Film has sold 1.2 million tickets as of Tuesday

Eiga Sumikko Gurashi - Tobidasu Ehon to Himitsu no Ko (Sumikko Gurashi The Movie - The Unexpected Picture Book and the Secret Child), the anime film of San-X's "Sumikko Gurashi" (Living in the Corner) characters, has sold a total of 1.2 million tickets and earned 1.4 billion yen (about US$12.8 million) at the box office in Japan as of Tuesday, February 4.

The film will open in Taiwan and Hong Kong this spring.

The film had earned 1.3 billion yen (about US$ 12.0 million) in Japan as of January 5.

The anime film opened in Japan on November 8 in 114 theaters and ranked #3 in its opening weekend. The film sold 104,000 tickets and earned 121 million yen (about US$1.11 million) over the weekend, but sold 114,280 tickets and earned 132,873,500 yen (about US$1.22 million) from Friday to Sunday of that week.

Mankyū ( [email protected] Cinderella Girls Theater , Jaku-San-Sei Million Arthur ) directed the film at Fanworks. Takashi Sumita (Europe Kikaku) penned the script. Kaori Hino ( Napping Princess , In This Corner of the World ) was the art director.

The film's story begins when the Sumikko Gurashi characters find a mysterious picture book in the basement of a cafe they always go to. The film features new locales, items, and characters.

Sumikko Gurashi debuted in 2012 as slightly negative characters who like to stay in the corner of a room. The characters include "Shirokuma," a polar bear who is sensitive to cold; "Penguin?" (with a question mark in its name), a penguin who is unsure if it is actually a penguin; "Tonkatsu," a piece of pork cutlet that was left uneaten; "Neko," a shy cat; and "Tokage," who hides his nature as one of the last dinosaurs.

The franchise has inspired toys, books, stationery material, and video games.

San-X's "Rilakkuma" character also inspired the Rilakkuma and Kaoru ( Rilakkuma to Kaoru-san ) anime that debuted globally on Netflix last April.

Source: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web