Why Is Anime Topping the Box Office in the US?

Few years ago watching anime might have been seen as a weird choice, but that is hardly the case these days. Anime industry is pulling in more money than ever.

“We're seeing a growing appetite for anime in all demos, in all countries,” notes Gaku Narita, executive director at The Walt Disney Co., "it's increasingly becoming a form of mass entertainment without borders."

“The atmosphere of going to the theater to see an anime is very different from watching a normal Hollywood movie,” notes Asa Suehira, chief content officer at anime streamer and distributor Crunchyroll, which builds US anime audiences for years.

“People dress up in cosplay, they shout from the crowd when their favorite character appears on screen or sing along to the songs,” he explains. "It's really more of an event than just watching a movie."

 

Global Demand

At the height of the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, when total US Box Office sales fell 80% for the year and Japan's theatrical market fell 45%, the total Japanese movie industry anime contracted by just 3.5%, with a total market value of around $21.3 billion (over 2.4 trillion yen).

During that same difficult year, the anime industry also produced its biggest theatrical hit of all time: Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, an action-packed period fantasy that grossed nearly $48 million in North America, $365 million in Japan and $504 million worldwide, becoming the biggest theatrical blockbuster of any genre in 2020 (beating Chinese war film The Eight Hundred, which banked 461 million in its home market).

According to Parrot Analytics, global demand for anime content has grown 118% over the past two years, making it one of the fastest growing content genres throughout the world. The company measures its demand metric by combining consumer data with activity from social media, social video, and independent research.

“Even in times of a pandemic, the anime market has always flourished,” noted Kana Koido, partner at Japanese independent distributor The Klockworx Co. during a recent panel discussion at the Far East Film Festival. "Japan is such a unique market, where even though the total Box Office in 2020 was almost half of what it was in 2019, there was still this rare content that did better than ever."

The key force behind such growth has been a growing demographic embrace of anime culture, everywhere.

Over the past five to ten years, in Japan and the West, there's almost been this anime renaissance that's happened, where it's gone from this thing that one would be bullied for showing interest in, to something that all kinds of people want to talk about.

The 27-year-old anime influencer Joseph Tetsuro Bizinger, who goes by Joey The Anime Man on YouTube, where his channel has grown over the past decade to 3.2 million subscribers, said: "It was through this movement that gaming went through in the 1990s, where if you played games you were a nerd, until everyone was playing games. This is why animated movies are becoming such a massive thing.It’s not just a few nerds from your class who go see [the latest anime release]—now the entire class is going to go."

 

Rising Popularity

The animated movies in the US have also become increasingly popular with the new animated movie DC League of Super Pets topping the North American box office this weekend with $23 million in revenue.

George Quitoriano researcher at Faculty for Leadership & Strategy at Ateneo de Manila University explained the popularity of animation movies by three factors. He said: “First, the quality of animated movies have been getting better. Not only is the animation improving, but the animated films of today have evolved to have deeper narratives and more mature themes.”

In the past few decades, the works of studios like Disney, Pixar Animation, DreamWorks, Ghibli, Laika, Cartoon Saloon, and Aardman have far surpassed the animated movies of previous generations.

Secondly, the audience for animated movies have grown to include adults. Unlike previous generations, both the Millenials and Gen X have retained their appreciation for the medium into adulthood. There are even animated movies that are not suitable for children (e.g. Anomalisa, Sausage Party, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge, Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons). In some instances (e.g. long delayed sequels, animated adaptations), the parents may be more excited for new animated movies than their children.

Lastly, Quitoriano concluded, the production budgets for these animated films are bigger than ever and this will lead to even better movies that will bring in even more audiences, further expanding the animation industry.

 

Anime Boom Time 

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, Hamza Guenouni the researcher at Kent University said: “The anime also continues to operate under its own unique logic. Setting it apart from most forms of filmmaking, anime's theatrical earning power has been enhanced rather than eroded by the streaming revolution, which continues to increase the accessibility and awareness of key titles, while by shortening the cycle between the release of hit anime television series and the spin-off feature films that typically follow in theaters.”

He added: “Anime's strong fan culture and event-driven nature of its releases would seem almost tailor-made for a time when the theatrical model needs to emphasize the benefits of the in-person community experience more than ever.”

The anime boom times triggered a predictable wave of consolidation and transactions in the industry. Last year, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired Crunchyroll, one of the largest US-based anime streamers, for $1.2 billion from AT&T.

The Japanese conglomerate has since merged Crunchyroll with Funimation, the anime streaming service it already owned, creating the largest specialized platform devoted to the subculture. AMC Networks followed in January with the acquisition of Houston-based Sentai Holdings, a global provider of anime content and merchandise best known for its popular anime-focused streaming service, HIDIVE.

Meanwhile, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video also continue to expand their anime offerings, while HBO Max, which has yet to launch in Asia, has been known to line up licensing deals.