(Yicai Global) June 2 -- Two Japanese animated fantasy adventure films dominated the Chinese box office on their release yesterday, which was International Children’s Day.

Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia grossed CNY46.9 million (USD6.6 million) as of 7 p.m. China time yesterday, according to movie data platform Beacon Pro. While Laputa: Castle in the Sky was close behind with CNY32.4 million. Both are distributed in the country by China Film.

By comparison, Chinese animated movie, Qiaohu and the Fantastic Magic Circus, which was released on the same day, has only taken in CNY3.5 million. In total, movies released on June 1 had grossed over CNY120 million (USD16.9 million) as of 7 p.m. that day, according to Beacon.

Three of the top 10 movies to hit cinemas in the first half are animations.Chinese films Boonie Bears: Guardian Code and Deep Sea have raked in CNY1.5 billion (USD211.5 million) and CNY919 million respectively so far and Japan’s Suzume CNY805 million. 

Another Japanese animation, The First Slam Dunk, has grossed over CNY600 million in the mainland box office since it was released on April 20 and it will be in theaters until June 19.

Advances in artificial intelligence generated content are expected to boost the production of animated movies in the future, Beijing Enlight Media said earlier this month. As the technology becomes more mature, it will likely improve film production efficiency by 50 percent.

Editor: Kim Taylor