Suzume Sails Past One Piece Film Red to Be 4th Highest-Grossing Anime Film of All Time Worldwide
Despite this weekend’s global box office going to The Super Mario Bros. Movie (and rightfully so with the best opening weekend for an animated film ever!), Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume has surpassed all projections and has already reached fourth place on the all-time worldwide anime box office charts, pushing One Piece Film Red, who only took the spot late last year, down into fifth place.
At US$256.18 million, Suzume is now the fourth highest-grossing anime film ever ahead of its release in Western theaters next weekend. This is largely thanks to China where the Makoto Shinkai anime film has reached US$104.89 million—the first Japanese film in history to pass this milestone—and is just a few million USD short of Japan’s US$107.44 million (14.45 billion yen) gross. This week could see the film’s largest market move from its home country to China for the first time in anime history.
In other Asian countries, Suzume’s gross in South Korea has increased to US$34 million while in Taiwan it has increased to US$7 million. Both are outstanding numbers for those countries.
The next film for Suzume to conquer in the all-time worldwide charts is its older sibling Your Name at US$380 million, which is a steep hill to climb with just the Western theatrical showings to come.
RELATED: Suzume Overtakes Your Name to Be Highest-Grossing Japanese Film in China
Suzume is directed by Makoto Shinkai, who also penned the screenplay for the film alongside Masayoshi Tanaka as the character designer, Kenichi Tsuchiya as the animation director and Takumi Tanji as the art director with animation production at CoMix Wave Films.
Suzume was released in Japan on November 11 with Crunchyroll teaming up with Sony Pictures and Wild Bunch International to bring the feature to global audiences outside of Asia starting April 12, 2023.
Synopsis:
On the other side of the door, was time in its entirety—
“Suzume no Tojimari” is a coming-of-age story for the 17-year-old protagonist, Suzume, set in various disaster-stricken locations across Japan, where she must close the doors causing devastation.
Suzume’s journey begins in a quiet town in Kyushu (located in southwestern Japan) when she encounters a young man who tells her, “I’m looking for a door.” What Suzume finds is a single weathered door standing upright in the midst of ruins as though it was shielded from whatever catastrophe struck. Seemingly drawn by its power, Suzume reaches for the knob… Doors begin to open one after another all across Japan, unleashing destruction upon any who are near. Suzume must close these portals to prevent further disaster.
—The stars, then sunset, and the morning sky.
Within that realm, it was as though all time had melted together in the sky…
Never-before-seen scenery, encounters and farewells… A myriad of challenges await her on her journey. Despite all the obstacles in her way, Suzume’s adventure shines a ray of hope upon our own struggles against the toughest roads of anxiety and constraints that make up everyday life. This story of closing doors that connect our past to the present and future will leave a lasting impression upon all of our hearts.
Drawn in by these mysterious doors, Suzume’s journey is about to begin.
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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.
