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Makoto Shinkai’s latest film, Suzume no Tojimari (a.k.a. Suzume) broke records for the Your Name. director. The film premiered in Japan on November 11, 2022. According to box office figures, Suzume earnings topped 1.88 billion Yen (about $13.5 million USD) in less than three days, making it the top-charted film in Japan for the weekend. The numbers also exceeded those of his previous films, Your Name. and Weathering With You. These make Suzume the strongest-performing film of Makoto Shinkai’s, in terms of first-weekend returns.
The news of Suzume earnings records was trumpeted by the film’s official Twitter account.
㊗️興収18.8億円超
観客動員数133万人突破！！👏👏
新海誠監督作品史上No.1のロケットスタート🚀また、監督作品史上最多となる
世界199の国と地域で配給も決定✨まだまだすずめの旅は
始まったばかり！🗾引きつづき
『#すずめの戸締まり』を宜しくお願いします！#新海誠 #大ヒット上映中 pic.twitter.com/rXleuWcfYI— 映画『すずめの戸締まり』公式 (@suzume_tojimari) November 14, 2022
In addition to the Suzume earnings figures, the tweet also noted that more than 1.33 million tickets were sold that weekend in Japan. It also boasted that Suzume’s “journey” has just begun, seeing as the film’s international showings are still in the queue. Suzume is set to premiere in over 199 countries worldwide, making it one of the widest-ever distributions of a single director’s work.
Suzume follows the titular high schooler from Kyushu in Japan. Suzume encounters Souta, a young man who is “looking for a door“. That door, a mysterious portal standing upright in the middle of ruins, unleashes a series of catastrophes when Suzume accidentally opens it. Suzume and Souta must then work together to close a series of doors all across Japan. The one catch: Suzume might have to do most of the heavy lifting, seeing as Souta’s been turned into a child-size, three-legged chair.
Suzume is in theaters in Japan. Its international release is set for 2023, to be handled by Wild Bunch and Crunchyroll outside of Asia.
