27 October 2004 which includes the film's theme song, sung by Chieko Baisho (the Japanese voice actor for Sophie), its karaoke version, and a piano version of the film's main theme, "The Merry-Go-Round of Life". Release and reception Box office The film opened at the 61st Venice Film Festival in 2004, and was released in Japan on 20 November 2004. The film grossed $14.5 million in its first week of release in Japan alone. The film was distributed in Japan by Toho, and made $190,000,000 in that country. It was distributed internationally by various companies, and made approximately an additional $45,000,000 outside Japan, for a worldwide total of $235,184,110. The film was later dubbed into English under the supervision of Pete Docter of Pixar, and released in the United States by Walt Disney Pictures on 10 June 2005. It was one of the most commercially successful Japanese films ever made. Soon after its release, it became the third most financially successful film in Japan, behind Titanic and Spirited Away. Home media On home video, Howl's Moving Castle sold 2.7million DVD units in Japan , and grossed over from Blu-ray and DVD sales in the United States . It was released in the United States on DVD on 7 March 2006 and on Blu-ray by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on 21 May 2013. GKIDS re-released the film on Blu-ray and DVD on 17 October 2017. In the United Kingdom, the film's Studio Ghibli anniversary release was 2015's eighth best-selling foreign language film on home video, and fifth best-selling Japanese film (below four other Studio Ghibli anime films). It was later 2018's fourth best-selling foreign language film in the UK (below the Japanese films My Neighbor Totoro, Your Name and Blade of the Immortal). Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 87% approval rating based on 181 reviews, with an average rating of 7.47/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Exquisitely illustrated by master animator Miyazaki, Howl's Moving Castle will delight children with its fantastical story and touch the hearts and minds of older viewers as well." The film also holds an 80/100 average on Metacritic, based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". USA Today critic Claudia Puig gave the film a positive review, praising it for its ability to blend "a childlike sense of wonder with sophisticated emotions and motives". Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies