Shinkai Makoto’s Suzume Ends Impressive Run in Japan

“Suzume” has been another major hit for popular anime director Shinkai Makoto. See where it stacks up in both Japan and the world at large.

By Noah Oskow

On May 27th, Shinkai Makoto’s hit new anime film, Suzume no Tojimari (すずめの戸締まり, called simply Suzume in English-language markets) ended its impressive run at the box office in its home country of Japan. The movie, which released on November 11th, 2022, was in theaters for an extended 198 days; even in its last weekend in theaters, it managed to gain 8th place at the box office. In all, Suzume has brought in ¥14.79 billion in Japan — equivalent to around $105.4 million USD. [1]

This puts Suzume snuggly in the top box office rankings in Japanese history, coming in at 14th. This means Suzume out-grossed Shinkai’s second-most-recent film, 2019’s Weathering with You, which raked in ¥14.23 billion. Sitting directly above Suzume at 13th is Miyazaki Hayao’s beloved 2008 anime film Ponyo.

While ¥14.79 billion is a strong showing, it still pales in comparison to Shinkai’s 2016 mega-hit Your Name (君の名は). That film made a massive ¥25.17 billion, and was the first-ever anime film not by Studio Ghibli’s Miyazaki to make over ¥10 billion in Japan. All-in-all, Suzume now ranks as the 8th biggest anime box office hit in Japanese history. Ahead of it are the gigantic covid-era breakaway hit Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train (¥40.43b), Miyazaki’s beloved Spirited Away (¥31.68b), the aforementioned Your Name (¥25.17b), Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (¥20.18b), One Piece: Film Red (¥19.70b, also in 2022), and Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle (¥19.60b) and Ponyo (¥15.50).

Suzume: A New Shinkai Masterpiece?

Shinkai Makoto, famed director of Your Name and more, is back with yet another breathtakingly beautiful anime film. How does Suzume no Tojimari stack up?

Watch our review of Suzume on YouTube.

Suzume’s Dual Success

Suzume has engendered both financial and critical success; while the beautifully animated film strikes some similar beats to recent Shinkai fare, its focus on rural Japan’s population…