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China Becomes Biggest Market for The Boy and the Heron, Earning US$73 Million in 1st 5 Days

Entertainment news website Variety reported on Sunday that Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki's latest feature film The Boy and the Heron (Kimi-tachi wa Dō Ikiru ka) earned RMB248 million (about US$34.9 million) from Friday to Sunday, topping the weekend Chinese box office. Including the film's estimated Wednesday-Thursday earnings of RMB270 million (about US$38.1 million), the film has earned US$73 million in its first five days, making China the film's biggest box office market. The film also set the biggest box office opening this year by a non-mainland Chinese movie.

Additionally at the Chinese box office, the Godzilla vs. Kong film sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire earned about US$21.9 million in its second weekend in China, and has a cumulative earning of US$93.5 million in 10 days. The film currently holds the highest earnings for a Hollywood film in China since Fast X in May 2023.

The Boy and the Heron opened in China on Wednesday (as opposed to the standard Friday) since the country celebrated the three-day Qingming Festival devoted to remembering the deceased on April 4-6. The film earned about US$13.8 million on its first day, and topped the Chinese box office in its first two days.

The Boy and the Heron opened in Japan in July 2023, 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 #59 highest-grossing film ever in Japan (as of March 31), and was the third highest-grossing domestic film in Japan in 2023. The film has earned 9.26 billion yen (about US$61.0 million) in Japan.

The film reportedly earned US$46 million in North America, US$14.8 million in South Korea, and US$12.3 million in France.

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 will stream exclusively on Max (formerly HBO Max) in the United States. The streaming service is extended its multiyear U.S. licensing deal with Studio Ghibli. The film will stream on Netflix globally outside Japan and the U.S.

The film won Best Animated Feature Film in the 96th Academy Awards ceremony on March 10.

The film also won Animation of the Year in the 47th annual Japan Academy Film Prizes and won the Best Motion Picture - Animated category at the 81st Golden Globes Awards earlier this year. The film also won awards from the Annie Awards (for storyboarding and character animation) and the British Academy Film Awards (for animated film). 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 awarded the film with the Noburou Oofuji Award, which honors animated works that offer new forms of creative expression.

Source: Variety (Patrick Frater)