Suzume Makes It To List of Top Ten Grossing Anime Film of All Time

It is not surprising that Makoto Shinkai’s most recent anime film, Suzume, has performed great in Japan. However, it seems like the renowned Japanese anime filmmaker has also struck gold outside his home country.

Suzume released in China over the weekend, and it performed beyond all expectations. It even surpassed the box office success of Shinkai’s previous hit films, Your Name and Weathering With You.

The film had such a tremendous opening weekend in China that it not only broke records in that country, but also set a new worldwide record for the best opening weekend for any of Shinkai’s films.

This feat has added Suzume to the list of top ten highest-grossing anime films in the world.

Shinkai himself took to Twitter to celebrate his film’s success. He wrote that the film attracted more than 10 million viewers in just three days since its release in China, with box office revenue reaching 340 million yuan (US$49.42 million). He thanked the viewers that came to the cinemas to watch his film.

中国での『すずめの戸締まり/铃芽之旅』は、公開からわずか3日間で動員1000万人以上、興収は3.4億元（約65億円）となりました。その勢いと、他国の作品への愛情に驚くばかりです。劇場に足を運んでくださった皆さまに、心より感謝です！ pic.twitter.com/zkVHtVxTZM

— 新海誠 (@shinkaimakoto) March 27, 2023

Suzume overtakes Pokémon: The First Movie as the highest-grossing anime film

As noted by Crunchyroll, after adding up its performance in Japan and other East Asian territories such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, Suzume has made up to US$188.12 million worldwide.

This means that Shinkai’s film has overtaken Pokémon: The First Movie in the list of highest-grossing anime films of all time, where it was sitting since 1999.

It was announced back in January that Suzume will release in Indian cinemas. In February, the film received an April 21, 2023 release date by PVR Pictures in the country, similar to the US and most parts of Europe. Suzume first released in Japan on November 11, 2022.