Japan: Anime films attract more and more viewers to the cinema

On the Japanese news website Yahoo! News Japan has recently been the rapidly increasing popularity of anime films discussed. We summarize for you.

Anime films are becoming more and more successful

What used to be considered a unique milestone and only happened every few years is now being achieved more and more frequently, as more and more anime films break the magic barrier of 10 billion yen (about 72 million euros) in box office.

In the last three years alone, with »Demon Slayer: Mugen Train«, »Weathering with You«, »Jujutsu Kaisen 0«, »Evangelion: 3.0+1-0 Thrice Upon a Time« and »One Piece Film: Red«, currently in cinemas, five anime titles. In the previous 36 years, only six anime, separated by several years, accomplished this.

The reasons are identified as varied. On the one hand, the cinema abstinence forced by COVID-19 subsequently attracted many viewers back to the cinema – true to the motto: You only miss something when you’ve lost it. On the other hand, anime has finally established itself as mainstream and even non-anime fans see it as an interesting alternative.

This turnaround is mainly »Demon Slayer: Mugen Train«. Due to the incredible box office receipts and extraordinary marketing and social media efforts, the film generated so much attention that it also became a topic in the mainstream media and society, which, as already mentioned, also made ordinary moviegoers curious.

For a long time, »Spirited Away« with box office receipts of over 31.7 billion yen was considered untouchable and a record for eternity. But at the latest with the record income of »Demon Slayer: Mugen Train« over 40.3 billion yen and the current upward trend should have made everyone aware of the great potential of anime films.