The Kokoro ga Sakebitagatterun Da. (Kokosake or The Anthem of the Heart) anime film earned more than 300 million yen (about US$2.5 million) in its first five days at the Japanese box office, and sold approximately 235,000 tickets. Comparatively, the anohana anime film earned 290 million yen and sold approximately 232,000 tickets in its first five days when the film opened in August 2013.
This year, the five days of September 19-23 were considered as "Silver Week" in Japan, which is a rare occurrence when three public holidays in September fall consecutively on Monday-Wednesday.
Movie Walker is reporting that The Anthem of the Heart earned 140,562,450 yen (about US$1.17 million) and was seen 99,082 times in its first two days. The film ranked at #5 for the September 19-20 weekend. anohana by contrast sold 161,225 tickets for 198,177,700 yen (about US$1.989 million at the time) in its opening weekend. The movie went on to top 1 billion yen (about US$10 million at the time) in 56 days.
T-Joy will screen The Anthem of the Heart in four theaters in Japan from October 17-23 before the film opens in the United States and Canada starting on November 1.
The official English website for the film describes the story:
Jun is a girl whose words have been sealed away. She was once a happy girl, but because of a [certain thing] she said when she was very young, her family was torn apart. One day, the egg fairy appeared in front of her and sealed away her ability to talk in order to stop her from hurting anybody else. Since this traumatic experience, Jun lives in the shadows away from the limelight. But, one day she is nominated to become an executive member of the "community outreach council." On top of that, Jun is also appointed to play the main lead in their musical...
The film reunites staff members from the anohana and Toradora! anime. Tatsuyuki Nagai ( A Certain Scientific Railgun, Waiting in the Summer) again directed the film at the studio A-1 Pictures. Mari Okada ( M3 the dark metal, Hana-Saku Iroha) wrote the script, and Masayoshi Tanaka ( Highschool of the Dead, Joshiraku) ddsigned the characters. Like the anohana anime, the story of the new film is set in Chichibu.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
Translated by Anime News Network