‘Princess Mononoke’ Re-Release Is No. 1 Film In North America On Per-Theater Basis
UPDATE: Weekend estimates for the Imax 4K re-release of Princess Mononoke are coming in even higher than projected at $4 million, good for sixth place at the N. American box office. The film played on just 330 screens for a powerful $12,134 per-screen average. The next closest film in the top 10 is A Working Man which had a $4,664 per-screen average.
ORIGINAL STORY As live-action films continue to flop at the box office, animation remains one of the few bright spots in domestic theatrical exhibition. Case in point: the new 4K restoration of Hayao Miyazaki’s contemporary classic Princess Mononoke (1997) is tracking to be the highest grossing film in the North American box office top 10 this weekend on a per-theater basis.
Released by GKIDS onto 330 Imax screens in the U.S. and Canada, early estimates have the film grossing $3.5 million through the weekend for a smashing $10,600+ per-theater average. Th next closest film in the top 10 — an installment of the faith-based franchise The Chosen – Last Supper – Part 1 — is looking at a per-theater average of around $5,400.
A couple caveats: The Mononoke numbers include previews, which started on Wednesday, and all the ticket prices are pricier Imax screens. Even taking those factors into account, it’s still a powerful performance for a limited release of a nearly 30-year-old film.
In fact, this weekend’s gross is greater than the film’s entire original domestic run in 1999, which ended at $2.37 million. Not only has the audience appreciation for anime exploded in the ensuing decades, but so has Miyazaki’s stature as a titan of global cinema.
