While Toy Story 4 broke global box office records for an animated movie, Chinese filmgoers have another animation at the forefront of their minds.
The Japanese animation Spirited Away beat Toy Story 4 in the Chinese box office in its opening weekend, making more than twice as much as the Disney film.
Though Spirited Away was released in 2001, it has only now been aired in China. 18 years later.
The late release may be as a result of political tensions between China and Japan in the past.
Right now that relationship has improved significantly and there is a lot of movement on Sino-Japanese co-productions, including in anime, Stanley Rosen from the University of Southern California told the BBC on why some Japanese movies are only just being aired in China.
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Spirited Away is directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is about a young girl who attended an abandoned theme park with her parents and ended up in a fantasy world.
It is also the first non-English animated film to win an Academy Award.
More: Disney
The highly anticipated fourth film in the Toy Story franchise sees the much loved Sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) accompanied by a new homemade toy called Forky.
Viewers are also introduced to the doll Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks), Bunny and Ducky (Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key) and Canadian toy Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves).
Toy Story 4 garnered around £10.4million in the country during its fRead More – Source
