‘one piece film red’, ‘the first slam dunk’ help drive toei’s 2022 box office to record us$247m

Japanese studio Toei announced today that its total box office revenue reached a record Yen32.56BN (US$246.6M) for the calendar year 2022, partly thanks to the strong performances of anime

blockbusters _One Piece Film Red_ and _The First Slam Dunk_.  The studio’s box office receipts easily beat its previous record annual high of Yen17.98BN (US$136.2M at today’s exchange rate)

achieved in 2009. It also announced that it sold 23.65 million tickets in 2022, a year in which Japan’s box office recovered at a faster rate than many other markets in the region.  _One

Piece Film Red_, the latest instalment in a long-running franchise, opened on August 6 last year and has since sold 13.79 million tickets and earned more than Yen19BN (US$144M) in Japan

alone.  The film has also grossed around US$35.5M from international box office markets, with its biggest territories in revenue terms including North America, France and Germany, according

to Box Office Mojo.  WATCH ON DEADLINE _The First Slam Dunk_, also adapted from a popular manga series, opened on December 3 and is still currently the number one film in Japan, grossing

$56.9M so far. It was one of two films, the other being Mokoto Shinkai’s _Suzume_, that kept _Avatar: The Way Of Water_ off the top spot when in opened in Japan in third position on December

16.  Directed and written by Inoue Takehiko, _The First Slam Dunk_ is based on the _Slam Dunk_ basketball manga series, created by Takehiko, which was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from

1990 to 1996. The film will be released by Hong Kong-based MediaLink in Hong Kong and Macau on January 12.  Toei’s release slate in 2009 included _One Piece Film Strong World_, live action

drama _Mt. Tsurugidake_, starring Tadanobu Asano, and two ‘tokusatsu’ films (live action with heavy use of special effects) that were released as a double bill – _Kamen Rider Decade: All

Riders vs. Dai-Shocker _and _Samurai Sentai Shinkenger the Movie: The Fateful War_. Japan has been one of the fastest recovering box office territories in Asia, getting back to around 90% of

pre-pandemic levels of business in 2022, mostly thanks to local anime and a few Hollywood titles. Four out of the top five films in 2022 were local animated features, headed by _One Piece

Film Red_, and also including _Jujutsu Kaisen 0_, _Suzume_ and _Detective Conan: The Bride Of Halloween_. The other film in the top five was _Top Gun: Maverick_, which ranked third with

Yen13.5BN (US$102M)