Spirited Away

Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese <a href="/facts/Anime/d5j1by0m">animated</a> <a href="/facts/Fantasy_film/fPX7SpAC">fantasy film</a> written and directed by <a href="/facts/Hayao_Miyazaki/gHabvrY5">Hayao Miyazaki</a>, animated by <a href="/facts/Studio_Ghibli/4nzIrvp2">Studio Ghibli</a> for <a href="/facts/Tokuma_Shoten/gBfJh4zL">Tokuma Shoten</a>, <a href="/facts/Nippon_Television_Network/c1yYfQBA">Nippon Television Network</a>, <a href="/facts/Dentsu/fSyI1TJt">Dentsu</a>, <a href="/facts/Buena_Vista_Home_Entertainment/2d7ffqpN">Buena Vista Home Entertainment</a>, <a href="/facts/Tohokushinsha_Film/o7nIxzVd">Tohokushinsha Film</a>, and <a href="/facts/Mitsubishi_Corporation/2ckD671A">Mitsubishi</a>. The film stars <a href="/facts/Rumi_Hiiragi/fSl1U5V5">Rumi Hiiragi</a>, <a href="/facts/Miyu_Irino/2BlLIogX">Miyu Irino</a>, <a href="/facts/Mari_Natsuki/mglC7nuY">Mari Natsuki</a>, Takeshi Naito, <a href="/facts/Yasuko_Sawaguchi/rKIYHBEo">Yasuko Sawaguchi</a>, <a href="/facts/Tsunehiko_Kamij%C5%8D/hf35sq4y">Tsunehiko Kamijō</a>, Takehiko Ono and <a href="/facts/Bunta_Sugawara/kkSpaz1v">Bunta Sugawara</a>. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro Ogino (Hiiragi), a 10-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighbourhood, enters the world of <a href="/facts/Kami/gwpVocGh">Kami</a> (spirits of Japanese <a href="/facts/Shinto/HAAJ0D9C">Shinto</a> folklore). After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba (Natsuki), Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's <a href="/facts/Sent%C5%8D/ry70sADW">bathhouse</a> to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.
Miyazaki wrote the script after he decided the film would be based on the 10-year-old daughter of his friend Seiji Okuda, the movie's associate producer, who came to visit his house each summer. At the time, Miyazaki was developing two personal projects, but they were rejected. With a budget of <a href="/facts/United_States_dollar/naEEDUhC">US$</a>19 million, production of Spirited Away began in 2000. <a href="/facts/Pixar/McUyzor2">Pixar</a> animator <a href="/facts/John_Lasseter/523NJcWg">John Lasseter</a>, a fan and friend of Miyazaki, convinced <a href="/facts/Walt_Disney_Pictures/22zg1xut">Walt Disney Pictures</a> to buy the film's North American distribution rights, and served as <a href="/facts/Executive_producer/HYuzvKSI">executive producer</a> of its English-dubbed version. Lasseter then hired <a href="/facts/Kirk_Wise/4JTNqYnd">Kirk Wise</a> as director and <a href="/facts/Donald_W._Ernst/ds2V29Wz">Donald W. Ernst</a> as producer, while screenwriters Cindy and Donald Hewitt wrote the English-language dialogue to match the characters' original Japanese-language lip movements.
Originally released in Japan on 20 July 2001 by distributor <a href="/facts/Toho/uKLDF4vP">Toho</a>, the film received universal acclaim, grossing $383.4 million at the worldwide box office. It is frequently considered one of the <a href="/facts/List_of_films_considered_the_best/pGV2gfUG">greatest animated films ever made</a> and ranks in the top 30 of <a href="/facts/IMDb/uWrqVYVy">IMDb</a>'s highest rated movies of all time. Accordingly, it became the most successful and <a href="/facts/List_of_highest-grossing_films_in_Japan/eb8Dp00L">highest-grossing film in Japanese history</a> with a total of <a href="/facts/Japanese_yen/Txz0CFhd">¥</a>31.68 billion ($305 million USD). It held the record for 19 years until it was surpassed by <a href="/facts/Demon_Slayer:_Kimetsu_no_Yaiba_the_Movie:_Mugen_Train/8XeDB4N2">Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train</a> in 2020.
It won the <a href="/facts/Academy_Award_for_Best_Animated_Feature/cCHt3MjJ">Academy Award for Best Animated Feature</a> at the <a href="/facts/75th_Academy_Awards/5B38lxCv">75th Academy Awards</a>, making it the first and only <a href="/facts/Hand-drawn_animation/CqPeCPBY">hand-drawn</a> and non-English-language animated film to win the award. It was the co-recipient of the <a href="/facts/Golden_Bear/zGSMCg8D">Golden Bear</a> at the <a href="/facts/2002_Berlin_International_Film_Festival/7BdbYDyR">2002 Berlin International Film Festival</a> (shared with <a href="/facts/Bloody_Sunday_(film)/1Rq1jRTQ">Bloody Sunday</a>), and is in the top 10 on the <a href="/facts/British_Film_Institute/AsbWhPE9">British Film Institute</a>'s list of "Top 50 films for children up to the age of 14". In 2016, it was voted the <a href="/facts/BBC%27s_100_Greatest_Films_of_the_21st_Century/uMTapsUI">4th-best film of the 21st century</a> by the <a href="/facts/BBC/qFateIz8">BBC</a>, as picked by 177 film critics from around the world, making it the highest-ranking animated film on the list. In 2017, it was also named the second "Best Film...of the 21st Century So Far" by <a href="/facts/The_New_York_Times/T9marWVX">The New York Times</a>.

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Spirited Away