Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters

1. General Situation
Two years have passed since life under COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) started.
By February 2020, the pandemic situation had become serious, and by the end of March 2020 when the Tokyo
government requested people to refrain from going out over the weekends, many distributors of new films had
pushed back their release dates and movie house attendance fell by 80 to 90% compared with that in the year
before. On April 7th, 2020, a State of Emergency Declaration was issued in 7 prefectures including Tokyo. The
Declaration soon extended to the entire nation and all the movie houses in Japan closed. Movie houses closed foran average of 40 days. At the end of November 2020, the number of infections again rose, and at the end ofDecember 2020, more than 1,000 infections were reported in Tokyo. At the beginning of 2021, the second State ofEmergency Declaration was issued in Tokyo and 3 other prefectures, and expanded to 7 more prefectures later.
According to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s Japanese Film Industry Statistics, the total theaterattendance in 2020 was 106,137,000, 54.5% of that in the year before; its box office income was 143,285,000,000
yen, 54.9% of that in the year before.

fig.01 Changes in Number of Screens (1993-2021)

─From Japanese Film Industry Statistics (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan) and Film Exhibition Yearbook (Japan Community Cinema Center)In 2021, the pandemic was still spreading, and the State of Emergency Declaration was repeatedly issued in January,April, and July. Around September, the situation was somewhat tamed, and the restrictions over the theater1

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
capacities and operation hours were lifted. In the fall, many film festivals and related events were held, however, bythe end of the year, the new Omicron variant spread swiftly and widely, therefore, at the beginning of 2022, thePriority Measures Such As Prevention Of Spread was executed. During the year of 2021, there was no mandate toclose all theaters, however, large-scale theaters (mostly multi-screen theaters) in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka
were requested to temporarily close, and they stopped operation for nearly one month. Such requests for limited
capacities and operation hours continued through the end of September 2021, greatly impacting regular operations.
The total theater attendance in 2021 was 114,818,000, an 8% increase from that of the year before; and the box
office income was 161,893,000,000 yen, a 13% increase from that of the year before. However, if these numbers arecompared with those in 2019, they still reflect a drop of about 40%.

Number of Movie Houses and Screens Nationwide
The number of screens in 2021 was 3,687, an increase by 18 from that in 2020. The number of theaters was 596,increased by one from that in 2020. During the last 10 years from 2012 to 2021, the number of theaters decreasedby 44, while the number of screens increased by 322. Multi-screen theaters (Cinema Complex or “Cine-Com”)
increased by 42 and by 446 screens, while other types of theaters decreased by 86 and by 124 screens.
Multi-screen theaters have a total of 3,246 screens, 88.1% of the total number of screens in Japan. Since 2011,
the number of multi-screen theaters has been larger than that of other types of theaters. In 2021, there were 360
multi-screen theaters, occupying 60% of the total number, and 236 other types of theaters.
There were concerns that the number of theaters stopping their operation would increase because of theirtemporary closing and the decrease of the audiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the number ofthe permanently closed theaters in 2020-2021 was 13 (6 multi-screen theaters and 7 other types of theaters),
lower than the average of past statistics. In April 2020, Lemiere Akita in Akita City was closed; and in May 2020,
Tsuruoka Machinaka Kinema in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, announced its closing. Both theaters have reopened in different forms. On the other hand, in 2020-2021, 12 new multi-screen theaters and 9 other types oftheaters opened (including relocations and renewal openings).

fig.02 Changes in Attendance (2012-2021)

─From Japanese Film Industry Statistics (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan)

Attendance
In 2021, as was described above, the Japanese nationwide theater attendance was 114,818,000, 108.2% of that in2020, and the total box office income was 161,893,000,000 yen, 113 % of that in 2020. The box office income of2

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
Japanese films was 128,339,000,000 yen, not as large as that of 2019, however, larger than the 122,029,000,000
yen of 2018 and has recovered steadily. However, the attendance of foreign films has drastically dropped and its
box office income in 2021 was smaller than that in 2020, making the ratio of Japanese film box income vs. foreign
film box income 80% vs. 20% (until 2019, the ratio was 55% vs.45%).
In addition, the average admission had been around 1,300 yen for several years, however, it became 1,410 yen in
2021, close to 100 yen increase from 1,315 yen of 2018. It is considered that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, theshare of the senior population and children in the box office income decreased and the proportion of the regularfilm-goers with no discount price increased.

fig.03 Changes in Number of Theaters/Sites

fig.04 Changes in Number of Screens
according to Theater Types

according to Theater Types

─From Japanese Film Industry Statistics (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan) and Film Exhibition Yearbook (Japan Community Cinema Center)3Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters

Changes in Number of Theaters and Screens according to Theater Type−Multi-screen Theaters (Cinema Complex/Cine-Com)
There are 360 multi-screen theaters with 3,249 screens, more than any other type of theater and occupying 88.1%of the total number of screens (3,687). During the last 10 years, multi-screen theaters increased by 42 andscreens by 446. From 2000 to 2008, roughly 20-30 multi-screen theaters were added annually, but after 2009, thepace has slowed down to 5-6 new theaters every year. In 2021, Theatas (Aeon Cinema) Shinsaibashi and TOHOCinemas Seven Park Amami in Osaka Prefecture, Aeon Cinema Shin-Rifu in Miyagi Prefecture, Aeon Cinema
Kawaguchi in Saitama Prefecture, and Aeon Cinema Hakusan in Ishikawa Prefecture opened. On the other hand,in 2022, Cinema Sunshine Daikaido in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, and Alex Cinema in Shiga Prefecture
closed.
−Conventional Theaters
During the last 10 years, conventional theaters have decreased by 60 and by 119 screens, falling to 67 theaters
and 159 screens in 2021. During the period from 2010 to 2013, digitalization in film exhibition spread, andconventional theaters that could not afford big-scale facility investment to change from film projection to digital
cinema projection began to close, and 15-20 theaters closed every year. Currently, the situation has stabilized.
Among the conventional theaters, more theaters (Utsunomiya Hikari-za, Chiba Gekijo, Shiojiri Higashi-za, Nagano
Roxie, Cinex, etc.) began to present mini-theater-like programs in order to maintain clear differences from multiscreen theater programming. Also, there have been increasing examples of different organizations taking overclosed conventional theaters and employing mini-theater-like programming (Ueda Eigeki, Onari-za, Yokohama
Cinemarine, Takada Sekaikan, Toyooka Gekijo, Theater Shiema, Hida Liberte, etc.). On the other hand, “new” typesof conventional theaters began to open (Alve Theater in Akita, Cinema Sunrise Hitachi, Okawa Cinema Hall inFukuoka, etc.), and it has been difficult to sort out theaters in the existing categories of “multi-screen theaters,”“conventional theaters” and “mini-theaters and repertory theaters.”−Mini- Theaters and Repertory Theaters
The total number of mini-theaters and repertory theaters together was 136 theaters with 240 screens; an increaseof 5 theaters and 30 screens during the last 10 years. In 2021, Cinema Neko in Ome City, Tokyo, and Ebisu
Cinema in Tanba City, Hyogo Prefecture, opened. In addition, Miyazaki Kinema-kan moved to a new location andrenovated the theaters, reopening with 4 screens. Tsuruoka Machinaka Kinema was once closed in 2020,
however, has been endeavoring to reopen, and in October to December 2021, it conducted pre-opening
screenings. In 2022, new theaters opened including Onozawa Cinema in Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture, K2
Shimokita Ekimae Cinema in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, and Kino Cinema Kobe Kokusai (taking over Kobe Kokusai
Shochiku in Hyogo Prefecture).
Different from usual theaters, Zig Theater opened by renovating a former elementary school building in Yurihamacho in Tottori Prefecture and started screenings in July 2021 (about once a month). In Akita, a similar screeningorganization, Out Crop Cinema, opened. Movements to create a place for screenings, different from theconventional “business,” should be increasing from now on.
While new screening venues have been created, a pioneer mini-theater, Iwanami Hall (in Jimbo-cho, Tokyo), at thebeginning of 2022, made an announcement that it will close at the end of July, 2022, creating shock waves inside4

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
and outside of Japan. It made the public realize the seriousness of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic overactivities in arts and culture. Furthermore, in February 2022, Toyooka Gekijo in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture,
made an announcement that at the end of August, it will close for a while.
During the last 10 years, the number of adult film theaters has decreased, falling to one half their previous
number. They decreased to 33 theaters and 39 screens.

fig.05 Changes in Number of Theaters and Screens according to Theater Types in Each Region

─Populations: From Population Statistics (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Statistics Bureau) Every year as of October 1
─# of Theaters and Screens: From Japanese Film Industry Statistics (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan) and Film Exhibition Activities
Almanac (Japan Community Cinema Center)5Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters

Changes in Number of Theaters and Screens according to Region
In 2021, the total number of movie theaters in Japan was 596, decreasing by 44 during the last 10 years.
Meanwhile, the total number of screens in Japan has increased by 322 to 3,687.
In each region, the number of screens has increased. In all the regions except Kanto Region, populations havedecreased. Regions with the greatest decrease include Hokkaido/Tohoku (5.9%) and Chugoku/Shikoku (5.2%),
larger than others. When comparing each region’s ratio of screens to that of population, the number of screen in
the Chubu and Kyushu/Okinawa Regions were more than 1% higher than that in other regions. In
Kyushu/Okinawa Region, the number of theaters and that of screens have both increased during the last 10 years,
and their screen to population ratio has increased by almost 2%.
Multi-screen theaters have increased in almost all regions in both the number of theaters and the number ofscreens. The pace of increase has been slow since 2009, compared with that of the period between 2000 and2008 when 20-30 theaters opened annually. Nonetheless, during the last 10 years, both numbers have largely
increased in some regions: in the Kanto Region (by 14 theaters and 160 screens); in the Kinki Region (by 10theaters and 106 screens); and these numbers show that in big cities multi-screen theaters have increased. In
both the Chubu Region (by 6 theaters and 64 screens) and in the Kyushu/Okinawa Region (by 7 theaters and 60screens), these numbers have significantly increased.
The number of theaters other than multi-screen theaters and their number of screens both decreased in eachregion. However, except in the Hokkaido/Tohoku Region, the numbers of mini-theaters and repertory theaters
together in other regions have increased during the last 10 years. During this period, more than 40 mini-theaters
and repertory theaters together opened. Outside of big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Hiroshima,
more mini-theaters opened in small- and middle-sized cities, towns, and villages whose populations are less than
200,000, such as Odate City (Onari-za), Naka City (Amaya-za), Ome City (Cinema Neko), Joetsu City (TakadaSekaikan), Ueda City (Ueda Eigeki/Traum Raise), Tanba City (Ebisu Cinema), Masuda City (Onozawa Cinema),
Karatsu City (Theater Enya), and Okinawa City (Theater Donuts and Cine Plaza House 1954).
On the other hand, the number of conventional theaters and that of screens have decreased during the last 10years: in the Kanto Region, by 18 theaters and 35 screens; in the Chubu Region, by 16 theaters and 31 screens; inthe Kinki Region, by 9 theaters and 22 screens; and in the Chugoku/Shikoku Regions, by 9 theaters and 23screens. During the last 10 years, many multi-screen theaters have opened in big cities, and in Tokyo, Nagoya,Shizuoka, Osaka, Hyogo, Hiroshima and so on, conventional theaters have disappeared in the city centers.
The number of adult film theaters has decreased in all regions. In March 2020, an old theater with more than 60
years of history, the Ekimae Cinema in Kanazawa City, closed.

There are notable issues of the film exhibition activities in 2020 and 2021 under the COVID-19 pandemic, notincluded in the numbers of the data. One of them is the rise of activities to support mini-theaters whose economic
basis are weak and their survivals were in crisis under the spread of COVID-19. Directors such as Ryusuke
Hamaguchi and Koji Fukada created the “Mini-Theater Aid Fund,” raising 331,025,487 yen through crowdfunding
from supporters and sending the money to mini-theaters all over Japan. The “SAVE the CINEMA” movement
encouraged requests for emergent support of mini-theaters and presented them to the Japanese governments
and their agencies. They collected a total of 91,659 signatures, and kept engaged in lobbyist activities, resulting in6

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
the Agency for Cultural Affairs to include mini-theaters for the support targets of the “Continuing Support Projects
for Culture and Arts Activities.”
These activities have been continued after 2021 in different forms. They have been expanded to more inclusive
movements to create an organization to support and promote the film industry and film culture covering
production, distribution, exhibition (screenings), education, and preservation (the Japanese version of CNC). They
are also promoting activities to cope with the problems of inferior labor conditions of culture and arts
organizations revealed under the COVID-19 pandemic, harassments, and gender unbalances at productions.
It is important that the Agency for Cultural Affairs began to support mini-theaters.
Following the above-mentioned support projects, in 2021, a new support system was established entitled “ARTSfor the Future! The Support Project to Enhance Culture and Arts Activities In Order to Overcome COVID-19 (AFF).”This support project is different from previous ones, being more practical and suitable for mini-theaters keeping
their activities year around, and many theaters and exhibitors applied and received AFF’s supports. Thanks tothese, a number of diverse programs of special screenings and related events took place from summer to autumn
of 2021 despite the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic was still spreading. This resulted in changing the way of
thinking of the people who operate mini-theaters and film exhibitions.
Luckily, so far, the decrease of attendance and box office income due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not had asignificant impact on the number of theaters and screens or the closing of many theaters. However, it isconsidered that the effects of COVID-19 will continue for a long time.
Moreover, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has shown tragic situations not easily solved. This could
have influence over film exhibition activities as well as psychological effects. At the same time, the world does
not stop, and details like the deadline for digital cinema projectors is approaching, so we continue to move
forward.

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Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters8Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters

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