Most successful movies in Japan 2021, based on revenue
A ranking based on revenue showed that "Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet" was the leading movie at the Japanese box office in 2021, achieving a result of more than 61 million U.S. dollars. Mamoru Hosoda's "Belle" followed with a gross revenue of more than 55 million dollars.
High popularity of movie theaters in the late 2010s
Based on the number of admissions, watching movies at theaters has become more popular again in Japan. After a slump in the 1990s and a subsequent recovery in the 2000s, the number of admissions reached record highs in 2016 and 2019 which were not seen since the early 1970s. The success of movie theaters is largely depending on the release of hit titles. In 2016, Makoto Shinkai's animated movie "Your Name" became a phenomenon by enticing many young people in their teens and twenties to visit theaters and spread the word via social media. "Your Name" was the first anime movie to exceed a revenue of 10 billion yen aside from the works of Hayao Miyazaki. It has since been eclipsed by "Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train", which was released in October 2020 and became Japan's most successful film to date despite the negative effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on theaters.
The Japanese movie industry
The total number of movies released to Japanese theaters amounted to 959 titles in 2021. While this constituted a decrease compared to previous years, both the number of Japanese and the number of imported movies were still considerably higher than during earlier decades. While there were more foreign than domestic movies released between 1987 and 2005, Japanese movies dominated from 2006 to 2019. Although the discrepancy in the number of movies has not been large in 2021, the share of Japanese movies with regard to box office gross receipts amounted to 79.3 percent.
High popularity of movie theaters in the late 2010s
Based on the number of admissions, watching movies at theaters has become more popular again in Japan. After a slump in the 1990s and a subsequent recovery in the 2000s, the number of admissions reached record highs in 2016 and 2019 which were not seen since the early 1970s. The success of movie theaters is largely depending on the release of hit titles. In 2016, Makoto Shinkai's animated movie "Your Name" became a phenomenon by enticing many young people in their teens and twenties to visit theaters and spread the word via social media. "Your Name" was the first anime movie to exceed a revenue of 10 billion yen aside from the works of Hayao Miyazaki. It has since been eclipsed by "Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train", which was released in October 2020 and became Japan's most successful film to date despite the negative effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on theaters.
The Japanese movie industry
The total number of movies released to Japanese theaters amounted to 959 titles in 2021. While this constituted a decrease compared to previous years, both the number of Japanese and the number of imported movies were still considerably higher than during earlier decades. While there were more foreign than domestic movies released between 1987 and 2005, Japanese movies dominated from 2006 to 2019. Although the discrepancy in the number of movies has not been large in 2021, the share of Japanese movies with regard to box office gross receipts amounted to 79.3 percent.
