In just four days, Japanese animated film director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature film “The Boy and the Heron,” directed by Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli, has had 1.35 million admissions and grossed over 2.14 billion yen. The previous record was set by Miyazaki’s previous picture, “Spirited Away.”
In Japan, 441 theatres exhibited “The Boy and the Heron” one after the other, attracting enormous attention because the film company did not reveal the story or release any trailers for promotion prior to its premiere.
Toshio Suzuki, Studio Ghibli’s producer, indicated that they had no intention of disclosing the film’s plot ahead of time, employing an unusual promotional method that differed from their prior productions. Before the formal release, they merely revealed the character list and theme tune.
The box office total for “Spirited Away” was 31.68 billion yen. When the four-day box office income of “The Boy and the Heron” is compared to Miyazaki’s previous picture, “The Wind Rises,” which was released on July 20, 2013, it has surpassed “The Wind Rises” by more than 150%.
