Famed director Hayao Miyazaki's latest animated film, "Howl's Moving Castle," chalked up 1.48 billion yen in box-office revenue and attracted an audience of 1.1 million people in its first two days of release.
According to distributor Toho Co., it is a new record for a domestic film, surpassing the record set by Miyazaki's previous work, "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" (Spirited Away) by 40 percent, Toho said.
The movie was released Saturday at about 450 theaters nationwide.
Japan's three-day records have until now been held by "Bayside Shakedown 2, Save the Rainbow Bridge," a popular police drama from 2003. That July, the movie brought in 1.8 billion yen in revenue and an audience of 1.26 million in its first three days.
"It's one chance in a million, and we are hoping that the movie will draw an audience of about 40 million people and rake in box-office revenue of 50 billion yen," a Toho official said of Miyazaki's latest offering.
"Spirited Away" won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002 and the Oscar for best animated feature film in 2003. In Japan, it recorded box-office sales of 30.4 billion yen.
"Howl's Moving Castle," meanwhile, received the Osella outstanding technical contributions award at this year's Venice Film Festival.
The movie is based on a children's book of the same name by British writer Diana Wynne Jones. The story is set in a world of science and witchcraft and centers on a romance between a sorcerer named Howl and 18-year-old Sophie, who is turned into a crone by magic.