List of highest-grossing anime films


The following are lists of highest-grossing anime films. It includes the all-time highest-grossing anime films, the highest-grossing anime films by year and the highest-grossing anime film franchises. This article only covers box office revenue, and does not include ancillary revenue from other sources such as home entertainment or merchandise sales.

Highest-grossing anime films worldwide

The following chart is a list of the top 50 highest-grossing anime films. More than ten of these films are also in the top 50 traditional animated films. 86.7% of the films in the top 30 were released after 2000. 2012 is the most represented year on the list, with six films. Pokémon is the most represented animated film franchise, with twelve films on the list, while the Doraemon, Detective Conan, Dragon Ball and One Piece series feature prominently. Studio Ghibli is the most represented anime studio, with eleven films on the list.
The films on this chart have all had a theatrical run since 1997, and films that have not played since then do not appear on the chart due to ticket-price inflation, population size and ticket purchasing trends not being considered.
The list only includes box office revenue, and does not include ancillary revenue from other sources such as home entertainment or merchandise sales, where a number of anime films earn significantly more revenue. My Neighbour Totoro, for example, grossed about from home video and licensed merchandise sales. Similarly, Castle in the Sky grossed a total of approximately in combined box office, home video and soundtrack sales, and Akira earned in home video sales.

Highest-grossing anime films in Japan

This is a list of highest-grossing anime films in Japan, Domestic gross figures.
RankTitleJapan gross
Year
1Spirited Away30.802001
2Your Name25.032016
3Howl's Moving Castle19.602004
4Princess Mononoke19.301997
5Ponyo15.502008
6Weathering with You 14.062019
7The Wind Rises12.022013
8' 9.372019
9Arrietty9.252010
10'9.182018
11Stand by Me Doraemon8.382014
12'7.802014
13Tales from Earthsea7.652006
14'7.601998
15'6.892017
16'6.872012
17The Cat Returns6.462002
18'6.401999
19'6.332016
20The Boy and the Beast5.852015
21' 5.552019
22'5.532015
23Porco Rosso5.401992
24'5.372018
25'5.302012
26'5.202016
27'5.022007
28'5.012019
29'4.852000
30'4.802009
31'4.802008
32'4.672009
33'4.502003
34'4.482015
35Pom Poko4.471994
36From Up on Poppy Hill4.462011
37'4.432017
38'4.382004
394.332011
40Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato4.301978
41Kiki's Delivery Service4.301989
42'4.302005
43'4.262013
44Wolf Children4.222012
45'4.162010
46'4.122016
47'4.112014
48'4.002018
49'4.002009
503.982013

Highest-grossing anime films by year

This is a list of highest-grossing anime films by year, since 1977. The most number of films represented are by Doraemon with 13films on the list, as of 2020.
Up until 1999, the Japanese box office was most commonly reported in terms of :ja:配給収入|distribution income, which was equivalent to approximately half of the total gross receipts at the Japanese box office. Since 2000, the Japanese box office has been reported in terms of total box office gross. The worldwide gross figures for anime films were also not reported prior to 1997. As such, there are two tables. The first table shows the Japan distribution rentals and box office gross receipts up until 1996, while the second table shows the worldwide gross revenue since 1997.
YearTitleJapan distribution rentalsJapan gross receipts
1977Space Battleship Yamato
1978Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato
1979Galaxy Express 999
1980'
1981'
1982'
1983Harmagedon: Genma Wars
1984'
1985'
1986'
1987'
1988'
1989Kiki's Delivery Service
1990'
1991Only Yesterday
1992Porco Rosso
1993'
1994Pom Poko
1995Whisper of the Heart
1996'

YearTitleWorldwide grossBudget
1997Princess Mononoke
1998'
1999'
2000'
2001Spirited Away
2002'
2003'
2004Howl's Moving Castle
2005'
2006'
2007'
2008Ponyo
2009'
2010The Secret World of Arrietty
2011From Up on Poppy Hill
2012'
2013The Wind Rises
2014Stand by Me Doraemon
2015'
2016Your Name
2017'
2018'$124,500,000
2019Weathering with You $193,091,764
2020Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul $5,400,000

Anime box office admissions

The following table lists known estimated box office ticket sales for various high-grossing anime films that have sold more than 1million tickets worldwide.
Note that some of the data are incomplete due to a lack of available admissions data from a number of countries. Therefore, it is not an exhaustive list of all the highest-grossing anime films by ticket sales, so no rankings are given.
TitleTicket sales Year
Spirited Away45,595,2212001
Your Name44,342,4122016
'36,837,7061998
Weathering with You 22,668,6432019
Stand by Me Doraemon22,660,4742014
Howl's Moving Castle21,943,3362004
'19,503,1602000
Ponyo18,101,4542008
'16,227,1752018
Princess Mononoke16,214,8301997
' 14,433,9772019
The Secret World of Arrietty12,415,7302012
The Wind Rises11,851,7492013
'10,072,4492001
'6,546,9092000
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie4,436,7082004

Highest-grossing anime film franchises and film series

The following chart is a list of the highest-grossing anime film franchises.
The top six are among the highest-grossing animated film franchises of all time. Doraemon is the top-grossing anime film franchise of all time, and one of the highest-grossing animated film franchises with over. Doraemon sold more than 100million tickets at the Japanese box office by April 2015, surpassing Godzilla as the highest-grossing film franchise in Japan. Pokémon has the highest per-film average, with about per film. A given franchise needs to have at least two theatrically released films to be on this list.
Note that many of the box office gross figures given for older films released before 2000 are in terms of :ja:配給収入|distribution income, which was equivalent to approximately half of the total gross revenue at the Japanese box office.

Franchise and series sources