The winner of the weekend’s North American box-office race? Japan.
Well, the theaters weren’t exactly the site of a Japanese cinematic invasion. Still, films from the Land of the Rising Sun made their presence felt this weekend, beginning with Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron.
Now, for those who may not be be familiar with Miyazaki’s work, he’s a little like the Walt Disney of anime. His film Spirited Away won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2002 and became, at the time, history’s highest-grossing Japanese film. (Demon Slayer: The Movie: Mugen Train beat its record in 2021.) He’s also directed such anime classics as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle.
But for all that success, Miyazaki had never conquered the North American box office … until now.
The Boy and the Heron—allegedly the master’s last film—earned an estimated $10.4 million to take the title, according to Box Office Mojo. And as you might expect, it is doing quite well for itself outside North America, too. The film has banked $84.2 million overseas for a grand total of $97 million. (That total includes about $2.4 million it earned domestically before its official opening.)
Now in its fourth weekend, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes continues to show the grit of a true competitor. The Hunger Games prequel shoveled another $9.4 million into its cinematic treasure chest, pushing its total domestic haul to $135.7 million. Sure, that’s significantly less than the four original Hunger Games films: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 was the lowest-grossing of the lot, and it still earned $281.7 million domestically. But The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ staying power would make Katniss herself proud.
Godzilla Minus One—the second Japanese film to crack the top five—finished third with $8.3 million. The well-reviewed monster movie has stomped its way to $25.3 million during its box-office run—or just about enough to buy Godzilla lunch.
Trolls Band Together finished fourth with $6.2 million. And according to Box Office Mojo, Disney’s Wish closed out the top five with $5.3 million.
3 Responses
At a couple of our local theaters you have the option to see “The Boy and the Heron” either in Japanese with subtitles or dubbed into English. I prefer the former. Little kids may prefer the latter, which is fine. I’m just glad I have that choice. I’m generally supportive of ANY foreign language film that makes it to my town.
You would have loved seeing one of my local theaters a few weeks ago when I was there for “Godzilla: Year One” (which was subtitled). A bunch of my fellow Indians were there, presumably for some sort of Bollywood film. Unfortunately my screening of “The Boy and the Heron” at a different local theater got canceled because of external circumstances; I’m hoping to get to see it again this weekend or soon.
It sounds like we have similar taste in movies. Try to catch Anatomy of a Fall if you can. Great performances, smart script, and an ending that bears talking about.