Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Suzume’ Passes $200M At Global Box Office To Become Sixth-Highest-Grossing Anime Film Ever
Powered by an impressive second weekend at the top of China’s box office, Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume is now the sixth-highest-grossing anime film of all time, and only the seventh anime film to gross more than $200 million globally.
Suzume impressively held on to the top spot at China’s box office over the weekend, adding another $22.7 million to its total for the territory, where it has now grossed $82.4 million over its first ten days in cinemas. That’s the largest sum of any non-Chinese film to hit cinemas in the country this year.
A pair of big-name Hollywood live-action films debuted in China over the frame, but neither Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves nor Sony’s 65 were able to displace Suzume at the top of the list.
Globally, Suzume finished third over the weekend with a $27.9 million performance from seven markets. In doing so, the film crossed the $200 million milestone and has now grossed $221.1 million in total.
Now the sixth-highest-grossing Japanese animated feature of all time, Suzume will almost certainly pass Howl’s Moving Castel ($236.3 million) for fifth place this week and looks prime to overcome One Piece Film Red ($246.6 million) for fourth. Breaking into the top three presents a steeper challenge, however, as Shinkai’s own blockbuster Your Name currently holds the spot with a staggering $382.2 million global tally.
Suzume is set to hit many American and European markets on April 13 and 14. It’s an interesting choice of release date given that Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be in its second week in theaters at the time. The two films may not target exactly the same audience, but there is surely a significant overlap between the two fanbases. One can’t help but wonder why, with no major studio animation releases in the west since Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in December of last year, Suzume distributor Crunchyroll didn’t take advantage of the lack of competition in Q1 of 2023.
In any case, the Sony-owned distributor will promote the film with gusto in the west and has plans to give Suzume a full awards season push.
