The Boy and the Heron, the latest final feature film from legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, has passed the 5 billion yen at the Japanese box office after its fourth weekend of release.
Still free of any marketing other than the famous name attached, the surreal coming of age film hit 5.48 billion yen (about $39.03 million U.S.) and sold 3.61 million tickets as of Sunday.
Despite reaching this milestone, The Boy and the Heron has dropped to the No. 10 spot on local box office charts. The film is lagging behind the weekly gross of Miyazaki’s last film, The Wind Rises (2011) after an initial boost from a huge opening weekend ($13.2M). The previous title wound up with 12.02B yen / $117M USD.
As previously announced, The Boy and the Heron will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7 before enjoying a wide release through GKIDS — which is holding true to Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki’s low-promotion strategy.
[Sources: Mantan Web via Crunchyroll]
