The Evolving Trend of Revival Screenings in Anime Movies

The lineup of revival screenings that took place in October included titles like "Suzume," "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," and "ONE PIECE FILM RED." However, these movies are actually recent releases, which doesn't fit the traditional notion of "revival."

"ONE PIECE FILM RED," for instance, exhibits elements more akin to an "encore" rather than reviving an old piece. These screenings seek to reenact recent performances rather than resurrecting old works.

The question arises: why the sudden increase in re-screening relatively new films? There are two significant reasons for this shift.

Firstly, there's a heightened expectation towards anime movies from the industry due to recent successes like the historical hit of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Mugen Train." There's been an influx of movies grossing over 10 billion yen in box office revenue, prompting distributors and theaters to actively re-screen these hit anime films, despite the limited screen count and showtimes.

Secondly, there's a newfound value in the experience of watching movies in theaters. In the past, movies weren't often re-screened in theaters once their video releases or streaming began. However, even with the availability of video releases and streaming options like the recent re-screening of "ONE PIECE FILM RED," which raked in 160 million yen in box office revenue over the weekend, there's a surprising demand for revisiting these films in theaters.

 

Changing Theatrical Culture
There are observable changes in the overall theatrical culture surrounding anime movies. There's a trend emerging where movies set final screening dates to generate a last surge in attendance, a departure from the conventional fading out of movies.