Spirited Away

For the concept in Japanese folklore which the film refers to, see Spirit away.

Spirited Away
Chihiro, dressed in bathhouse work clothes is standing in front of an image containing a group of pigs and the city behind her. Text below reveal the title and film credits, with the tagline to Chihiro's right.
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji千と千尋の神隠し
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnSen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
Directed byHayao Miyazaki
Written byHayao Miyazaki
Produced byToshio Suzuki
Starring
CinematographyAtsushi Okui
Edited byTakeshi Seyama
Music byJoe Hisaishi
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • 20 July 2001 (2001-07-20)
Running time
125 minutes[1]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Budget$19.2 million[2][3]
Box office$395.8 million[a]

Spirited Away (Japanese: 千と千尋の神隠し, Hepburn: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, lit. 'Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away') is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro "Sen" Ogino, a ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, inadvertently enters the world of kami (spirits of Japanese Shinto folklore).[7] After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world. The film was animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distributed by Toho.[8]

Miyazaki wrote the screenplay after he decided the film would be based on the ten-year-old daughter of his friend Seiji Okuda, the film's associate producer, who came to visit his house each summer.[9] At the time, Miyazaki was developing two personal projects, but they were rejected. With a budget of US$19 million, production of Spirited Away began in 2000. Pixar animator John Lasseter, a fan and friend of Miyazaki, convinced Walt Disney Pictures to buy the film's North American distribution rights, and served as executive producer of its English-dubbed version.[10] Lasseter then hired Kirk Wise as director and Donald W. Ernst as producer, while screenwriters Cindy and Donald Hewitt wrote the English-language dialogue to match the characters' original Japanese-language lip movements.[11]

Released in Japan on 20 July 2001, Spirited Away was widely acclaimed and commercially successful,[12] grossing $395.8 million at the worldwide box office.[a][13] Accordingly, it became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a total of ¥31.68 billion ($305 million).[14] It held the record for 19 years until it was surpassed by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train in 2020.[15]

Spirited Away was a co-recipient of the Golden Bear with Bloody Sunday at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and became the first hand-drawn, Japanese anime and non-English-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards.[16] The film is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time and has been included in various "best-of" lists, including ranking fourth on BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century.

  1. ^ "Spirited Away (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 14 August 2003. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference howe was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Herskovitz, Jon (15 December 1999). "'Mononoke' creator Miyazaki toons up pic". Variety. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  4. ^ Harding, Daryl. "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Overtakes Your Name to Become 2nd Highest-Grossing Anime Film of All Time Worldwide". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  5. ^ España, Taquilla (24 May 2021). "El viaje de Chihiro". TAQUILLA ESPAÑA (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Spirited Away 2021 Re-release (Spain)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  7. ^ Boyd, James W. and Tetsuya Nishimura. [2004] 2016. "Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki's Anime Film 'Spirited Away' (PDF) Archived 20 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine." Journal of Religion & Film 8 (3):Article 4.
  8. ^ "Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi Archived 4 December 2012 at archive.today". http://www.bcdb.com , 13 May 2012
  9. ^ Sunada, Mami (Director) (16 November 2013). 夢と狂気の王国 [The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness] (Documentary) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Studio Ghibli. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014. Interview with Toshio Suzuki
  10. ^ "15 Fascinating Facts About Spirited Away". mentalfloss.com. 30 March 2016. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  11. ^ Turan, Kenneth (20 September 2002). "Under the Spell of 'Spirited Away'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 19 June 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (13 December 2020). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Film Is 1st Since Spirited Away to Earn 30 Billion Yen". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  14. ^ Harding, Daryl. "Toho Updates Spirited Away Lifetime Japanese Box Office Gross as Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Inches Closer to #1". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Demon Slayer Overtakes Spirited Away as Japan's Highest Grossing Film Ever". ScreenRant. 29 December 2020. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  16. ^ "The 75th Academy Awards (2003)". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 5 October 2014. Archived from the original on 28 November 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.


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