How a concert movie became Toei’s first ¥10 billion film

One Piece Film Red passed ¥10 billion at the Japanese box office on August 25, 2022, its twentieth day in theaters, with 7.2 million admissions.³ No film released by Toei on its own had reached that number before.

It kept going for another five months, came back for an encore a year later, and finished as the biggest Japanese film of 2022.²

A film that plays like a concert

The film is built around Uta, a singer, and its songs carry the story. Eiichiro Oda, the manga’s creator and the film’s general producer, brought in a run of artists to write them, Yasutaka Nakata, Mrs. GREEN APPLE and Vaundy among them, and every song is sung by Ado.

When the Japan Academy Film Prize gave the film its Popularity Award and a special award to the music team, the citation praised it for giving theater audiences the feeling of being at a live venue.⁸ That was the point. People did not only watch it. They went back to hear it again.

Twenty days to ¥10 billion

The speed was the first surprise. Within ten days the film had passed One Piece Film Z, the series record holder since 2012 at ¥6.87 billion.³ Ten days after that it crossed ¥10 billion.

For Toei this was new ground. Japan had seen ¥10 billion films before, but never one distributed by Toei alone.³

The best year in Toei’s history

Film Red was the main reason 2022 became a record year for the company. Toei’s box office for the calendar year reached ¥32.56 billion from 23.6 million admissions. The previous record, set in 2009, was ¥17.98 billion.⁶

A long run, then a second one

The original release ended on January 29, 2023, after 177 days. By then it had taken ¥19.70 billion from 14.27 million admissions, the eighth highest gross of any film in Japanese history at that point.⁴

That last weekend tells you how strong Toei’s slate was. From January 27 to 29, Japan’s top three films were all Toei releases: The Legend & Butterfly at No. 1, The First Slam Dunk at No. 2 and Film Red at No. 3.¹⁰

A one month encore from October 20, 2023 sent it back to the top of the weekend chart and over ¥20 billion, with more than 14.5 million admissions in total.⁵ The final figure from the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan is ¥20.33 billion.¹

Abroad

In North America the film opened on November 4, 2022 at No. 2, behind Black Adam, with $9.34 million from 2,367 theaters.⁷ Box Office Mojo tracks $12.8 million in the United States and Canada and $6.8 million in France, and its worldwide figure is incomplete for several markets.⁹

What this has to do with the lots

Film Red was animated by Toei Animation. It was not shot on the stages in Kyoto or Tokyo. What it shows is the other half of the company that runs them: the distribution arm that took an animated concert to ¥20 billion is the same one that releases the live action films made on the two lots, and Toei offers it to partners case by case.