Suzume (Lock the Door, Suzume) is considered the most outstanding blockbuster of the year in Japanese cinema. Right from its release, Suzume received a storm of praise from both domestic and international audiences, achieving extremely high ratings and becoming one of the names that covered the whole of Japan.
The film tells the story of Suzume, a 17-year-old high school girl living in Kyushu. She accidentally meets Sota, a senior student with a dream of becoming a teacher, who is on a journey to find doors. Following Sota to a tourist area, Suzume finds an old door that seems to have been left in the ruins.
After Suzume accidentally opened the door, not long after, strange doors opened all over Japan, bringing disasters from the other world. The schoolgirl decided to start a journey across Japan to close all the doors, protecting the peaceful world. Even though the journey is full of dangers, Suzume continues to move forward.
Suzume will be released in Japanese theaters on November 11, 2022. In its opening week, the film attracted more than 1.3 million moviegoers and grossed approximately 1.9 billion yen in revenue. After 7 weeks, Suzume has surpassed the 10 billion yen mark.
Notably, along with The First Slam Dunk, Suzume defeated the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water at home, right in the opening week. Only in the Japanese market, the blockbuster directed by James Cameron had to stand in 3rd place, below 2 previously released animated films. This surprised many news agencies around the world, and at the same time recognized the strong appeal of anime works. Many international news sites reported that Japan seemed to be the only market where Avatar: The Way of Water had to be so inferior.
As of March 5, Suzume earned 14.4 billion yen, ranking in the top 3 highest-grossing anime of 2022, ranking 9th in the list of highest-grossing anime of all time in Japan and 15th in the top highest-grossing movies of all time at the Japanese box office.
Suzume also received nominations for Best Anime at the 47th Hochi Film Awards; 77th Mainichi Film Contest; was nominated by the Japan Academy for Best Animated Feature and Best Music, and was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival, becoming the second animated film to achieve this feat since the blockbuster Spirited Away in 2001. After its premiere at the film festival, Suzume received many compliments from critics as well as international audiences.
Currently, Suzume is still impressively holding on to its position in the box office after 15 weeks of release, successfully maintaining its position in the top 10 at the box office, attracting more than 10 million viewers to the theater. On the list of highest-grossing films of all time in Japan, Suzume is very close to the top 15. In terms of anime films alone, Suzume is ranked 10th. This work was officially released to Vietnamese audiences on March 10.
According to Vietnamnet
