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The Boy and the Heron Surpasses Pokémon the Movie 2000 to Become 3rd Highest-Earning Anime Film in N. America
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The 1998 anime film Pokémon: The First Movie tops the highest-grossing anime list with US$85.7 million. Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, which premiered in the U.S. in 2021, comes in second with US$49.5 million.
Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron ranked at #9 and #17, respectively, in the U.S. box office last weekend. Godzilla Minus One had an estimated earning of US$2,600,000, and The Boy and the Heron earned US$660,932.
The two films are nominated for the 96th Academy Awards. The Boy and the Heron is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, and Godzilla Minus One's Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi, and Tatsuji Nojima received a nomination for Best Visual Effects. The awards ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 10.
The Boy and the Heron won the Best Motion Picture - Animated category at the 81st Golden Globes Awards earlier this month. The Alliance of Women Film Journalists gave it the Best Animated Film award in its EDA Awards on December 31. The 78th Mainichi Film Awards announced ahead of its February 14 ceremony that the film will receive the Noburou Oofuji Award, which honors animated works that offer new forms of creative expression. The film also received nominations from the Annie Awards (for animated feature, directing, and writing) and the British Academy Film Awards (for animated film).
GKIDS licensed The Boy and the Heron film, and released it in North American theaters on December 8, with preview engagements on November 22. Screenings include the English dub alongside screenings with Japanese audio with English subtitles.
The film ranked at #1 in its opening weekend in the U.S. box office, with an earning of US$12,836,313 in its first three days. Variety reported that the film is the "first original anime production" to top the U.S. box office.
The film opened in Japan on July 14, and sold 1.003 million tickets and earned about US$13.2 million in its first three days in Japan. The film sold 1.353 million tickets and earned 2.149 billion yen (about US$15.53 million) in its Friday-Monday long weekend (July 17 was the Marine Day holiday in Japan). It is the #69 highest-grossing film ever in Japan, and the third highest-grossing domestic film in Japan in 2023 with an 8.66 billion yen (about US$61.4 million) gross.
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.
Miyazaki is credited with the original work, in addition to directing the film and writing the script. Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro) composed the music. Kenshi Yonezu (Chainsaw Man, My Hero Academia, March comes in like a lion) performs the theme song "Chikyūgi" (Globe).
Source: Box Office Mojo
