The Boy and the Heron Soars to Win the Weekend Domestic Box Office With $12.8 Million

Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron has soared high enough to win the domestic weekend box office with ticket sales of $12.8 million in North America.

As reported by Comscore, the movie that once was thought to be legendary director Hayao Miyazaki’s last film added another $2.4 million overseas to help make its international total reach $101.4 million. Globally, The Boy and the Heron has surpassed $114.2 million.

Miyazaki had previously come out of retirement to make The Boy and the Heron, but Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki shared he is already hard at work on his next movie.

“He’s thinking about this next project every day, and I can’t stop him — in fact, I’ve given up,” Suzuki said. “I no longer try to dissuade him, even if he were to make a failed film. In life, it’s only the work that delights him.”

In our The Boy and the Heron review, we said, “Hayao Miyazaki delivers the perfect coda to his illustrious career with a stunning animated adventure that reminds us how lucky we are to live at a time when Studio Ghibli is making movies.”

Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is continuing its impressive run at the box office by taking second in its fourth week in theaters with domestic ticket sales totalling $9.4 million. The Hunger Games prequel has earned $135.6 million in North America and $278.9 million globally.

While it is not yet out in North America until December 15, Wonka won the global box office with (golden) ticket sales of $43.2 million. In our Wonka review, we said it “is a big old fashioned movie musical that uses Roald Dahl’s world just judiciously enough to avoid any serious hits to the author or Gene Wilder’s legacy.”

Domestiacally, Godzilla Minus One roared into third place with $8.3 million, Trolls Band Together placed fourth with $6.2 million, and Wish rounded out the top five with $5.3 million.

For more, check out how Robert Pattinson was so excited about The Boy and the Hero that he nailed his voice pre-recording and our ranking of all of Studio Ghibli movies.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.