Despite a rather slow weekend at the box office, it was quite historic for Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, notching his first U.S. box office with with The Boy and the Heron.
The film – which earned stellar reviews from critics with a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – took home $12.8 million in its first weekend – via Deadline.
The beloved animated film dethroned Beyonce‘s concert documentary Renaissance, which slid from first place last weekend, all the way to sixth place, dropping a massive 77.1% with just $5 million.
Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron opened in 2,205 theaters for a decent per-screen average of $4,737.
The film – distributed by GKIDS – is the first foreign production to top the box office in 2023, and the first since Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero debuted with $21.1 million in August 2021.
Despite a rather slow weekend at the box office, it was quite historic for Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, notching his first U.S. box office with with The Boy and the Heron
Dropped: The beloved animated film dethroned Beyonce ‘s concert documentary Renaissance, which slid from first place last weekend, all the way to sixth place, dropping a massive 77.1% with just $5 million
It’s also the first original anime film not based on any existing IP to top the box office, and just the third anime film ever, following Pokemon: The First Movie and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes held fast in second place with $9.4 million, dropping just 33.7%, with a domestic total of $135.6 million.
Also staying put in third place was Toho’s Godzilla Minus One, which only dropped 26.9% to take in $8.3 million for a rare showing where two Japanese films were in the top 5 at the American box office.
Both The Boy With the Heron and Godzilla Minus One ($25.3 million domestic) represented a third of the weekend’s overall ticket sales.
Trolls Band Together ($6.2 million, $83 million domestic) and Wish ($5.3 million, $49.4 million overall) rounded out the top 5.
Plummeting all the way to sixth place was Beyonce’s Renaissance, which dropped a massive 77.1% in its second weekend, taking in just $5 million.
That was just one week after topping the box office with $21.8 million, opening in 2,539 theaters with a stellar $8,586 per-screen average.
Rounding out the top 10 is Napoleon ($4.2 million, $53 million domestic), newcomer Waitress: The Musical ($2.5 million, $3.2 million), Animal ($2.2 million, $11.5 million domestic) and The Shift ($2.1 million, $8.5 million domestic).
It’s also the first original anime film not based on any existing IP to top the box office, and just the third anime film ever, following Pokemon : The First Movie and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
Also staying put in third place was Toho’s Godzilla Minus One, which only dropped 26.9% to take in $8.3 million for a rare showing where two Japanese films were in the top 5 at the American box office
Both The Boy With the Heron and Godzilla Minus One ($25.3 million domestic) represented a third of the weekend’s overall ticket sales.
Elsewhere in limited release, awards season favorite Poor Things opened to $644,000 in just nine theaters for a staggering $71,555 per-screen average.
Also performing well in limited release was Origin, which took in $117,063 from just two theaters for an impressive $58,531 per-screen average.
Anselm also fared well, with $43,300 from just two theaters for a $21,650 per-screen average.
Next week brings Wonka, The Kennedy Incident, American Fiction, Concrete Utopia and The Zone of Interest to theaters.