Japan’s box office had its best-ever year in 2025, bringing in a total of $1.8bn (¥274.45bn), the highest number on record.
The figure, which covers December 1, 2024 to November 30, 2025, was revealed by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) in Tokyo today (January 28) with an analysis of the past year. Eiren consists of major Japanese film companies Shochiku, Toho, Toei and Kadokawa.
The record box office number surpassed 2024’s total of $1.36bn (¥206.9bn) by 32.6%. The previous record, $1.7bn (¥261bn), was set in 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic (USD compared to reports from previous years vary due to fluctuating exchange rates).
The number of filmgoers in 2025 was 188.7 million, which surpassed 2024 by 30.7% and marked the second-highest attendance number since 2000. The highest remains 2019, with 194.9 million admissions.
The average price of a ticket in 2025 also hit a new record: ¥1,454 (about $9.50). Eiren representative director Yoshishige Shimatani attributed that number to an increase in IMAX and other special screenings, as well as many cinemas in Japan raising their standard price for an adult admission to ¥2,000 in recent years.
In 2025 the Japanese box office was buoyed by two massive hits: anime blockbuster Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle and kabuki drama Kokuho. The former, distributed jointly by Toho and Aniplex, earned $256.7m (¥39.14bn), making it Japan’s second-highest grossing film of all time, while the latter, distributed by Toho, earned $128m (¥19.55bn), making it the country’s highest-grossing domestic live-action film ever (both films are still in cinemas).
As of November, Demon Slayer became the first Japanese film to earn ¥100bn worldwide.
“These two films reaffirmed our belief that Japanese content is highly regarded worldwide, and that Japanese cinema has the power to reach global audiences,” said Shimatani.
Two further Toho-distributed anime films crossed the significant ¥10bn barrier: Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback and Chainsaw Man: The Movie – Reze Arc, earning $96.4m (¥14.7bn) and $68.2m (¥10.4bn), respectively.
In total, 38 Japanese films and 12 imports earned more than ¥1bn.
Japanese films on top
Domestic product continued to dominate the market, with Japanese films earning 75.6% of market share versus 24.4% for imports. That ratio was largely unchanged from 2024, despite an increase of more than 100 non-Japanese releases (611 films in 2025 versus 505 in 2024). The total number of films released in 2025 was 1,305, up from 1,190 in 2024.
“In Japan, films continued to be released theatrically during the pandemic, while Hollywood stopped,” said Toho president Hiroyasu Matsuoka. “This may have gotten people out of the habit of seeing Hollywood films,” adding that the post-pandemic strikes, as well as a shift toward streaming in the West, may have reinforced this trend.
With the Japanese government aiming to triple overseas revenue from Japanese content to ¥20tn by 2033, Shimatani outlined four goals for the industry: expanding support measures for attracting overseas productions to film in Japan; providing production subsidies for large-scale commercial works that can compete outside Japan; subsidies for improving industry working conditions; and countermeasures against piracy.
He also noted that the government’s supplementary budget for creative content support increased in fiscal year 2025 to more than $360m (¥55bn) from around $164m (¥25bn) in previous years.
Japan box office top 20 (Dec 2024-Nov 2025)
1. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle / $256.7m (¥39.1bn) / Toho/Aniplex*
2. Kokuho / $128m (¥19.5bn) / Toho*
3. Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback / $96m (¥14.7bn)/ Toho
4. Chainsaw Man: The Movie – Reze Arc / $68m (¥10.4bn) / Toho*
5. Cells at Work! / $41.7m (¥6.36bn) / Warner Bros.
6. Tokyo MER the Movie: Nankai Mission / $34.7m (¥5.29bn) / Toho
7. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning / $34.6m (¥5.28bn) / Towa Pictures
8-. Moana 2 / $33.9m (¥5.17bn) / Disney
8-. Exit 8 / $33.9m (¥5.17bn) / Toho
10. Jurassic World Rebirth / $32.1m (¥4.9bn) / Toho Towa
11. Doraemon: Nobita’s Art World Tales / $30.2m (¥4.61bn) / Toho
12. La Grande Maison Paris / $27.5m (¥4.2bn) / Toho/SPE
13. A Minecraft Movie / $25.8m (¥3.94bn) / Warner Bros.
14. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- / $23.7m (¥3.62bn) / Toho/Bandai Namco Filmworks
15. Wicked / $23.2m (¥3.54bn) / Toho Towa
16. Lilo & Stitch / $22.2m (¥3.39bn) / Disney
17. Nintama Rantaro: Invincible Master of the Dokutake Ninja / $21.9m (¥3.35bn) / Shochiku
18. Doctor X: The Movie / $21.4m (¥3.28bn) / Toho
19. Suzuki=Bakudan / $20.7m (¥3.16bn) /Warner Bros.*
20. First Kiss / $18.9m (¥2.88bn) / Toho
*Still in cinemas
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