IMAX Expands Its Japanese Market

IMAX is going bullish on the Japanese market- and likely with good reason. Hollywood blockbusters have been increasing their share of this key Asian market’s Box Office over the last few years, with a heavy skewing to the IMAX format. Additionally, we’ve seen Japanese anime come in strong in the last few years with no sign of receding. Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney from Blake & Wang P.A, expands on this news for us.

Brandon Blake


New Deal with Aeon Entertainment


In partnership with local exhibitor Aeon Entertainment, IMAX will be adding 7 new top-end laser theaters to the Japanese market this year. All are headed for existing multiplexes, so should be operational by summer of 2023. 

 

This build on their Japanese expansion, which has seen IMAX Theater numbers nearly triple in the last 10 years. Japan was the third-highest grossing global market for IMAX last year, pulling in over $73M. It’s also home to 6 of their top 15 highest-grossing locations, with 31 of their Japanese locations topping $1M in Box Office figures last year. That alone puts them just behind the US. 


Record for Japanese-language Releases


IMAX also netted a cool $40.2M last year in Japanese-language films alone, predominantly anime releases. Even their highest-grossing film of all time in Japan was an anime- Demon Slayer (2020).

 

Alongside this spectacular animation growth, Hollywood tentpoles have been doing spectacularly well here. Top Gun: Maverick, for example, took $18M on IMAX Japanese screens, the second-highest gross for the chain in the country ever.

 

Each of the new locations will use IMAX’s new laser technology to deliver even more of a theater experience, with a 4K laser projection system ramping up the existing IMAX experience quite considerably. 

 

Overall, it’s an interesting expansion into a market with a ton of growth for theaters in general, not just IMAX, and it will be interesting to see what happens as the market becomes more saturated with premium-level theatrical experiences for the country.