Studio Ghibli is a famous Japanese animation studio. On March 14, it released a new film called "Kaze no Tabibito," which means "The Wind Traveler." It is a sequel to "The Boy and the Grey Heron." In just 72 hours, the film earned 4.8 billion yen — about 32 million US dollars. This broke the opening weekend record in Japan.
The film also did very well in South Korea. It opened on March 21. In its first weekend, 1.2 million people watched it. This was more than the record set by Makoto Shinkai's film "Suzume" in 2023, which had about 930,000 viewers. Many Korean fans grew up watching Ghibli films like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away." Cinemas in Seoul, Busan, and Daegu were sold out for almost two weeks.
In China, the film opened on March 28. In ten days, it earned 280 million yuan — about 39 million US dollars. This made it the most successful Japanese animated film in China since "Spirited Away" in 2019. In Taiwan, over 600,000 people saw the film. It was number one for three weeks in a row.
Studio Ghibli still uses traditional hand-drawn animation. More than 80 artists drew about 160,000 pictures by hand. Director Hayao Miyazaki is 85 years old. He worked with his son Goro Miyazaki. The film took over four years to make. Many people love this style because it feels warm and real.
The film was also popular online. In South Korea, searches for "Studio Ghibli" on the website Naver went up 340 percent in the week after the film opened.