website Kōgyō Tsūshinsha reported that, as of Monday, Makoto Shinkai's your name. (Kimi no Na wa.) anime film has earned 6.2 billion yen (about US$60.57 million) and sold 4.81 million tickets after 17 days in theaters. The film topped the Japanese box office for the September 10-11 weekend, its third consecutive #1 ranking. The film has surpassed distributor TOHO's 6 billion yen (US$58.8 million) revenue projection for the film.

The film had earned 3.8 billion yen (about US$36.75 million) as of September 4, 10 days after its August 26 opening in Japan.

The film held its world premiere on July 3 in Los Angeles during Anime Expo, and it is slated to open in 85 countries and regions.

The film's "story of miracles and love" revolves around Mitsuha and Taki. Mitsuha is a female high school student who lives in a rural town nestled deep in the mountains. Her father is the mayor and isn't at home much, and she lives with her elementary school-aged little sister and her grandmother. Mitsuha has an honest personality, but she doesn't like the customs of her family's Shinto shrine, nor does she like her father participating in an election campaign. She laments that she lives in a confined rural town, and yearns for the wonderful lifestyle of living in Tokyo. Taki is a male high school student who lives in central Tokyo. He spends time with his friends, works part-time at an Italian restaurant, and is interested in architecture and fine arts. One day, Mitsuha has a dream where she is a young man. Taki also has a dream where he is a female high school student in a town in the mountains that he has never been to. What is the secret to their dreams of personal experience?

Shinkai also wrote the script for the film. Masashi Ando (Spirited Away, When Marnie Was There, Paprika) served as the animation director and Masayoshi Tanaka (anohana, The Anthem of the Heart, Toradora!) designed the characters. CoMix Wave Inc. animated the film. Shinkai published the original novel that inspired the film on June 18. The book ranked #1 on Oricon's weekly bunko (trade paperback) chart for the August 22-28 week, having sold an estimated 74,000 copies, and sold 112,000 more copies in its second consecutive #1 week on the chart. Other related books, such as spinoff novels, production books, and previous novelizations of Shinkai's other works, also rose in the Oricon charts last week.

Source: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web