News
Arrietty Film Now Highest-Grossing Ghibli Film in U.S.
posted on by Kimberly Grace
The Box Office Mojo website reports that Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Studio Ghibli's anime film The Secret World of Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty) earned US$186,421 on Thursday, March 1 to give it a gross-to-date total of US$15,268,380, pushing it past Ponyo's box office total of US$15,090,399. The Secret World of Arrietty is now the highest-grossing Ghibli film in the U.S., and it ranks as the fifth highest-grossing anime film in the U.S. The film is currently ranked at #12 at the box office.
Here is how various Ghibli films have performed in the United States as of March 1:
Film | Lifetime Gross / Theaters | Opening Gross / Theaters | Opening Date |
---|---|---|---|
The Secret World of Arrietty | US$15,268,380 / 1,522 | US$6,446,395 / 1,522 | 2/17/12 |
Ponyo | US$15,090,399 / 927 | US$3,585,852 / 927 | 8/14/09 |
Spirited Away | US$10,055,859 / 714 | US$449,839 / 26 | 9/20/02 |
Howl's Moving Castle | US$4,711,096 / 202 | US$427,987 / 36 | 6/10/05 |
Princess Mononoke | US$2,375,308 / 129 | US$144,446 / 8 | 10/29/99 |
Tales from Earthsea | US$48,461 / 5 | US$20,614 / 5 | 8/13/10 |
In its second weekend in American theaters, Arrietty dropped from #9 to #10 at the box office as it faced four new films. With 1,522 theaters, Arrietty had a per-screen average that weekend of US$2,859. Ticket sales dropped 32.5% from the first weekend.
In his directorial debut, Yonebayashi re-imagines Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers by moving the story to a Tokyo suburb. The story revolves around Arrietty, a member of the "little people" who live under the floorboards of a regular human family's home. Arrietty's family tries to remain hidden from the human "beans." Walt Disney Pictures is giving the film the widest opening for a Studio Ghibli film in North America to date.