Anime fans were spoiled during 2022, with a fair few anime films and shows taking the world by storm. It appears that even at the Japanese box office, anime films dominated. Chief among the highest-grossing domestic movies in the country included One Piece Film Red and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which hit theaters in December 2021 but was still tracked throughout this year and proved very popular during the year.
The earnings are current as of December 25.
Per a report citing Bunka Tsūshinsha's top 10 highest-grossing domestic films, the top four films in the country were anime films. It wasn't even that much of a competition with the difference between the fourth highest-grossing movie, Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween, and the fifth highest-grossing film, Kingdom II: Haruka Naru Daichi e, sits at around $35 million USD.
Last year, it was Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time that topped the country's domestic charts alongside Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet. Other anime films that made it somewhere on the list included Belle and My Hero Academia THE MOVIE: World Heroes' Mission.
Even now, no film has left as big of a mark at the Japanese box office as 2020's Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, which earned a staggering $351.7 million USD. To put that in perspective, if we combined the gross made from this year's top-grossing film, One Piece Film Red, and last year's Thrice Upon A Time, it still wouldn't be a close match.
Full results
- One Piece Film Red: 18.78 billion yen (about US$141.6 million, as of December 25)
- Jujutsu Kaisen 0: 13.8 billion yen (about US$104.1 million)
- Suzume no Tojimari: 10.0 billion yen (about US$75.4 million, as of December 25)
- Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween: 9.78 billion yen (about US$73.8 million)
- Kingdom II: Haruka Naru Daichi e: 5.16 billion yen (about US$38.9 million)
- Shin Ultraman: 4.44 billion yen (about US$33.5 million)
- 99.9 Keiji Senmon Bengoshi The Movie: 3.01 billion yen (about US$22.7 million)
- Yomei 10-nen: 3.0 billion yen (about US$22.6 million)
- Chinmoku no Parade: 2.97 billion yen (about US$22.4 million, as of December 11)
- Confidence Man JP Eiyūhen: 2.89 billion yen (about US$21.8 million)
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