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Live-Action Return to Silent Hill Film Opens at #7 in U.S. Box Office

Box Office Mojo reports that the live-action Return to Silent Hill film opened at #7 at the United States box office earning approximately US$3,252,000 in its first weekend.

Additionally, Warner Bros. Japan and STUDIO4°C's anime of Hiroshi Sakurazaka and Yoshitoshi ABe's All You Need Is Kill science fiction light novel has earned US$652,684 after running for a week in the U.S. 

Return to Silent Hill played in 2,000 theaters in the U.S. and earned approximately US$1,600,000 on Friday, US$972,000 on Saturday, and US$680,000 on Sunday. Variety reported on Sunday that the film opened at #1 in China and earned RMB66.1 million (US$9.3 million) over its first three days. The film's global cumulative earnings are about US$19.3 million making it the #5 film globally for the weekend.

The film opened in the United States on Friday.

The film stars Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) and Hannah Emily Anderson (Dark Phoenix, Jigsaw). Filming began in April 2023.

The film follows Irvine as James, a man broken after being separated from his love, played by Anderson. After receiving a mysterious letter, he returns to Silent Hill to search for her. He finds that the town has been transformed by evil, and encounters terrifying figures.

Film director Christophe Gans (Crying Freeman, 2006 Silent Hill) stated in a 2020 interview that he had been working on a new Silent Hill film. Konami officially announced the Return to Silent Hill film in October 2022. Victor Hadida (live-action Resident Evil film franchise) produced the film. Silent Hill series composer Akira Yamaoka composed for the film. Ashland Hill Media Finance co-financed the film. 

Gans previously stated that the new film "will still be set in that 'small American town' atmosphere, where puritanism devastated everything." Gans previously directed the Silent Hill live-action film starring Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean that opened in 2006. M.J. Bassett later directed the Silent Hill: Revelation film that opened in 2012. 

All You Need Is Kill opened in theaters in North America on January 16. The film earned US$502,424 over its first weekend. Not including Monday's holiday earnings on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the film had earned US$420,438 from January 16-18.

GKIDS acquired the anime in multiple territories, including North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. GKIDS is screening the film in both Japanese audio with English subtitles, as well as an English dub.

The film opened on January 9 in 10 theaters throughout Japan.

Kenichiro Akimoto (Children of the Sea CGI director, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko unit director) directed the anime at STUDIO4°C. The anime retells the story from a different viewpoint than the novel and Hollywood's Edge of Tomorrow film adaptation.

University student and singer-songwriter AKASAKI performs the theme song "Tsuretette" for the anime. AKASAKI specifically wrote the song for the anime. This is AKASAKI's first anime theme.

The original novel by Sakurazaka is set in a future Earth under attack by alien invaders known as Mimics. Humanity's infantry goes into battle in powered armor suits that enhance their deadliness, but they are still losing the war. Keiji Kiriya is a newly enlisted soldier, but dies in his first battle. After he dies, he finds himself awakening to a time prior to the battle, having inexplicably entered a time loop. Through a repeating process of dying and learning from his mistakes, he slowly finds a way to live longer and longer, and finds himself drawn to an elite soldier named Rita Vrataski.

Shueisha published the novel in December 2004. Viz Media published Sakurazaka's novel in English to launch its Haikasoru imprint for Japanese science fiction and fantasy in 2009.

Sources: Box Office Mojo (link 2), Variety (Naman Ramachandran)