Box Office: Studio Ghibli Nabs a Winning Weekend with ‘The Boy and The Heron’

  1. The Boy and The Heron (review)- $10.4M

While this weekend will likely come down as one of the lightest of the year I don’t think that should take away from the cheers for beloved animation studio, Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, as the cement a first place finish at the box office. For all the talk of cinema dying and studios only putting out big blockbusters and comic book movies this year has certainly proven that outside interests are starting to creep into the mainstream. Whether that’s Indian cinema, Japanese animation, or concert films, it really feels like a change is in the air.

2. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes– $9.4M/$135.6M

3. Godzilla Minus One – $8.3M/$25.3M

4. Trolls Band Together – $6.2M/$83M

Oh those lovable Trolls. I’m not even embarrassed by how much I enjoy these films. They are just pure harmless joy. It seems I’m not the only one, while it didn’t break the bank Trolls Band Together did win the distinction of having the lowest drop of any film on the top 10 at just a scoch over 20%

5. Wish – $5.3M/$49.4M

6. Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce – $5M/$28M

Whoa, looks like Beyonce’s celebration of winning the box office last weekend was short lived. Adding three theaters to its run but dropping a massive 77% of it’s box office take, the Queen B posted the biggest fall amongst all top 10 films this week.

7. Napoleon – $4.2M/$53M

8. Waitress: The Musical – $4.3M

In yet another example of outside the box properties ranking in the top 10, Waitress: The Musical, a Broadway hit play starring Sara Bareilles pulled in $4.3M, the second instance of a filmed play charting in the last 5 years (with Hamilton) being the last. Sure, two in five years doesn’t a trend make BUT, it is further proof that non-standard titles are making progress in theaters across the country.

9. Animal – $2.2M/$11.5M

10. The Shift – $2.1M/$8.5M