Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2020

I. Film Exhibition at Theaters
General Situation
The year 2020 became a time occupied with fighting COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019). The first patient infected by
COVID-19 was reported in Japan in mid-January. By mid-February, the pandemic situation had become serious, andelementary and high schools were requested to close at the end of the month. The number of infected kept increasing daily
while the grave situations in Europe and the USA (United States of America) were reported in the news. On March 24, theTokyo Olympics and Paralympics, originally scheduled for the summer of 2020, were postponed for a year. The Tokyo
government requested people to refrain from going out over the weekend, and movie theaters were closed over theweekends as well. By then, many new films had pushed back their releasing dates and movie house attendance fell by 80 to90% compared with that in the year before.
On April 7, a State of Emergency Declaration was proclaimed in 7 prefectures including Tokyo, which was extended to thewhole Japan on April 16. For the first time in the history, all the movie houses in Japan closed. After May 14, the Declaration
was gradually eased and on May 25, it was lifted completely in the whole Japan. The movie houses in Tokyo were not able toreopen until June, and the average number of days of the movie house’s closing period mounted to 40 days.
Even after reopening, movie houses operated their business with less than 50% capacity. On September 17, this capacity
limitation was lifted, and in October, the audience sizes were fairly back to normal. However, in November, the pandemic
situation became worse, affecting the audience sizes. At the end of December, more than 1 000 infections were reported inTokyo. On January 7, 2021, the second State of Emergency Declaration was announced in Tokyo and 3 other prefectures,
which was expanded to 8 more prefectures on January 13. Under this Declaration, movie houses were not requested toclose, however, they were requested to close at 8 pm, and most movie houses complied with this “recommendation.”
On January 27, 2021, the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan announced the Japanese film industry statistics of
the year before The attendance 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. In 2020, movie houses in Japan were closed and the audiencedecreased by 45%. In addition to movie houses, a number of public facilities were closed, while many cultural events werecancelled and film exhibitors lost their jobs. Some film festivals were forced to cancel, and film festivals taking placedecreased the number of events and had to use online screenings in a large part.
In 2021, the pandemic has not disappeared yet, and the whole of society is still under its influences. We need to continue toconsider what has changed, what has not changed, and what should be changed.

Number of Movie Houses and Screens
The number of screens in 2020 was 3669, an increase by 42 from that in 2019. The number of theaters was increased
from 593 in 2019 to 595 in 2020. During the last 10 years from 2011 to 2020, the total number of theaters decreased by 84,
while the total number of screens increased by 173. Multi-screen theaters (cinema complex or “Cine-com”) increased by33 and by 364 screens, while other types of theaters decreased by 117 and by 191 screens.
Multi-screen theaters have a total of 3235 screens, 88.1% of the total number of screens in Japan. During the last 10 years
from 2011, the number of multi-screen theaters has been larger than that of other type of theaters. In 2020, there were
360 multi-screen theaters, occupying 60% of the total number, and 235 other types of theaters.

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2020

There were concerns that the number of theaters stopping their operation would increase because of their temporary
closing and the decrease of the audiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the number of the permanentlyclosed theaters in 2020 was 10, close to the average of past statistics. When the pandemic influences became prominent
in April 2020, Lemiere Akita in Akita City (with 5 screens) was closed; and Yui Road Theater (with 1 screen) that opened in2018 as the mini-theater in the south-most location in Japan in Ishigaki Island closed indefinitely. In May 2020, Tsuruoka
Machinaka Kinema (with 4 screens) operated by a community-based company in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture,announced its permanent closing. This caused a sense of crisis among mini-theater operators. However, Lemiere Akita
was revived as Alve Theater with 3 screens in December, while Tsuruoka Machinaka Kinema and Yui Road Theater havebeen trying to reopen their theaters.
On the other hand, in 2020, 12 new theaters (with 69 screens) opened (including relocations and renewal openings).
fig.01 Changes in Number of Screens (1993-2020)

From Japanese Film Industry Statistics (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan) and Film Exhibition Activities Almanac (Japan Community Cinema Center)

Changes in Attendance
In 2020, the Japanese nationwide theater attendance was 106 137 000, 54.5% of that in 2019, a significant decrease fromthe theater attendance and box office income of 2019. The theater attendance and box office income of 2019 were boththe largest since 2000, while those in 2020 were both the smallest since 1955. During the time when many major
Hollywood films pushed back their releasing dates, Japanese animation, DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA THE
MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN, made a record box office income of36 550 000 000 yen, occupying 20% of the total box office income, becoming a valuable film saving multi-screen theaters
suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2020

fig.02 Changes in Attendance

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

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 3235 screens, more than any other type of theater and occupying 88.1% of thetotal number of screens. During the last 10 years, theaters increased by 33 and screens by 364. From 2000 to 2008,
roughly 20-30 multi-screen theaters were added annually, but after 2009, the pace has slowed down to 5-10 new theaters
every year. In 2020, in the Tokyo metropolitan area, 4 multi-screen theaters opened including T-Joy Yokohama, Aeon
Cinema Zama, TOHO Cinemas Ikebukuro, and TOHO Cinemas Tachihi; and two theaters opened in Kyushu including
Central Cinema Sanko (Nakatsu-City, Oita Prefecture) and Wonder Attic Cinema (Miyazaki City).

−Conventional Theaters
During the last 10 years, conventional theaters have decreased by 85 theaters and by 177 screens, falling to 67 theaters
and 157 screens in 2020. During the period from 2010 to 2013, digitalization in film exhibition spread, and most ofconventional and mini-theaters changed from film projection to digital cinema projection. Conventional theaters that could
not afford big-scale facility investment began to close, and 15-20 theaters closed every year. Currently, the situation hasstabilized.

−Mini- and Repertory Theaters
The total number of mini- and repertory theaters together was 132 theaters with 235 screens; an increase of 3 theaters
and 26 screens during the last 10 years. In 2019, as many as 7 mini-theaters opened, for example, Kino Cinema Tachikawa
Takashima-ya S.C. Theater, Kino Cinema Yokohama Minato Mirai, and White Cine Quinto. In 2020, 4 mini-theaters opened
including Kino Cinema Tenjin (Fukuoka), Satsugeki (Sapporo), Uplink Kyoto, and Hotori-za (Toyama, taking over FortzaSogawa).
Some conventional theaters, in order to survive, showed their unique programming by shifting to that of mini- andrepertory theaters (Utsunomiya Hikari-za, Chiba Gekijo, Shiojiri Azuma-za, Nagano Roxie, Cinex, Shintomi-za, etc.). Moreand more conventional theaters closed and later reopened under a different management employing mini- and Repertory
Theater programming (Ueda Eigeki, Onari-za, Yokohama Cine Marine, Takada Sekaikan, Toyooka Gekijo, Theater Shiema,Hita Liberte, etc.). In addition, new conventional theaters also opened (Alve Theater in Akita, Cinema Sunrise Hitachi,Okawa Cinema Hall in Fukuoka, etc.). The boundary between multi-screen/conventional/mini-/repertory theaters has
become ambiguous and difficult to grasp in the current theater situation.

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2020

During the last 10 years, the number of adult film theater has decreased, falling to one half their previous number. They
decreased to 36 theaters and 42 screens.

fig.03 Changes in Number of Theaters according to Theater Typefig04. Changes in Number of Screens According to Types

From Japanese Film Industry Statistics (Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan) and Film Exhibition Activities Almanac (Japan Community Cinema Center)

Changes in Number of Theaters and Screens according to Region
In 2020, the total number of movie theaters in Japan was 595, decreasing by 84 during the last 10 years. Meanwhile, thetotal number of screens in Japan has increased by 173 to 3669. In the Hokkaido/Tohoku and the Chubu Regions, boththese numbers decreased. In the Chubu Region, 6 theaters including 2 multi-screen theaters closed in 2019-2020, anddecreased by 24 theaters with 11 screens during the last 10 years. The population in all regions except the Kanto Region
has all decreased and that in the Hokkaido/Tohoku Region decreased by 5.8%, significantly higher than that in otherregions.
When comparing each region’s ratio of the total number of screens to population, the screen share rates in the Chubu andFilm Exhibition Yearbook｜2020

Kyushu/Okinawa Regions were more than 1% higher than their population share rates. In the Kyushu/Okinawa Region,
their number of theaters and that of screens have both increased during the last 10 years, and their screen share rate has
increased by more than 2%.
Multi-screen theaters have increased in almost all regions in both the number of theaters and the number of screens. The
pace of increase has been slow since 2008, compared with that of the period between 2000 and 2008 when 20-30
theaters opened annually. Nonetheless, during the last 10 years, both numbers have largely increased in some regions: inthe Kanto Region (by 10 theaters and 129 screens); in the Kinki Region (by 8 theaters and 92 screens); and in theKyushu/Okinawa Region (by 8 theaters and 70 screens). In contrast, in the Hokkaido/Tohoku Region, the number ofscreens decreased by 4.
The number of theaters other than multi-screen theaters and their number of screens both decreased in each region.
However, except in the Hokkaido/Tohoku and the Chugoku/Shikoku Regions, the numbers of mini- and repertory theatersin other regions have increased during the last 10 years. During this period, 41 mini- and repertory theaters opened.
Outside of big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, more mini-theaters opened in small- and middlesized cities, towns, and villages whose populations are less than 200,000, such as Odate City (Onari-za), Naka City(Amaya-za), Joetsu City (Takada Sekaikan), Ueda City (Ueda Eigeki), Toyooka City (Toyooka Gekijo), Karatsu City (TheaterEnya), and Okinawa City (Theater Donuts and Cine Plaza House 1954). Some mini-theaters are scheduled to open in2021.
On the other hand, the number of conventional theaters and that of screen have decreased during the last 10 years: in theKanto Region, by 23 theaters and 44 screens; in the Chubu Region, by 21 theaters and 41 screens; and in the Kinki Region,by 15 theaters and 37 screens. Years ago, many multi-screen theaters were built along the highways in the suburbs,
however, during the last 10 years, they have opened in the city centers. This drove the conventional theaters located in thecity centers in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hyogo, etc. to close. 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.

Film Exhibition Yearbook｜2020

fig.05 Changes in Number of Theaters and Screens according to 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)