Animated Features Lift Japanese Box Office To New Post-Pandemic Heights
The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan has released box office figures for 2023, and animation once again played a huge part in the country’s post-Covid recovery.
The First Slam Dunk was the highest-grossing film in Japan last year. Released by Toei, it took in $107.7 million (15.87 billion yen) following its release in December 2022. The film, directed by franchise creator Takehiko Inoue, grossed nearly three times more than the top live-action film on the list, Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny.
Japanese Box Office, 2023
| Title | Release Date | Gross | Distributor |
| The First Slam Dunk | 12/03/22 | $107.7M (15.87B yen) | Toei |
| The Super Mario Bros. Movie | 4/28/23 | $95M (14.02B yen) | Toho-Towa |
| Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine | 4/14/23 | $94.2M (13.88B yen) | Toho |
| The Boy and the Heron | 7/14/23 | $60M (8.84B yen) | Toho |
| Kingdom 3: Flame Of Destiny | 7/28/23 | $38M (5.60B yen) | Toho/Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Godzilla Minus One | 11/3/23 | $38M (5.59B yen) | Toho |
| Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One | 7/21/23 | $36.8M (5.43B yen) | Towa |
| Don’t Call It Mystery: The Movie | 9/15/23 | $32.5M (4.80B yen) | Toho |
| Tokyo Mer: Mobile Emergency Room - The Movie | 4/28/23 | $30.7M (4.53B yen) | Toho |
| Doraemon The Movie: Nobita’s Sky Utopia | 3/3/23 | $29.4M (4.34B yen) | Toho |
Second on the list was Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the highest-grossing import of the year by a hefty margin, although the Mario Bros. franchise does have Japanese roots. The film grossed $95 million (14 billion yen), miles ahead of the next foreign film on the list, Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which grossed $36.8 million (5.43 yen).
Third place belonged to the 26th installment in the long-running Case Closed franchise, Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine. Released on April 14, the film grossed $94.2 million (13.9 billion yen).
While Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron has been a historic hit in the U.S. – it’s the third highest-grossing anime film of all time and the highest-grossing non-sequel/non-franchise anime film – the film only finished 2023 in fourth place at the Japanese box office. Studio Ghibli’s latest grossed $60 million (8.84B yen). In yen, that’s only the seventh-highest gross for a Ghibli film in Japan, landing between Arrietty and Tales from Earthsea.
Other animated features in last year’s top 20 include Doraemon: The Movie: Nobita’s Sky Utopia at 10th, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Swordsmith Village at 12th, and Elemental at 18, which was the only other U.S. animated film to make the list. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hardly made a dent in Japan, finishing outside the top 40 at $7.5 million (1.1 billion yen) grossed.
Japan’s box office grew by 3.9% in 2023, up to $1.5 billion, with animated features taking the top four spots. That said, last year’s growth was less than many had hoped for, and still leaves the Japanese box office far behind its pre-pandemic pace. Japan’s 2023 gross box office total is 15% below 2019’s mark of 261 trillion yen. Making matters worse, the yen is far weaker than it was in 2019.
Pictured at top: The First Slam Dunk