News
Ghibli's Arrietty Adds US$140,000 in 6th Weekend
posted on by Egan Loo
The Box Office Mojo website reports that Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Studio Ghibli's anime film The Secret World of Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty) has earned an estimated US$140,000 during the March 23-25 weekend, its sixth weekend in American theaters. Arrietty's theater count dropped by 75 as 229 theaters continued to screen the film, and the film had a per-screen average of US$611. Ticket sales fell 42.0% from the fifth weekend.
With a current total of US$18,247,000, Arrietty remains the fourth highest grossing theatrical anime release in the United States (although not when adjusted for inflation). It is about US$1.5 million below #3's Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie (US$19,765,868).
The new #1 film in the United States is The Hunger Games, which garnered the third highest U.S. opening box office of all time at US$155 million.
Here is how the various Ghibli films have performed in the United States in their sixth weekend:
| Film | Year | 6th Weekend | Theaters | Per-Screen Average | Gross-to-Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Mononoke | 1999 | US$212,161 | 129 | US$1,644 | US$1,937,984 |
| Spirited Away | 2002 | US$415,924 | 149 | US$2,791 | US$3,997,219 |
| Howl's Moving Castle | 2005 | US$149,368 | 133 | US$1,123 | US$4,151,839 |
| Ponyo | 2009 | US$188,536 | 329 | US$573 | US$14,656,787 |
| Tales from Earthsea | 2010 | US$0 | 0 | US$0 | US$48,043 |
| The Secret World of Arrietty (Estimated) | 2012 | US$140,000 | 229 | US$611 | US$18,247,000 |
In his directorial debut, Yonebayashi re-imagines Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers by moving the story to a Tokyo suburb. The story revolves around Arrietty, a member of the "little people" who live under the floorboards of a regular human family's home. Arrietty's family tries to remain hidden from the human "beans." Walt Disney Pictures gave the film the widest opening for a Studio Ghibli film in North America to date.
