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Natsume's Book of Friends Film Earns More in China in 1st 3 Days than Entire Japanese Theatrical Run
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The Natsume Yujin-cho the Movie: Ephemeral Bond anime film opened in China on Thursday, and has earned 64.20 million yuan (about US$9.55 million or 1.062 billion yen) in its first three days at the box office. The film ranked at #1 on Thursday in China, but after Captain Marvel and Green Book opened in China on Friday, the film fell to #3 on Friday and Saturday.
The film topped the Japanese box office rankings in its opening weekend on September 29-30, selling 117,473 tickets to earn 172,144,780 yen (about US$1.5 million). As of October 21, the film had earned 725,058,820 yen (about US$6.43 million).
The anime tells an original story based on Yuki Midorikawa's Natsume's Book of Friends (Natsume Yūjin-Chō) manga.
Midorikawa supervised the film's original story. Animation studio Shuka returned from the television anime's fifth and sixth seasons to animate the film. Takahiro Ōmori again served as chief director, but Hideki Ito was the new director. Sadayuki Murai again handled series composition, Tatsuo Yamada returned for yōkai design, and Makoto Yoshimori again composed the music. Uru performed the film's theme song "remember."
Aniplex of America screened the film at the Anime NYC convention on November 16.
Sources: Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo), Variety (Rebecca Davis)
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