Not that we didn’t see it coming, but it was announced on Monday that Disney’s Frozen has officially surpassed 19.8 billion yen (US$194.6 million) in total box office revenue in Japan. Released on March 14 in Japan as アナと雪の女王 (“Ana and the Snow Queen”), months behind its original stateside premiere, the film has held onto its number one position for 11 consecutive weeks.
So how does that stack up with other successful films in Japanese box office history? Keep reading to find out its current ranking plus a list of the highest-grossing films of all time in Japan!
As of May 25th, 15,580,545 moviegoers have gone to see Frozen in Japan, pulling in a staggering 19.8 billion yen ($194.6 million) profit. The movie has finally beaten out a popular Studio Ghibli film to land the spot for the fourth highest-grossing film in Japanese box office history. It has also earned $1.2 billion in global ticket sales thanks in large part to its massive Japanese revenue, which is enough to make it the fifth highest-grossing film in global cinematic history, overtaking last year’s Iron Man 3.
And that’s not all, because Frozen is expected to surpass the 20 billion yen ($195.8 million) mark this week. Up until now, there are only three films in Japan that have ever achieved that distinct honor.
Let’s take a look at the Japanese box office’s top ten highest-grossing films of all time:
1. Spirited Away (2001): 30.4 billion yen ($297.6 million)
2. Titanic (1997): 26.2 billion yen ($256.5 million)
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s [Sorcerer’s] Stone (2001): 20.3 billion yen ($198.7 million)
4. Frozen (2014 [Japan]): 19.8 billion yen ($193.8 million)
5. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004): 19.6 billion yen ($191.8 million)
6. Princess Mononoke (1997): 19.3 billion yen ($188.95 million)
7. Bayside Shakedown [Odoru Daisousasen] 2 (2003): 17.35 billion yen ($169.86 million)
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002): 17.3 billion yen ($169.37 million)
9. Avatar (2009): 15.6 billion yen ($152.7 million)
10. Ponyo (2o08): 15.5 billion yen ($151.7 million)
As you can see, there are four Studio Ghibli works on the list, but Frozen is the only animated Disney film to make the cut.
In addition, the movie’s soundtrack is also drawing in some heavy revenue. According to the May 23 broadcast of Japanese weekly music variety show Music Station, the movie’s soundtrack has been number one on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart for the third week in a row. It’s also the first time in 16 years (since 1997’s Titanic) that a movie soundtrack has sold over 500,000 units (in case you’re curious, the highest-selling movie soundtrack in Japan was 1992’s The Bodyguard, starring Whitney Houston, with 1.89 million CDs sold). So that explains why nearly everyone in the country can be heard humming along to the Japanese-language version of “Let it Go”!
Source: Hachima Kiko, Yahoo! Japan News
Images: YouTube; Wikipedia poster art 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10