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Spirited Away soars at China box office

Chinese ticketing app Maoyan reports that Japanese animation Spirited Away has trounced Disney’s Toy Story 4 at the Chinese box office over its opening weekend.

The Studio Ghibli film brought in $27.1m (£21.8m/€24.4m), which is more than double that of the most recent Toy Story takings, which made $13.2m.

The 18-year-old anime film, which gained a cult following after its release, has only this year been released in China, which has a strict quota on the number of foreign films it shows.

It remains Studio Ghibli’s highest grossing film of all time.

In 2018, My Neighbour Totoro, which was released 31 years ago, became the first Ghibli film to be shown in China. Totoro grossed $27.3m at the Chinese box office for its full run, according to state media outlet CGTN.

Image: Alberto Garcia