The Guide to Japanese Film Industry & Co -Production - UNIJAPAN

Chapter 1
Japan’s Film Industry Postwar Japanese Film Industry and Development
Total number of screens
year total no. of screens no. of multiplexes percentage
1997 1,884 157 8.3
1998 1,993 267 13.4
1999 2,221 760 34.2
2000 2,524 1,123 44.5
2001 2,585 1,259 48.7
2002 2,635 1,396 53.0
2003 2,681 1,533 57.2
2004 2,825 1,766 62.5
2005 2,926 1,954 66.8
2006 3,062 2,230 72.8
2007 3,221 2,454 76.2
2008 3,359 2,659 79.2
8. Increasing Number of Screens and Plateauing Number of Audience
As mentioned above, multiplex market showed a stunning development,
which gave a big boost to the number of audience from the worst year in
1996 with less than 120 million people to around 160 million. Japanese
cinemas were suffering a long period of decline. People had the impression
that the cinemas were unhygienic and the chairs were uncomfortable, but
multiplexes completely changed this image. Multiplexes drew back in the
elderly movie fans that went to the cinemas in the 1950s and 1960s, making
movies a more casual, everyday entertainment.
However, the number of audience has leveled out around 160 million
people for the past decade after it peaked at 170 million in 2004. In contrast,
the number of screens has increased from 1,993 screens in 1998 to 3,360,
marking approximately an increase of 1,370 screens. This means that the
box-office revenue per screen has dropped significantly. Nowadays, only a
set group of movie fans actually watch movies at cinemas, and is thought
that the pattern today is for the same people to watch several movies at
cinemas in a year. However, the current annual number of audience is too
small for the number of screens which continued to increase over the past
years. In case this situation persists, the movie business in Japan may face a
fateful crisis.
The cinemas are providing various services such as “senior discount”
targeting those aged over 60, “couple 50 discount” targeting couples
where either one of the couple is aged over 50. These services have proven
effective to a certain level, but have not triggered a big financial spark in
the business. The discounts are effective in encouraging people to come
watch movies at the cinemas again, but have not led to gaining a new batch
of movie-goers. In particular, the tendency of the younger generations
not going to cinemas have been pointed out, and to make these younger
generations get in the habit of watching movies at the cinemas has become
an important agenda. This issue cannot be solved by the cinemas alone. It is
an act of protecting the Japanese film culture, thus is an issue that the entire
film industry, municipalities and education related ministries and agencies
must tackle together.
9. TV Networks Entering the Film Industry
In 1998, Bayside Shakedown (Odoru daisosasen: THE MOVIE) produced by
Fuji Television Network recorded a distribution revenue of ¥5.3 billion and
was a big hit with the highest box-office revenue of the year. TV networks
have long been producing theatrical films, with its first work being Steel
Edge of Revenge (Goyokin) by Fuji Television Network in 1969. Since then,
TV networks have been producing many theatrical films such as Antarctica
(Nankyoku monogatari) (1983). The film industry was in control and films
were produced mainly by the film related people. However, the involvement
of TV networks drastically changed before and after Bayside Shakedown.
Because Bayside Shakedown was a film adaptation of the TV drama
series, it was produced mainly by the TV network. Ever since, many films
have been produced by the TV networks. Yet these works did not hold
much significance in the film industry. Then in 2002, the market share
of Japanese films took a nosedive to its worst level at 27%. Since 2003,
however, the market share of Japanese films gradually recovered, obtaining
33% in 2003, 37.5% in 2004, 41.3% in 2005 and 53.2% in 2006. In 2006,
the market share of Japanese films exceeded that of the imported films for
the first time in 21 years. One of the big factors for this recovery was none
other than those films the TV networks were involved in. It is said that TV
networks greatly contributed to the recovery of the Japanese flm industry
with their keen eyes for spotting what the audience is craving for and the
effective use and influence of information distributed on their broadcasting
networks.
Nowadays, the involvement of the TV networks has become an
essential factor to whether a film will become a hit or not. Yet this move
has not led to an increase in the overall number of audience. It was just
that the imported movie-goers simply switched over to Japanese films. The
involvement of the TV networks has become a critical factor when new
proposals are brought in to the film companies. As such, excessive influence
of the TV networks has become an obstacle to the healthy environment for
fair evaluation of the content of the proposal itself.
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