Nov 14, 2022

"Sparrow" passes "weathered with you", "Your name" for the biggest Japanese opening in Shinkai Makoto's career.

Makoto Shinkai's latest feature, "Sparrow," opened in Japan on Friday, earning 1386 million yen (ー13.5 million) in his first three days in cinemas.

The opening of the sparrow is a personal best for Shinkai. According to Crunchyroll, which distributes in North America along with Wild Bunch International, Suzume gained 114.7 percent, making it Shinkai's best back in 2019.

The 1 13.5 million debut for Suzume is also the 9th best 3-day opening in Japanese box office history.

Sparrow's opening weekend was the best of Shinkai's career so far, but there's no guarantee the film's total take will be close to the final Japanese gross of weathering with you (1 131.5 million USD), and it seems very unlikely the film will catch up with your name (2 233.8 million USD). These films may have had a lower opening total over the weekend, but were released during or just before the summer holidays in Japan.

At the top of this year's Japanese box office, Suzume opened on May 6 and has earnedear1.23 million so far, earning a staggering 84.5% on its second weekend in North American cinemas, struggling to make a similar impact: the blockbuster One-Piece that needs to keep up with the film Red, One-Piece dropped just 1% to 1.45 million. (total12.7 million total).

Knowing that Suzume was destined for a grand opening in Japan, many cinemas screened back-to-back screenings every day from Friday to Sunday, morning to night. Shinkai himself also attended several shows to introduce the film, as did several leading voice cast.

Written and directed by Shinkai, Sparrow is about a teenage girl on a desperate quest to close the doors of disaster that lies across the country. Sparrow is accompanied on the journey by a boy who magically transforms into a chair.