Aug 9, 2023

The Boy and the Hare" film grosses over 5 billion yen at the Japanese box office, but lags behind other Miyazaki films.

Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, "The Boy and the Hare," finished its fourth weekend in Japan in fourth place at the box office, surpassing the 5 billion yen mark.

"The Boy and the Hare" was released in mid-July and grossed 1.83 billion yen ($13.2M), the highest ever for a Ghibli film. However, the weekly box office showed the sharp decline typical of Miyazaki's films, and in its fourth week, "The Boy and the Hare" lagged behind Miyazaki's previous films.

Four weeks later, "The Boy and the Hare" grossed 5.48 billion yen ($38.5 million) domestically from 3.61 million viewers, a measure favored by Japanese box office followers. According to Crunchyroll, this total gross is only 98% of Miyazaki's previous film, "The Wind Rises," in its first four weeks. The film grossed 12 billion yen ($116.9 million) at the box office.

"The Wind Rises" is Miyazaki's fifth highest grossing film in Japan, followed by "Ponyo" (15.5 billion yen), "Howl's Moving Castle" (19.6 billion yen), "Princess Mononoke" (20.2 billion yen) and "Spirited Away" (31.7 billion yen). It is possible that "The Boy and the Hare" will catch up to "The Wind Rises," but it will be difficult for it to achieve a higher ranking.

Even though "The Boy and the Hare" has been sluggish at the box office, it is great for Studio Ghibli to have grossed nearly $40 million in one month, especially since Studio Ghibli famously refused to release any PR or trailers for the film.

"The Boy and the Hare" will be distributed by GKIDS, a longtime Ghibli collaborator, and will be released in the US later this year. The film will also open this year's Toronto International Film Festival.