[Box Office] 'Suzume-ui Mundan-sok' Tops with 690,000 Viewers in First Weekend

'Slam Dunk' Surpasses 4 Million Viewers... Japan Anime's Highest Box Office

Japanese animation is creating a sensation in theaters where there have been no notable new releases. The movie 'Suzume no Tojimari' topped the box office on its opening weekend.

According to the Korea Film Council's integrated ticketing system on the 13th, 'Suzume no Tojimari' attracted 694,251 viewers over the three-day weekend (10th to 12th), securing the number one spot at the box office. Since its release on the 8th, it has recorded a cumulative audience of 972,490.

'Suzume's Locking Up' Still [Photo by Media Castle]

'Suzume no Tojimari' is a film about a girl named Suzume who accidentally opens a door that brings disaster, and desperately closes doors to prevent disasters occurring across Japan.

Makoto Shinkai, known as the 'triple ten-million director' in Japan for consecutively attracting over 10 million viewers with 'Your Name.' (2017), 'Weathering with You' (2019), and now 'Suzume no Tojimari,' has led the Japanese animation craze in Korea.

Supported by a solid domestic fandom, the film drew about 690,000 viewers on its first weekend, gaining significant attention, and recorded a real-time reservation rate of 33.4% that morning. At this pace, it is highly likely to break Makoto Shinkai's domestic records as well as the box office record of 'The First Slam Dunk.'

'The First Slam Dunk' attracted 99,592 viewers over the weekend, ranking second. Since its release on January 4th, the film has accumulated 4,006,845 viewers. It surpassed 'Your Name.' (3.8 million viewers) to become the highest-grossing Japanese animation in six years.

In third place was 'Daewoe-bi' (Confidential), starring Jo Jin-woong and Lee Sung-min and directed by Lee Won-tae, which drew 97,050 viewers. Since its release on the 1st, a total of 688,468 people have watched the film.

Fourth place went to the Japanese animation 'Demon Slayer: Upper Rank Assembly and the Smith Village,' which attracted 78,785 viewers, with a cumulative total of 441,837 viewers.

Fifth place was 'Meongmungi,' sixth was 'Search 2,' and seventh was 'I'm Hero The Final.' The live concert film of Lim Young-woong, 'I'm Hero The Final,' was released on the 1st and has attracted a cumulative audience of 185,035.

The total number of viewers who visited theaters over the weekend was 1,143,774.