Top Story: A Historic Box Office Weekend: Five Of The Top Ten Films Are Animated Features

Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) continued its record-breaking run at Japan’s box office, earning nearly twice as much as the debut of Jason Bourne to retain the top spot for a seventh straight week in a row.

The cross-genre sci-fi/fantasy/romance has captivated Japanese audiences in a way that no other film has since the 2014 release of Disney’s Frozen, which retained the top box office spot for 16 straight weeks.

Last weekend, Your Name grossed US$6.7 million, lifting its tally to $139.2 million. In Japanese currency, the film’s 14.56 billion yen total is just one billion yen behind Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo. When the film passes Ponyo, it will become the fifth-highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, and the tenth-highest-grossing film ever released in Japan.

By the time the film’s theatrical run is finished, it is possible that Your Name’s gross will exceed 20 billion yen. Below is a current list of the top-grossing films at Japan’s box office:

  1. Spirited Away: 30.40 billion yen
  2. Titanic: 26.20 billion
  3. Frozen: 25.48 billion
  4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: 20.30 billion
  5. Howl’s Moving Castle: 19.60 billion
  6. Princess Mononoke: 19.30 billion
  7. Bayside Shakedown 2: 17.35 billion
  8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: 17.30 billion
  9. Avatar: 15.60 billion
  10. Ponyo: 15.50 billion
  11. Your Name: 14.56 billion

Masashi Ando (Spirited Away, A Letter to Momo, Paprika) served as the film’s key animation supervisor. Comix Wave produced the film and Toho distributed in Japan.

Funimation has acquired rights for North American distribution, and has stated plans to release both theatrically and on home video.

Amid Amidi

Amid Amidi is Cartoon Brew's Publisher and Editor-at-large.

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