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Asian cinema: Japanese films
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Hayao Miyazaki’s anime The Boy and the Heron tops the North American box office, a first for the Japanese master

  • Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, 82, is famous for his hugely popular anime movies, such as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro
  • His latest film, The Boy and the Heron, outperformed the latest Hunger Games and Godzilla movies to take top spot at the North American box office

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A still from Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film, “The Boy and the Heron””, which has topped the box office in the US and Canada, beating the latest Hunger Games and Godzilla movies. Photo: TNS
Associated Press

For the first time in Hayao Miyazaki’s decades-spanning career, the 82-year-old Japanese anime master is No 1 at the North American box office. Miyazaki’s latest enchantment, The Boy and the Heron, debuted with US$12.8 million, according to studio estimates.

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The Boy and the Heron, the long-awaited animated fantasy from the director of Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and other anime classics, is only the third anime to top the box office in American and Canadian cinemas, and the first original anime to do so.

The film, which is playing in both subtitled and dubbed versions, is also the first fully foreign production to lead the North American box office this year.

Miyazaki’s films have often been enormous hits in Japan and Asia, but they’ve traditionally made less of a mark in North American cinemas.
Oscar-winning Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki has topped the US and Canadian box office. Photo: AFP
Oscar-winning Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki has topped the US and Canadian box office. Photo: AFP

The director’s previous best performer was his last film, 2013’s The Wind Rises, which grossed US$5.2 million in its domestic run.

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“It’s really a resounding statement for what animation can be,” said Eric Beckman, founder and chief executive of GKIDS, the North American distributor for Studio Ghibli films. “American audiences have been ready for a lot more than what they’ve been getting, and I think this really points to that.”

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