News
Ghibli's When Marnie Was There Earns $500K in U.S. Theaters
posted on by Kevin Pennyfeather
Box Office Mojo is reporting that Studio Ghibli's latest film When Marnie Was There earned US$41,664 on 33 screens in its seventh week at U.S. box offices, bringing its total to US$513,205 as of July 9.
By comparison, Studio Ghibli's previous animated film The Tale of Princess Kaguya earned $501,888 after eight weeks at the U.S. box office last December, although the film opened on fewer screens in total.
When Marnie Was There earned US$27,388 in the U.S. from May 22-24 when it opened in the IFC Center in New York and the Landmark Nuart in Los Angeles on May 22. Additional theaters screened the film in the following weeks.
In Japan, the film earned an opening weekend gross of 379 million yen (around US$3,738,558) on 461 screens in its July 19, 2014 premiere, and had earned 3,363,690,576 yen (around US$31,359,586) by its eighth weekend.
GKIDS, the North American distributor for the film, describes the story:
Sent from her foster home in the city one summer to a sleepy town by the sea in Hokkaido, Anna dreams her days away among the marshes. She believes she's outside the invisible magic circle to which most people belong – and shuts herself off from everyone around her, wearing her “ordinary face.” Anna never expected to meet a friend like Marnie, who does not judge Anna for being just what she is. But no sooner has Anna learned the loveliness of friendship than she begins to wonder about her newfound friend...
When Marnie Was There adapts Joan G. Robinson's classic English children's novel of the same name. In his second film, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi (2010's The Secret World of Arrietty) has shifted the setting from the novel's Great Britain to a Japanese village on the shores of Hokkaido. Yonebayashi wrote the screenplay with Keiko Niwa (The Secret World of Arrietty) and Masashi Ando (A Letter to Momo, Spirited Away and Paprika). Ando also handled the character designs and animation direction. Takatsugu Muramatsu composed the film's soundtrack.
The film first premiered in North America at The New York International Children's Film Festival (NYICFF) in February.
Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip.
