A Local Theater Strives To Survive By Specializing in Anime Movies

by dtshyk
Apr 24, 2010 9:12 PM | 25 Comments

According to Yomiuri newspaper, a local movie distributor Furec decided to make one of their theaters specialize in anime movies. The theater, Fukuyama Station Piccadilly, has been deprived of audience by a nearby cinema complex and has lost more than half of the visitors since 2005.

When they sought for the solutions for improvement, they remembered the enthusiasm for Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion in 1997. Higashi no Eden - Movie I: The King of Eden and Macross Frontier ~Itsuwari no Utahime~ have made 30 - 40 % increase in the number of the visitors. They will show Bungaku Shoujo and Break Blade I in May.

Nikkei newspaper reported that the recent movement of the anime movies originated from Kara no Kyoukai. The total box office income was 306 million yen ($3.3 million) and 750,000 copies of the DVDs were shipped. The success of Kara no Kyoukai broadened the range of the audience of anime movies and brought about the great hits of the following movies: Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (box office: $2.8 million), Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st ($3.8 million) and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya ($7.8 million). A theater manager said "I saw young couples and middle aged people came to watch the Haruhi movie."

In response to the recent trend, Sunrise geared up the publicity of their new movies, King of Thorn and Colorful. Uchida Kenji, the president of Sunrise, aims to attract general cinema fans in their 10 - 30's. Kadokawa Pictures launched a new PR section for anime movies. Shiina Tamotsu, the president of Kadokawa Pictures, said "It will be a long-term project, but I sense its great potential."

Sources: Yomiuri news, Nikkei

20 of 25 Comments Recent Comments

It'd be nice if something like this happened in Toronto.

Apr 28, 2010 11:01 PM by chocolaetmaelk

More Kara no Kyoukai movie, please...I haven't get enough^^

Apr 28, 2010 4:43 PM by NERD4CT10N

they will definitely make money

Apr 26, 2010 5:36 AM by Mr_Gutts

3 ways to make a cinima more profitable

#1 >.> lower the prices of food/drink/candy/ice cream sold in lobby buy 1/3 because its cheaper just to buy the stuff b4 entering the cinima and if they did that that would fix that problem

#2 lower ticket prices 10% XD

#3 show anime XD

Apr 26, 2010 3:41 AM by Corpse69

This sounds like a wise move on their part.

Apr 25, 2010 8:42 PM by Naison

They should have started it up long ago! Anime movies are usually as good as normal movies. XD I would like to have more anime movies screened too... ^^

Apr 25, 2010 5:49 PM by SoujimiSatori

Now this sounds really great. Maybe the western world will realise that Anime movies can be an economical benefit. Seeing how many Kara no Kyoukai DVDs were shipped, they should try it out. I would definitely pay them a visit.

Apr 25, 2010 12:21 PM by Eiko

This sounds like a good move on their part. We've been seeing a lot of anime movies come out as of late, so it would only make sense to catch in on that. It would be cool if they hosted special events as well, like Evangelion or Macross movie marathons.

Apr 25, 2010 9:14 AM by Lucena

Awesome. Lets just hope this catches on with other theaters. Might give me reason to go to one again.

Apr 25, 2010 8:58 AM by Retro8bit

Well! After years and years, someone has realized it! People who like anime are growing in numbers, yet they ignore us! Ha! Hope this is only the beggining

Apr 25, 2010 7:14 AM by Slykain

dtshyk said:
A theater manager said "I saw young couples and middle aged people came to watch the Haruhi movie."

I won't say any more: LOL

Apr 25, 2010 6:48 AM by Nishitomi_Negi

Now, this is a really smart option.

I kind of feel like doing the same.

Apr 25, 2010 2:35 AM by ladyxzeus

A good move indeed.

Apr 25, 2010 1:10 AM by AlexSadist-sama

i wish for something like this on my country D: definitely need one of these

Apr 25, 2010 1:02 AM by villains

And they were talking about the decline of anime. Hah! Boo to them. The trend these days is to show anime in movie form probably to offset pirating. I wish someone would do that ouside of Japan...

Apr 25, 2010 12:58 AM by TsukikageRan

Man if one of those were around me I'd like... work there XD

Apr 25, 2010 12:24 AM by magentaanbu

sad but true, many people don't even know what anime is. the market is not good enough in the us. in my town the only store that sold manga and anime took off like 90% of all anime and manga because they were not selling T.T

Apr 24, 2010 11:43 PM by apocalipse369

Excellent initiative!

Hoppy said:
America needs promotions like this, I'm sick and tired of the ballcider Hollywood manufactures like an assembly line and they call it good movies. Someone needs to promote anime movies in the US.

+ 1
I cannot stand to watch Hollywood films any longer. I guess when they say: "once you get into anime you don't go back", the truth is being told.

Apr 24, 2010 11:13 PM by vault2049

I wish it could've been done here in my country ...hoho :)

Apr 24, 2010 10:55 PM by shootdatpancake

Haruhi 7.8 million...

Apr 24, 2010 10:27 PM by teanut

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