TOKYO, Jan 29 — Animation features topped Japan’s most grossing movies in 2013, with Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises” generating the biggest revenue of ¥12.02 billion (about RM387 million), China’s Xinhua news agency said citing local media’s report yesterday.
The historical fantasy film, the last one by Miyazaki and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, became the first Japanese movie in five years to break the ¥10-billion threshold since the director’s “Ponyo.”
The Japanese film was followed by Hollywood’s “Monster University” which gained about US$86.65 million, while the Japanese cartoon series “One Piece Film Z ” came in third with about US$66.44 million, the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan said yesterday.
The animations were followed by two foreign productions, namely “Les Miserables” and “Ted.”
The association said that theatres grossed ¥194.2 billion (about US$1.88 billion) in 2013, a 0.5-per cent drop from 2012, adding that Japanese
films took 60.6 per cent of the total, outpacing foreign works for the sixth straight year.
A record 1,117 titles were released, up 134 from a year earlier, boosted by the popularity of digital productions that made screening at small theatres easier, it said.
Theatre goers increased 0.5 per cent to 155.89 million, paying ¥1,246 on average, down ¥12 from a year earlier. Screens increased by 28 to 3,318, according to the association. — Bernama
