4) Comparison with Other Countries
Sources: BFI’s “Statical Yearbook” (United Kingdom); CNC’s “Results 2015” (France); FFA’s “Die FFA-Forderugen” (Germany), KOFIC’s 한국 영 화 산 업 결 산 (Korea); Eiren’s “Japanese Film Industry Statistics” (Japan), MPAA’s “Theatrical Market Statistics” (USA and Canada).
As for the admission and box office income of 2012, we referred to “Film Almanac 2015.”

We would like to compare the Japanese film situation with those in other countries, particularly ofFrance, the United Kingdom, and Korea, for which statistics are relatively easy to obtain.

■ Attendance
We compare the attendance in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea and Japan. Korea has thelargest attendance of 213,350,000, and Japan has the fourth of 166,630,000. The Japanese population is127,300,000, much larger than others, and its attendance is less than others from this point of view.
As for the annual film attendance per person, Korea has highest number of 4.2, USA and Australia’s
number is about 4, while Japan’s number is only 1.3. Probably the way to collect statistics is different ineach country and we cannot simply compare these numbers. Nonetheless, Japanese in general do not go
to see movies as often compared with people in other counties. This means that there is still a market inJapan.
Charts: Comparison with Other Countries (attendance)

Charts: Comparison with Other Countries (Attendance Per Screen)■ The Number of Theaters and Screens
As for the number of screens, the USA has the largest number of 40,547, more than 10 times of that ofJapan. Among the other countries (France, the UK, Germany, Korea), France has the highest number of5,741. With the exception of Germany, all of theses countries have seen an increase in the number ofscreens due to the spread of multi-screen theaters. Korea, in particular, has a large increase.
As for the population per screen, a lower number means they have greater access to screens. Among thesix countries, Japan has the highest number, meaning that Japanese have less access to movie theaters.
The lowest is the USA where every 7,817 people has one screen; in France, 11,380 people; in Korea,
20,718, while in Japan, every 37,038.
The reason behind why fewer theaters are located in mid-sized and small cities is because of thedecrease in attendance. However, the increase in multi-screen theaters and screens does not necessarily
result in an increase in attendance. Because movie theaters are not nearby, people do not, or cannot go
to see films, therefore, there is no increase in attendance.
The number of attendance per screen is highest in Korea with 89,641, twice as much as that of Japan
with 48,481. In Japan, the number of screens increased by close to 4000 during the last 10 years,
however, the attendance did not increase and the attendance per screen therefore decreased from53,751 to 48,481.
Charts: Comparison with Other Countries (Screens)
Charts: Comparison with Other Countries (Population per Screen in 2015)
Charts: Comparison with Other Countries (Annual Attendance per Screen)

―Diverse Movie Theaters
It is assumed that in the number of screens for the USA and Europe, those of public culture facilities andtheaters are also included in addition to the conventional commercial theaters. Particularly in Europe, amovie theater does not necessarily mean a commercial theater like a Japanese conventional theater thatruns 5-6 shows a day. The film theater attached to the City Culture Center of Aubervilliers, in the suburbof Paris is operated by the city, and it runs one or two shows on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday andFriday, three on Saturday, and two on Sunday, and is closed on Thursday. The film theater Forum desImages is operated by Paris City with three screens. Among these three, one is dedicated to a program
under a monthly theme, with four daily shows. (See “On the 21st Century Art Promotion Policy: Laws
and Systems for Art Promotion, Mid-term Report on European Film Promotion” (2002)). The theater
named Urecholine is operated as a theater for children, and they open only when there is no school on
Wednesday and Saturday. The theater is used for school group film activities on other days.(See“Research on Film Education in Japan and Other Counties, Mid-term Report” (2005)). Such rich varietyof theaters and screens is behind the high number of screens and theaters in France, which is four times
as much as that of Japan.
German and British screens and theaters are similarly not as monolithic as Japanese screens andtheaters. Their way of theater management and operations are diverse, and there are cultural policies
and systems for film screening promotion in these countries. For German film theaters, see the reportcoming out later.
■ Admission and Box Office Income in 2012
Japan’s attendance is not high comparatively, but its box office income is the third largest in the world
after the USA and China. It is outstanding to see how expensive a Japanese film admission of 1,258 yen is.
That of the USA is 637 yen, that of France is 659 yen, and that of the UK is 808 yen. If we compare theJapanese film admission with other prices in Japan, this may not be particularly high. However, if wecompare the Japanese film admission with those of other countries, it is exceptionally high. In Franceand the USA, some theaters charge admissions higher than 1,200 yen. Nonetheless, their average is 637
yen. In these countries, there are all kinds of theaters with different types of admissions.
As for the box office income per screen, the number in Japan is around 60 million yen. France box officeis 24 million yen, and that of the UK is 36 million yen, both of which are considerably lower. In thesecountries, there exists a support system for film theaters, and their income coming from sources otherthan their box office (e.g., public support and other enterprises) is extremely high, compared with that inJapan. For example, the box office income of the theater in Aubervilliers occupies only 30% of theirincome, and additional income comes from the national, prefectural and city government. The box officeincome of the theater Watershed in Bristol, UK, is only 10%, and 25-30% comes from public support of
the national, local, and city governments as well as the EU at various levels. Further, other enterprises
occupy a high percentage, including 25% from the café and 25-30% from the rental operations.

Chart: Comparison with Other Countries (Admissions and Box Office Income of 2012)

Souce: “The Film Statistics of the Major Countries in the World” in “Film Almanac 2015”■ The Percentage of Multi-Screen Theaters
As for the percentage of the multi-screen theaters, it is increasing in all four countries of Japan, Korean,
France and the UK. Particularly in Korea, multi-screen theaters occupy 95% of the market, making mosttheaters multi-screen. In both France and the UK, multi-screen theaters are increasing, although its
domination is not as high as that in Korea: in France, only 40%; in the UK, 76.5%.
In Japan, the first multi-screen theaters opened in 1993, and the number of screens that year was 1,753.
In 2015, the number of screens increased to 3,437, and 2,996 are from multi-screen theaters, which is87.2%.
On the other hand, the number of theaters largely dropped from 1,340 in 1993 to 580 in 2015. Screens
have not equally spread out in Japan. A similar phenomenon took place in France and the UK; however,theirs are not as extreme as that in Japan. In these countries, the number of other theaters is muchhigher.
Charts: Comparison with Other Countries (the Percentage of Multi-screen Theaters)

*The definition of multi-screen theaters
In Japan: film theaters operating on regular basis with more than 5 screens
In Korea: the theaters belonging to the groups of CGV, Lotte Cinemas, Megabox, in addition to 7 more theaters
In France: theaters with more than 8 screens
In UK: film theaters operating on regular basis with more than 5 screens; “other theaters” include the facilities offering screenings on
non-regular basis■ The Number of Films Released
The number of the films released in Japan doubly increased during the last ten years. According to thestatistics of Eiren, 731 films were released in 2005, while 1,136 films were released in 2015. In Korea,
the number increased immensely from 298 in 2005 to 1,095 in 2015. Compared with these, that in theUK, France and Germany did not increase so dramatically. Particularly in France, where 654 films werereleased in 2015, and the attendance per film has not been lowered very much.
Chart: Comparison with Other Countries (The Number of Films Released)