Pokémon Movies Gross Almost A Half Billion Dollars

Distributor Toho boasted today that the feature films based on the Pokémon video game franchise have grossed over 50 billion yen to date, about $455 million in U.S. dollars. In financial terms, that's "a lot." The latest animated feature, Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin, opened in Japan this summer, collecting some $32 million, but disguised as yen. Nintendo announced earlier this year that it had sold over 175 million Pokémon games worldwide. We're thinking Nintendo and Toho might be on to something here. Just a hunch. 'Pokemon' sets record box office [Variety]