Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron surpasses Spirited Away's opening total

It was announced on Friday, July 21, 2023, that Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron anime film has surpassed the opening four-day total of another Miyazaki film, Spirited Away. The Boy and the Heron, known as How Do You Live? in Japan, has reportedly eclipsed 2 billion yen in its first four days of release, surpassing Spirited Away’s total revenue of 1.94 billion yen.

As per reports, The Boy and the Heron earned roughly .2 billion yen more than Spirit Away. While the film's success was all but guaranteed as Miyazaki’s alleged last film, fans are extremely shocked to see it actually overtake Spirited Away's numbers so early on in its theatrical run.

The Boy and the Heron was first released in Japanese theaters on Friday, July 14, 2023, with essentially no advertising or film information being released prior to the release day. This was a deliberate approach by Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, seemingly preferring to keep everything about the film a surprise prior to its Japanese release.

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The Boy and the Heron already surpassing Studio Ghibli’s old films just days into theatrical run

The final value of The Boy and the Heron’s revenue in its first four days is currently being reported as 2.14 billion yen across 1.35 million tickets. This is roughly .2 billion yen more than Spirited Away’s total of 1.94 billion yen across its first four days in theaters. Unfortunately, ticket sale numbers reflecting Spirited Away's figure are seemingly unavailable online as of this article’s writing.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that Miyazaki’s latest and purportedly final film is already seeing great success financially and critically from Japanese theaters and moviegoers. While the film had been highly anticipated for several months prior to its release, its accomplishments thus far are nonetheless quite admirable given the lack of publicity prior to its theatrical debut.

The story is set during World War II, following protagonist Mahito Maki. After losing his mother in the Tokyo firebombings, he and his father move to the countryside, where his father remarries his mother’s pregnant sister. Struggling with his new life situation, Mahito meets a talking heron, entering another world with it based on a promise that he can meet his mother again.

Kenshi Yonezu performs the film’s theme song, Chikyugi, which translates to "Globe." Hayao Miyazaki is credited with the original work as well as directing the film and writing the script. Takeshi Honda is the animation director, while Joe Hisaishi composed the music. Miyazaki’s fellow Studio Ghibli co-founder, Toshio Suzuki, is the film’s producer. The renowned Japanese director derived the film from Genzaburo Yoshino’s 1937 novel entitled How Do You Live?, hence the film’s Japanese name.

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Be sure to keep up with all anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.