Suzume, the latest movie from director Makoto Shinkai, is purring at the box office – making it one of the most successful anime movies of all time.
As per Box Office Report, the anime feature took over $5 million at the US box office in its first few days, nudging its taking towards $260 million worldwide. It’s now the fourth highest-grossing anime movie of all time, pulling clear of One Piece: Red ($246 million).
There could be some way to go, however, for the fantasy adventure to topple the director’s biggest hit Your Name ($382 million), Studio Ghibli’s 2001 masterpiece Spirited Away ($395 million), and surprise COVID-era runaway success Demon Slayer: Mugen Train ($507 million).
We recently spoke to Shinkai about Suzume, the story of a teenage girl who travels throughout Japan to avert disasters.
Speaking on the tragic real-world event – the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami – that influenced his latest work, Shinkai addressed the impact of the incident that "changed [his] life."
"It changed my mindset and my worldview, and the types of movies I created afterwards," Shinkai said.
"That anxiety and uncertainty also of living in Japan, side by side with disaster that could happen at any moment, I constantly think about why I, and we, all continue to choose to live in Japan. And this has been a huge theme for myself over the past 10 years that I have been thinking about."
2023, then, continues to be a killer year for anime. Demon Slayer season 3 is currently streaming, while Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 and Attack on Titan The Final Chapters are set to release later this year.
For more, check out the best anime you should be watching right now.
