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Star Wars Beats Spirited Away's Opening Weekend Record in Japan
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The Star Wars: The Force Awakens film sold 1,044,330 tickets on 958 screens for 1,619,340,000 yen (about US$13.35 million) in the first three days since it opened in Japan on Friday. It beat the 14-year record by Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away anime film for highest grossing opening weekend at the Japanese box office. Spirited Away earned 1.58 billion yen (about US$13.10 million) in its opening weekend in July 2001. Star Wars: The Force Awakens also topped Frozen's three-day opening weekend box office, which was 986.4 million yen (US$9.6 million) from 792,636 tickets.
Spirited Away still holds the highest all-time gross in the Japanese box office at 30.40 billion yen (today about US$250.07 million), followed by Titanic at 26.20 billion yen (US$216.06 million), and Frozen at 25.48 billion yen (US$210.12 million), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at 20.30 billion yen (US$167.41 million), and Howl's Moving Castle at 19.60 billion yen (US$161.63 million).
Star Wars: The Force Awakens also grossed higher than the Eiga Yo-kai Watch: Enma Daioh to Itsutsu no Monogatari da Nyan! anime film, and also sold more tickets. However, while Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened on Friday, the Yo-kai Watch film opened on Saturday. If counting only Saturday and Sunday, the second Yo-kai Watch film beat Star Wars: The Force Awakens in tickets sold.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, Nari Nari, The Hollywood Reporter via 0takomu, Hachima Kikō
