Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters

3．Comparison with Foreign Countries [2020]
The data of foreign countries are from:The United States of America (and Canada): Motion Picture Association（MPA）"Theatrical Home Entertainment Market Environment (THEME) Report"
https://www.motionpictures.org/research-policy/
France: Centre National du Cinema et de l'Image Animee（CNC）"Bilan du CNC"
https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/etudes-et-rapports/bilans
The United Kingdom : British Film Institute（BFI）"Statistical Yearbook"https://www.bfi.org.uk/industry-data-insights/
Germany : Filmförderungsanstalt（FFA）"FFA Info"
http://www.ffa.de/studien-und-publikationen.html
Australia: Screen Australia"Fact Finders"
https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/
Korea : Korean Film Council 영화진흥위원회（KOFIC）”Korean Film Industry”
http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/publications/books.jsp
Japan: “Film Almanac 2020” “Statistics: Various Statistics of the Major Countries of the World” (Kinema Jumpo-sha)

As of the end of January 2022, the statistics of foreign countries have not been released online. Below is thecomparison of the statistics in Japan and other countries (the USA [United States of America]/Canada, France,
the UK [United Kingdom], Germany, Korea, and Australia) in 2020. These countries were under the COVID-19
pandemic in 2020-2021.

Attendance
The Japanese film industry was gravely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, however, movie theater operations inother countries were even more seriously damaged.
In comparison of the attendance in 2020 with that in 2019, the USA and Canada showed the largest damage byan 81% decrease, followed by UK’s 75%, Korea’s 74%, France’s 69%, Germany’s 68%, Australia’s 67%. In Japan,
the decrease was only 46%. In Europe and North America, the situation was severe, where the COVID-19
pandemic spread rapidly and the number of seriously affected increased swiftly. Movie theaters in New York in
the USA were closed for almost one year from March 2020 to spring of 2021. In France, the government took
lockdown measures in March 2020 causing movie theaters to be closed nationwide. Theaters reopened in June,
however, at the end of October, they closed again and did not reopen until mid-May 2021, more than 6 months
later. The situations in the UK and Germany were similar. In Korea, not all theaters were closed, however, the1Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
prevention measures caused theater attendance to drop dramatically, some theaters had to close temporarily, andsome multi-screen theaters increased their admission prices.
The number of films a person went to see annually (the attendance divided by the population) was in eachcountry largely decreased: in Korea, the number was the highest at 1.1 films (4.4 films in 2019), followed by 1.0
film of France (3.3 films in 2019) and 1.0 film of Australia (3.3 films in 2019), 0.7 film of the UK (2.6 in 2019), and 0.6
films of the USA/Canada (3.4 films in 2019).

fig.17 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Attendance (2011-2020)]

fig.18 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Number of Films A Person Went to See Annually ( 2011-2020)]

Numbers of Theaters and Screens
In all seven countries, the number of screens until 2019 increased because of the increase of multi-screen
theaters, however, in 2020, the number in each country decreased (except France and Japan whose number ofscreens slightly increased). Australia had the highest decrease but it was only 3%. In these countries, the policies
in order to support movie theater operations were implemented in various ways.
In Japan, a number of movements began to emerge in order to encourage movie theaters and to ask for public
support of the movie theaters and exhibitors such as Mini-Theater Aid Fund, SAVE the CINEMA and Mini-Theater
Park. Movie theaters themselves have endeavored to survive by employing virtual cinema or online screenings2Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
and other various measures. The number of screens in 2020 was 40,988 in the USA, which was much higher
than those of other countries, followed by 6,127 in France, 4,925 of Germany and 4,682 in the UK.
When the population per screen (the population divided by the number of screen) is lower, it means that there are
more screens near you. The population per screen in Japan was 34,241, and this means that there were much
fewer screens compared with those in other countries. The USA’s population per screen was 9,013, and France’spopulation per screen was 10,629. In all 6 countries other than Japan, the population per screen was roughly
between 10,000 and 20,000. In Japan, the number of screens was one forth of that in the USA, one third of that inFrance, and one half of that in Germany and Korea.

fig.19 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Number of Screens (2011-2020)]

fig.20 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Number of Theaters (2016-2020]

fig.21 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Population per Screen]

Box Office Income/Admission Price [2019]
In 2019, the box office income in Japan was the third largest, coming after the USA/Canada and China. The
theater ticket price in Japan was on average 1,340 yen (1,410 yen in 2021), relatively higher than that of othercountries, and this is one reason why box office income in Japan was high. On the other hand, the high admissionis also considered to be the reason why the number of films a person went to see at theaters has not increased.

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Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters

Attendance and Box Office Income Per Screen
In all the countries, the number of the annual attendance per screen (the annual attendance divided by thenumber of screens) was lower in 2020 compared with that in 2019, becoming 26% to 31% or one forth to onethird. However, in Japan, the number was 28,928, 54% of 53,739 in 2019.
The box office income per screen in 2019 was highest in Japan, whose number was 72,890,000 yen in Japan. Thiswas due to the fact that there was a lower number of screens in Japan compared with those in other countries,and its admission prices were higher than those in other countries, making its attendance and box office income
per screen higher. In 2019, the box office income per screen in the USA and Canada together was 28,130,000yen; in France, it was 28,380,000 yen; in Germany, it was 27,810,000 yen; and these were less than half of that ofJapan. The highest in all of Europe and North America was the UK’s 37,170,000 yen. In 2020, the box officeincome per screen in these countries remained 20-30% of that in 2019, and in 2021, these numbers did notincrease largely. The operation for movie theaters remained challenging.

fig. 22 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Attendance per Screen 2011-2020]

fig.23 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Theater Admission and Box Office Income (2019)]

The Ratio of Multi-Screen Theaters
In all the countries, the box office income dramatically dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, thenumbers of theaters and screens have not largely changed. The ratio of multi-screen theaters was highest inKorea with 96.5%, 3% higher than that in the year before; 2,908 screens out of Korea’s nationwide total of 3,015
screens. The total number of screens of other types of theaters began to increase from 2014 in Korea, and4

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
became 194 screens in 2019. However, the number decreased by 87 to 107 screens in 2020, and the number oftheaters also decreased by 45 to 61 from 106 in 2019.
In Japan, multi-screen theaters share in 2020 was at 88.2%, the second highest ratio after that in Korea. Multiscreen theaters have occupied a major place in each country. However, the number of these theaters in France
and the UK are not so high compared with the numbers in the three other countries (the USA, Korea, and Japan).
Particularly in France, the ratio of the number of screens of multi-screen theaters was as low as 43.7%, and thenumber of multi-screen theaters was 233, while that of other types of theaters was 1,808, much more than theformer. (In France, the definition of a multi-screen theater is the one with 8 screens and more, while that of othercountries is the one with 5-7 screens and more. This difference affects France’s statistics.) About 1,200 theaters
among the above belong to “Cinema d’art et d’essai (Art house cinema, similar to the mini-theaters in Japan)
screening diverse films different from multi-screen theater programming, and financially supported by thenational and local governments. In addition, there were 2,041 theaters in France, more than 3 times as many asthe 596 theaters in Japan, making people feel that they are close to diverse types of theaters even in middle- andsmall-sized cities, towns, and villages.

fig.24 Comparison with Foreign Countries[Ratio of Multi-screen Theaters and Their Number of Screens (2016-2020)]

fig.25 Comparison with Foreign Countries[Ratio of Multi-Screen Theaters and Their Number of Theaters (2019-2020)]

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Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters

Number of Films Released
In France, Germany, and Australia, the number of released films in 2020 each became about a half of that in theyear before. On the other hand, Korea released 1,693 films, 97% of that in 2019; and in Japan, 1,017 films, 80% ofthat in 2019 were released. In 2020, many major film releases kept being postponed. In the US, movie theaters
kept closing, causing Hollywood films to remain unreleased and some films were released only online. In othercountries where Hollywood films were also unreleased and their share was high, the damage to theaters was alsohigh.
In Japan, the ratio between Japanese and foreign films released in 2019 matched the ratio of their box officeincomes at 54% vs. 46%. This proportion was well balanced, and dependence on Hollywood films was lower
compared with other countries, therefore, when the releases of many Hollywood films were postponed in 2020,
its impact was kept low. However, the balance between domestic and foreign box-office incomes was drasticallybroken, making the ratio of the box office income of Japanese and foreign films 76.3% vs. 23.7% in 2020. In 2021,
the gap was widened to 79.3% vs. 20.7%. Some theaters resist (in some cases, even refuse) to screen the titles ifthey are simultaneously released in theaters and online, and we must keep observing how the situation will go inthe future.
fig.26 Comparison with Foreign Countries [Number of Films Released (2012-2020)]

Long-Term Public Support System to Theaters
In Japan, a movie house is imaged as a theater operation running films 5-6 times daily with no closing days
annually. However, in Europe, a film theater is not necessarily a commercial theater. Among the theaters inGermany included in the “Film Exhibition Activities Almanac 2016,” there are theaters that close one day perweek, and at many theaters, when they are open, they run films only 2-3 times a day. Many run films only from6

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2021
I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
Friday to Sunday operated by volunteer staff. In France, the UK, the USA, and Korea, movie houses have diverseforms.
In every country outside of Japan, there are organizations administering the film industry and film culture (CNC inFrance, BFI in the UK, FFA in Germany, KOFIC in Korea, etc.), and they get involved with every sphere in filmincluding production, distribution, theater operation (exhibition), education, and preservation. As for the film
exhibition activities, their support systems cover a variety of levels and types of assistance including screenings
at big-scale commercial movie houses, multi-screen theaters, mini-theaters, cinematheques, and independent
screening, together offering highly diverse films.
Public support and promotional policies should cover more than mere financial support. The movie houses
receiving public support are expected to present diverse activities including programs emphasizing theirrelationship with the community and other cultural organizations, development of young audiences, and film
educational projects. Programmers responsible for these projects are also nourished. These policies inspiretheaters and film exhibitors to increase their cultural profiles and sustainability in their communities.
During the emergency situation caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, film administration organizations
like CNC, BFI, and KOFIC initiated policies protecting movie houses and exhibitors. First, they handled an urgent
situation by paying their grant money earlier than was scheduled. Next, they planned, enacted, and executed
support programs needed by movie houses and exhibitors in association with agencies and ministries
corresponding to the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Ministryof Health, Labor and Welfare.
The COVID-19 pandemic acutely exposed the situation in Japan revealing the need for organizations and systems
to support the movie houses and public exhibitions like community cinemas. More than 130 mini-theaters
nationwide are operated with almost no public support, not only in big cities, but also in mid-sized and smallcities, and this situation in Japan is seen abroad as a “miracle.” During the pandemic, the inferior labor conditions
and harassments practiced at cultural and art organizations have been increasingly exposed and discussed
openly. In some cases, the phrase “exploitation taking advantage of the worker’s sense of devotion” was used in
the case of labor situations at mini-theaters. Since the 1980s, small- scaled movie theaters have been operated by
the dedication and sacrifices of the people working there, however, their operations have been reaching theirlimitations. The COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, and its effects will be long-term. The importance of minitheaters has been recognized widely and the “ARTS for the future! Project (AFF)” by the Agency of Cultural Affairs
has been finally realized and is gravely needed by mini-theaters. This is exactly the time we should start
discussing how to fulfill the support programs essential to movie theaters and exhibitors as permanent programs,
and not the temporary measures responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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