Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し)

2001

AnimationFamilyFantasy2h 5m

Budget

$19,000,000

Domestic Box Office

$13,750,644

Worldwide Box Office

$274,925,095

Synopsis

Chihiro and her parents are moving to a small Japanese town in the countryside, much to Chihiro's dismay. On the way to their new home, Chihiro's father makes a wrong turn and drives down a lonely one-lane road which dead-ends in front of a tunnel. Her parents decide to stop the car and explore the area. They go through the tunnel and find an abandoned amusement park on the other side, with its own little town. When her parents see a restaurant with great-smelling food but no staff, they decide to eat and pay later. However, Chihiro refuses to eat and decides to explore the theme park a bit more. She meets a boy named Haku who tells her that Chihiro and her parents are in danger, and they must leave immediately. She runs to the restaurant and finds that her parents have turned into pigs. In addition, the theme park turns out to be a town inhabited by demons, spirits, and evil gods. At the center of the town is a bathhouse where these creatures go to relax. The owner of the bathhouse is the evil witch Yubaba, who is intent on keeping all trespassers as captive workers, including Chihiro. Chihiro must rely on Haku to save her parents in hopes of returning to their world.

What is the budget of Spirited Away?

"Spirited Away," a animation released in 2001, was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and stars Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino. The production budget was $19,000,000, placing it in the low-budget range for animation productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for a animation production like this include:

Animation Production Pipeline: The bulk of an animated film's budget funds the multi-year production pipeline: storyboarding, character modeling, rigging, animation, lighting, rendering, and compositing.
Voice Talent: Celebrity voice casting has become standard for studio animation, with A-list actors earning $5 to 15 million for voice roles.
Music, Songs & Sound Design: Original songs and orchestral scores are central to animated storytelling. Sound design for animated worlds must be created entirely from scratch.
Music & Score: The film score of Spirited Away was composed and conducted by Miyazaki's regular collaborator Joe Hisaishi, and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic.

What were the major cost factors in Spirited Away?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Spirited Away."

Animation Production Pipeline: Animation Production Pipeline is one of the primary cost drivers in animation productions of this scale.
Voice Talent: Voice Talent is one of the primary cost drivers in animation productions of this scale.
Music: Music, Songs & Sound Design is one of the primary cost drivers in animation productions of this scale.

How Does Spirited Away's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $19,000,000, Spirited Away sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

A Cinderella Story (2004): Budget $19,000,000, Worldwide Gross $70,067,909
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011): Budget $19,000,000, Worldwide Gross $36,192,775
Action Point (2018): Budget $19,000,000, Worldwide Gross $5,059,608
Arthur the King (2024): Budget $19,000,000, Worldwide Gross $40,829,138
Back to the Future (1985): Budget $19,000,000, Worldwide Gross $381,109,762

The median budget for wide-release animation films in the 2000s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Spirited Away Box Office Performance

"Spirited Away" earned $13,750,644 domestically and $274,925,095 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $19,000,000, the film performed strongly at the box office.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "Spirited Away," that break-even threshold was roughly $38,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $274,925,095, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

Production Budget: $19,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $274,925,095
Net Return: $255,925,095
ROI: approximately 1347%

At 1347%, "Spirited Away" earned roughly $14.47 for every $1 invested in production.

Spirited Away Production History

The film score of Spirited Away was composed and conducted by Miyazaki's regular collaborator Joe Hisaishi, and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic. The soundtrack received awards at the 56th Mainichi Film Competition Award for Best Music, the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2001 Best Music Award in the Theater Movie category, and the 17th Japan Gold Disk Award for Animation Album of the Year. Later, Hisaishi added lyrics to "One Summer's Day" and named the new version of the song which was performed by Ayaka Hirahara.

Awards and Recognition

Won 1 Oscar. 58 wins & 31 nominations total

Golden Bear (52nd Berlin International Film Festival)
Animation Kobe Theatrical Film Award
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature: Hayao Miyazaki (75th Academy Awards)