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Arrietty Film Now Highest-Grossing Ghibli Film in U.S.

posted on by Kimberly Grace
Box office earnings surpass US$15 million, film now 5th highest-grossing anime film in U.S.

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.


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