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Ghibli's Arrietty Falls Out of Top 20 in 4th Weekend in U.S.
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$402,000 during the March 9-11 weekend. In its fourth weekend in American theaters, Arrietty falls from #14 out of the top 20 at the box office. Arrietty's theater count dropped by 930 to just 501 remaining screens, and the film had a per-screen average of US$802. Ticket sales fell 72.9% from the third weekend.
With a current total of US$17,557,000, Arrietty remains the fourth highest grossing theatrical anime release in the United States (although not when adjusted for inflation). It is US$2.2 million below #3's Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie (US$19,765,868).
Here is how the various Ghibli films have performed in the United States in their fourth weekend:
| Film | Year | 4th Weekend | Theaters | Per-Screen Average | Gross-to-Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Mononoke | 1999 | US$142,479 | 41 | US$3,475 | US$1,187,089 |
| Spirited Away | 2002 | US$634,901 | 138 | US$4,600 | US$2,668,591 |
| Howl's Moving Castle | 2005 | US$389,926 (US$483,539)* | 187 | US$2,085 (US$2,585) | US$3,225,747 (US$3,319,360) |
| Ponyo | 2009 | US$1,308,412 (US$1,869,502)* | 890 | US$1,470 (US$2,101) | US$12,957,933 (US$13,519,023) |
| Tales from Earthsea | 2010 | US$0 | 0 | US$0 | US$48,043 |
| The Secret World of Arrietty (Estimated) | 2012 | US$402,000 | 501 | US$802 | US$17,557,000 |
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.
follow-up of Ghibli's Arrietty Drops to #14 in 3rd Weekend
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history