Famed director Hayao Miyazaki¡¯s latest animated film, ¡°Howl¡¯s Moving Castle,¡± chalked up 1.48 billion yen in box-office revenue and attracted an audience of 1.1 million people in its first two days of release.
According to distributor Toho Co., it is a new record for a domestic film, surpassing the record set by Miyazaki¡¯s previous work, ¡°Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi¡± (Spirited Away) by 40 percent, Toho said.
The movie was released Saturday at about 450 theaters nationwide.
Japan¡¯s three-day records have until now been held by ¡°Bayside Shakedown 2, Save the Rainbow Bridge,¡± a popular police drama from 2003. That July, the movie brought in 1.8 billion yen in revenue and an audience of 1.26 million in its first three days.
¡°It¡¯s one chance in a million, and we are hoping that the movie will draw an audience of about 40 million people and rake in box-office revenue of 50 billion yen,¡± a Toho official said of Miyazaki¡¯s latest offering.
¡°Spirited Away¡± won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002 and the Oscar for best animated feature film in 2003. In Japan, it recorded box-office sales of 30.4 billion yen.
¡°Howl¡¯s Moving Castle,¡± meanwhile, received the Osella outstanding technical contributions award at this year¡¯s Venice Film Festival.
The movie is based on a children¡¯s book of the same name by British writer Diana Wynne Jones. The story is set in a world of science and witchcraft and centers on a romance between a sorcerer named Howl and 18-year-old Sophie, who is turned into a crone by magic.
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