Japanese studio Toei announced today that its total box office revenue reached a record Yen32.56BN (US$246.6M) for the calendar year 2022, partly thanks to the strong performances of anime blockbusters One Piece Film Red and The First Slam Dunk.
The studio’s box office receipts easily beat its previous record annual high of Yen17.98BN (US$136.2M at today’s exchange rate) achieved in 2009. It also announced that it sold 23.65 million tickets in 2022, a year in which Japan’s box office recovered at a faster rate than many other markets in the region.
One Piece Film Red, the latest instalment in a long-running franchise, opened on August 6 last year and has since sold 13.79 million tickets and earned more than Yen19BN (US$144M) in Japan alone.
The film has also grossed around US$35.5M from international box office markets, with its biggest territories in revenue terms including North America, France and Germany, according to Box Office Mojo.
The First Slam Dunk, also adapted from a popular manga series, opened on December 3 and is still currently the number one film in Japan, grossing $56.9M so far. It was one of two films, the other being Mokoto Shinkai’s Suzume, that kept Avatar: The Way Of Water off the top spot when in opened in Japan in third position on December 16.
Directed and written by Inoue Takehiko, The First Slam Dunk is based on the Slam Dunk basketball manga series, created by Takehiko, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1990 to 1996. The film will be released by Hong Kong-based MediaLink in Hong Kong and Macau on January 12.
Toei’s release slate in 2009 included One Piece Film Strong World, live action drama Mt. Tsurugidake, starring Tadanobu Asano, and two ‘tokusatsu’ films (live action with heavy use of special effects) that were released as a double bill – Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger the Movie: The Fateful War.
Japan has been one of the fastest recovering box office territories in Asia, getting back to around 90% of pre-pandemic levels of business in 2022, mostly thanks to local anime and a few Hollywood titles. Four out of the top five films in 2022 were local animated features, headed by One Piece Film Red, and also including Jujutsu Kaisen 0, Suzume and Detective Conan: The Bride Of Halloween. The other film in the top five was Top Gun: Maverick, which ranked third with Yen13.5BN (US$102M)
‘One Piece Film Red’ Helps Drive Toei Box Office To Record US$247M
