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Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron Opens at #1 With 2.15 Billion Yen in 1st 4 Days
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The film earned more than Miyazaki's celebrated Academy Award-winning 2001 film Spirited Away in its first four days, and earned 50% more than his 2013 film The Wind Rises. The film exceeded US$1.7 million from 44 IMAX screens, which is a new three-day opening record, according to entertainment news website Deadline.
The film opened simultaneously on IMAX with its general release in Japan on Friday. The film is the first Studio Ghibli film to get a simultaneous IMAX release. The film is also screening in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Cinema, and DTS:X.
GKIDS licensed the film, and it will release it in North American theaters later this year.
Miyazaki is credited with the original work, in addition to directing the film and writing the script. Takeshi Honda (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Rebuild of Evangelion films) is the animation director. Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro) composed the music. Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki is the producer. Kenshi Yonezu (Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, March comes in like a lion) performs the theme song "Chikyūgi" (Globe).
The anime opened in Japanese theaters last Friday. The anime will also air on television as a special this summer.
The cast for the quintuplets - Kana Hanazawa, Ayana Taketatsu, Miku Itō, Ayane Sakura, and Inori Minase - performed the anime's opening theme song "Gotōbun no Mirai" (Five Equal Futures) and the ending theme song "Takaramono" (Treasure).
The anime adapts stories that have not yet appeared in the previous anime projects.
The film opened at #1 on on June 30. It earned 605,494,180 yen (about US$4.19 million) in its first three days and sold 469,600 tickets.
The first sequel film Chi no Halloween -Unmei- (Bloody Halloween -Fate-) opened on April 21.
Takumi Kitamura returns to play Takemichi Hanagaki in the sequel films. Other returning cast members include Ryo Yoshizawa as Mikey and Yuki Yamada as Draken. Director Tsutomu Hanabusa and producer Shota Okada also return. Kento Nagayama joins the cast as Keisuke Baji, while Nijirō Murakami also joins as Kazutora Hanemiya, and Mahiro Takasugi joins as Chifuyu Matsuno. Taketo Tanaka plays Chome. Super Beaver performs the theme song "Gradation" for the first film, while the band also performs the theme song "Hakanakunai" (Not Merely Fleeting) for the second film.
The first live-action Tokyo Revengers film opened in Japan in July 2021 and was the #1 live-action film in Japan in 2021. Crunchyroll is streaming the film worldwide excluding Asia, Spain, and Latin America.
The film sold 1.276 million tickets and earned 1.843 billion yen (about US$13.54 million) in its first three days in Japan.
The film is now the #3 all-time highest-earning animated film worldwide if Disney's 2019 CG film The Lion King is counted as animated, or #2 if not.
The film opened in the U.S. and in over 60 markets worldwide on April 5.
The film has been the highest-grossing film of 2023 worldwide. The film is also the highest-earning video game adaptation in history.
The concert opened in Japan on May 20 and earned 220 million yen (about US$1.58 million) in its opening weekend. The 16 cast members of the IDOLiSH7, TRIGGER, Re: vale, and ŹOOĻ units reprised their roles from the anime series and games.
Hiroshi Nishikiori (Argonavis from BanG Dream!) and Kensuke Yamamoto (Trigun Stampede VFX art director) directed the anime at Orange. IDOLiSH7 creator Bunta Tsushimi wrote the screenplay. Arina Tanemura (IDOLiSH7, Full Moon O Sagashite) is credited for the original character design. Hitomi Miyazaki designed the characters. Eiji Inomoto (Trigun Stampede) was the CG chief director.
The movie opened on June 30 and earned 113,432,810 yen (about US$788,390) in its first three days.
The film commemorates the 35th anniversary of the anime and the 50th anniversary of the Anpanman picture book series.
The film features Comet Robo, a home for robots who can make anything, and Roboly, a robot girl who is the best at what she does. She learns that there is one "precious thing" that she cannot make on her own, so she and her robot bird partner Koto leave Comet Robo to find it. They find a music box and arrive at Anpanman's world to find the owner. While spending time with Anpanman, Roboly's chest begins to feel "warm." During this time, Baikinman creates the strongest mecha "Roboking" and plans to turn Comet Robo into Comet Baikin-Robo. Thus, Anpanman and friends try to protect Comet Robo while Roboly searches for the "important thing."
Detective Conan: Kurogane no Submarine (Iron Submarine), the 26th film in the Detective Conan franchise, is still out of the top 10 in its 14th weekend, but it still earned 42,884,000 yen (about US$308,200) from Friday to Sunday, and has earned a cumulative total of 13,380,421,330 yen (about US$96.18 million).
The second part of Gekijōban Collar×Malice Deep Cover, the two-part theatrical anime adaptation of Idea Factory's Otomate brand's Collar x Malice game, dropped from #1 to #3 in the mini-theater rankings in its fourth weekend.
Sources: Kōgyō Tsūshin (link 2, link 3), comScore via KOFIC
