Film Exhibition Yearbook ｜2022
Ⅰ.Film Exhibition at Theaters

2.The Number of Films Released and Film Titles

Number of Films Released
Between 1955 and 2004, the number of films released at theaters was up and down but was
roughly 550 to 650 films per year, and has continued increasing in the years since 2004
primarily due to digitalization. In 2013, the number of films released was over 1,000, with morethan 500 each of Japanese and foreign films. The year 2019 saw as many as 1,278 films
released. In 2020, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, 506 Japanese films and 511 foreignfilms, a total of 1,017 films were released in Japan. In 2021, the number of films released
decreased to slightly less than 1,000 films, and in 2022, the number again increased and a totalof 1,143 films were released (according to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan’s
statistics), with 634 Japanese and 509 foreign films, back to the scale before the COVID-19
pandemic.
fig. 07 Changes in Number of Released Films（2013-2022)

Box Office Incomes
In 2022, the total box office income in Japan was: 146,579,000,000 yen for Japanese films(114.2% of that in the year before), 66,532,000,000 yen for foreign films (198.3% of that in theyear before), and a total, 213,111,000,000 yen, 131.6% of that in the year before. Comparedwith the numbers in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, the box-office income of Japanesefilms exceeded that year’s number of 142,192,000,000 yen. The box office income of foreign
films was not so large, however, almost doubled of that in 2021.
The unique aspect of the year 2022 was that 5 films made more than or almost ten billion yen
including 4 Japanese films, ONE PIECE FILM RED (19.7 billion yen), JUJUTSU KAISEN 0(13.8 billion yen), SUZUME (13.15 billion yen), DETECTIVE CONAN: THE BRIDE OF
HALLOWEEN (9.8 billion yen), and if we include THE FIRST SLAM DUNK which was releasedin December, the number becomes 5. Among foreign films, TOP GUN: MAVERICK was a huge
success with 13.57 billion yen. 41 films making more than one billion yen occupied 72% of thewhole market, and 5 films making more than 10 billion yen occupied 32.8%, monopolizing themarket.
The number of Japanese films and that of foreign films was 68.8% vs. 31.2%. The foreign films
share increased to the point of more than 30%, however, it was still low compared with 45.5% in2019.

1

Film Exhibition Yearbook ｜2022
Ⅰ.Film Exhibition at Theaters

fig. 08 Changes in Box Office Income(2013-2022)
fig. 09 Changes in Attendance per Film (2013-2022）

The Scales of Film Releases
Japan Community Cinema Center (JCCC) creates the list of released films based on online
information. In 2022, 538 Japanese films and 635 foreign films, a total of 1,173 films werereleased (1,348 films including the films shown at special series at 1-2 theaters in Tokyo). Thesefigures are different from those of the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan that lists
634 Japanese films and 509 foreign films, a total of 1,143 films. Despite some differences, wewill see what films were released based on the JCCC data.

－The Scales of Film Releases
In 2021, 63 Japanese films and 29 foreign films were released at more than 300 theaters
nationwide, larger than the numbers in 2021.
Among Japanese films, the following films were widely released at more than 370 theaters: 6animated films including 5 mega-hit films making more than 10 billion yen, SUZUME (releasedin November), JUJUTSU KAISEN 0 (released in December 2021), THE FIRST SLAM DUNK(released in December 2022), ONE PIECE FILM RED (released in August), DETECTIVE
CONAN: THE BRIDE OF HALLOWEEN (released in April), and DORAEMON: NOBITA’S
LITTLE STAR WARS, as well as KINGDOM 2: FAR AND AWAY (released in July). Other
animated films, DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO (released in June) and CRAYONSHIN-CHAN: MONONOKE NINJA CHINPUDEN (released in April) each made more than 2billion yen and were released at more than 360 theaters.
Topical films and serial films such as SHIN ULTRAMAN (released in May), 99.9 THE CRIMINALLAWYER: THE MOVIE (released in December 2021), THE CONFIDENCE MAN JP: EPISODEOF THE HERO (released in January), YOUR TURN TO KILL: THE MOVIE (released inDecember 2021), and SILENT PARADE (released in September) were released at more than350 theaters and attracted large audiences. BROKER that received a grand prix at Cannes
International Film Festival, A MAN (released in November) that received the Best Picture Awardof the Japanese Academy Award, and FRAGMENTS OF THE LAST WILL (released inDecember) that opened Tokyo International Film Festival were released at more than 300
theaters.
As for foreign films, the enormous success of TOP GUN: MAVERICK (13.57 billion yen) stoodout. This film attracted a wide range of people including seniors who do not normally go to see
films at theaters. Big Hollywood films that were withdrawn from their releases in 2020 or topical2Film Exhibition Yearbook ｜2022
Ⅰ.Film Exhibition at Theaters

films were one after another released, such as JURASSIC WORLD/NEW RULER (released inJuly), AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (released in December), DR. STRANGE IN THE
MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (released in May), MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (released inDecember 2021), BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (released in January), andSPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (released in January). Family-oriented films were also releasedsuch as MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (released in July), SING 2 (released in March),
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE (released in April), and THE BOSS
BABY: BACK IN THE CRIB (released in December 2021). These films attracted many people totheaters again.
During the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, multi-screen theaters began to show a variety of films
that had not been shown at these theaters. This trend continued into 2022. In addition, until
2020, most of both Japanese and foreign films released at more than 150 theaters werescreened at “only at multi-screen theaters,” however, in 2021, more and more films widely
released were began to be screened at mini-theaters as well.
The new trend in 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic is an increase of titles screened
both at multi-screen theaters and mini-theaters. 104 such Japanese titles (18%) and 125 suchforeign titles (24%) were released in 2019; in 2021, 160 such Japanese titles (32%) and 204
such foreign films (41%) were released, showing large increases. In 2022, 169 such Japanesefilms (31%) and 233 such foreign films (37%) were released. The diversification of programmingat multi-screen theaters increased. On the other hand, mini-theaters began to show much talked
about films or large-scale films possibly expected to attract film-goers even after their release atmulti-screen theaters. The type of theaters a film could pick for its release became multiple.
Nonetheless, the ratio of films screened only at mini-theaters has not changed much and manyfilms are still shown exclusively at mini-theaters. 314 Japanese and 472 foreign films werereleased at less than 49 theaters nationwide. Among these films, 194 Japanese titles (62%) and311 foreign titles (66%) were shown only at mini-theaters.
The kind of films shown only at mini-theaters includes: films highly praised at international film
festivals, films by internationally renown masters, important documentaries, and ambitious films
by many young filmmakers. As we will see later, the revival screenings of the digital restoration
version of the classics and director’s retrospectives are mostly held at mini-theaters.
fig. 10 Distribution Scales of the Films Released at Theaters in 2022

－Kinds of Films Released
538 Japanese films were released in 2022, almost as many as that in 2019 (577 films) before
COVID-19 pandemic. The number includes 358 new theatrical films, 85 new animations, 773Film Exhibition Yearbook ｜2022Ⅰ.Film Exhibition at Theaters

documentaries, and 18 ODS on theatrical performances and live music concerts. In addition,
101 films of special projects introducing shorts and films by young directors were shown at 1-2theaters.
85 animations were released. As we saw above, 5 films each made more than 10 billion yen,
attracting huge audiences. Their titles are: SUZUME, JUJUTSU KAISEN 0, THE FIRST SLAMDUNK (released in December 2022), ONE PIECE FILM RED and DETECTIVE CONAN: THE
BRIDE OF HALLOWEEN. In addition, middle-sized animations shown at international film
festivals of Venice, Annecy and Rotterdam also attracted attention such as INU-OH (released inMay), and YOJOHAN TIME MACHINE BLUES, a film version of TV animation THE TATAMIGALAXY.
Among theatrical films, in addition to the previously mentioned big films released in large-scale,the following films were screened both at mini-theaters and multi-screen theaters, attractinglarge audiences: THE FISH TALE (released in September), SICKNESS THAT LEADS TO THE
DEATH PENALTY (released in May), THE ZEN DIARY (released in November), MADOBENITE (released in November), and TWO WOMEN (released in November). The films
shown at international film festivals abroad were also popular such as PLAN 75 (releasedin June), SMALL, SLOW BUT STEADY (released in December), and THIS IS AMIKO(released in July).
Among the 538 films released, 314 films, more than 60%, were released in a small scale atless than 49 theaters, and most of them were shown only at mini-theaters. Among them,
there were new films by important directors, films praised highly at international film
festivals such as YAMABUKI and HARUHARA SAN’S RECORDER, and films by young
directors receiving awards at domestic film festivals.
A number of documentary films were released in theaters in 2022. Among the 77 films released,
28 titles were released at more than 30 theaters nationwide (12 titles in 2019). More and more
multi-screen theaters began to show documentaries and the theatrical releases of documentaryfilms have become a norm.
As for foreign films, 635 titles were released in 2022, more than 514 titles in 2019. 307 werenew theatrical films, 18 were new animations, 62 were documentaries, 37 were ODS, 51 wererevival releases of the digital restoration version of classic films, in addition to the special
screenings of 22 classic film projects. Furthermore, 74 titles were presented at special
screenings at 1 to 3 theaters in Tokyo, making a total of 709 titles.
A noteworthy trend in 2022 was the popularity of special screenings of classic titles. In 2021, 79
titles were shown at 15 projects, and many more titles were shown in 2022 with as many as 132
titles in 22 projects. The followings are among the most popular projects.
WKW4K: WONG KAR-WAI included 5 most representative WonG Kar-Wai titles including4Film Exhibition Yearbook ｜2022
Ⅰ.Film Exhibition at Theaters

CHUNGKING EXPRESS, FALLEN ANGELS, HAPPY TOGETHER, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE,and 2046, all in 4K digital re-master versions, and this project was screened at more than 90theaters attracting a large number of fans. Films by Chantal Akerman and Jacques Rivette had
not been often screened in Japan before, and their film festivals were hosted by many minitheaters, generating a new generation of fans.

NOBODY KNOWS CHARLEY BOWERS

introduced 6 short films presented by Kobe Planet Film Archive utilizing the grant by the Agencyof Cultural Affairs. This project was taken by about 20 mini-theaters.
Viewers from a wide scope of age groups enjoyed the Francois Truffaut film festivalcommemorating the 90th anniversary of his birth year, and the Romy Schneider film festivalcommemorating the 40th anniversary of her passing year. Tokyo Theatre company launched theTheatre Classics program, presenting the “Loving Musical Films” and “Films of the Great Actor
Paul Newman” series. We expect more of such programs to come. The “Film Festival of 10 AM”
was revived in 2021, screening classic and much-talked about films.
Such phenomenon of classic film series attracting many people is not limited to Japan. InEurope, this has been also seen, helping to expand young audiences coming to see films attheaters after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, a number of classic titles were digitally restored and presented at their revival
screenings. They include films that generated huge box office income such as FORRESTGUMP (1995), THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1995), SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1978),FLASHDANCE (1983), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: TWO TOWERS (2003) and THE LORD OF
THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2004), as well as the films representing the hightimes of mini-theater history such as OLDBOY (2004), DANCER IN THE DARK (2000), DEAR
DIARY (1995) and TAKE CARE OF MY CAT (2004). These diverse films attracted many filmfans.
Other impressive films released in 2022 included RRR, an Indian film which became a big
commercial success around mini-theaters, and Leos Carax’s first new film in 10 years,
ANNETTE, which opened the Cannes International Film Festival.
fig. 11 Classification of Films Released in 20225

Film Exhibition Yearbook ｜2022
Ⅰ.Film Exhibition at Theaters

Films That Made More Than 1 Billion Yen Box Office Income/Films That
Made Less Than 1 Billion Yen Box Office Income
In 2022, 41 films made more than 1 billion yen box office income (37 films in 2021 and 65 filmsin 2019), occupying 3.6% of the total of 1,143 films released in Japan. The total box officeincome from these 41 films was: Japanese films with 103.85 billion yen, foreign films with 49.32
billion yen, and in total, 153.17 billion yen, 72% of the total box office income of Japan (in 2021,62.2%).
fig. 12 Films With More Than 1 Billion Yen Box Office Income in 2022 Japanese Films
fig 13 Films of More Than 1 Billion Yen Box Office Income in 2022 Foreign Films
fig 14 20 Top Box Office Income Films of 2022
fig 15/16 Films with Box Office Income of More Than and Less Than 1 Bilion Yen (2022)

6