Belle is set to top two million dollars on 1,326 screens, according to distributor GKIDS. With Saturday’s actuals, it said, the gross surpassed $1.2 million, making it director Mamoru Hosoda’s highest-grossing film in the U.S. That was previously 2018’s Mirai with $812K.
Hosoda’s The Boy and the Beast latest film with Studio Chizu was also his first to screen in Imax and a hit in Japan when it was released last summer.
According to Deadline, Belle grossed $727,005 (Friday) and $486,421 (Saturday), the latter beating expectations, GKIDS said, anticipating $432,374 and $394,992, respectively, for Sunday and Monday, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a national holiday for a three-day estimate of $1,645,800 and a four-day anticipated of $2,040,792.
The story follows Suzu, a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself until one day she enters “U,” a virtual world of 5 billion members on the Internet. There, she is not Suzu anymore but Belle, a world-famous singer. She soon meets with a mysterious creature and they embark on a journey of adventures, challenges, and love in their quest to become who they truly are.
The creative team of the film includes top Japanese and international artists like Jin Kim (Frozen, Tangled, Big Hero 6, Moana) who is doing the character design and created the look of Belle, the concept artist Eric Wong, as well as Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart of Cartoon Saloon (Song of the Sea, The Secret of Kells).
