My brother fights with ghosts… The secret to setting a new box office record in Japan in the Corona era

It has been almost a year since the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) began to spread. The number of people watching movies in the theater has plummeted. In addition to the 10 million movies that were released almost every year in Korea, the number of spectators in Namsan’s No. 1 box office last year also had less than 5 million viewers.

However, in Japan, the animated film “Theatrical Edition Blade of Immortality: Infinite Train” (hereinafter referred to as “Sword of Immortality”, released in Korea on the 27th), which was released in October last year, broke a record for success. In Korea, box offices are mainly talked about by the number of audiences, but in Japan, box offices are mainly talked about by box office income. The movie’Sword of Demon Extinction’ exceeded 36.1 billion yen (383.4 billion won) in box office income as of the middle of this month, and the number of audiences exceeded 26.4 million. This record will increase further as it is still being shown in many theaters.

Prior to that, the number one box office revenue was 31.6 billion yen (335.5 billion won), which was won by director Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Missing of Sen and Chihiro’ (2001). Unlike Korea, Japan has many animations at the top of the box office income. Excluding overseas movies, the 3rd place in the history of box office revenue was “Your Name is.” (2016) by Shinkai Makoto, and 4th and 5th place respectively by Hayao Miyazaki’s “Mononoke Hime” (1997) and “Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004). ), everything from 1st to 5th is animation.

However, the difference between “Sword of Demon Extinction” from directors Miyazaki or Shinkai is that the original manga was popular and the movie was released in a state that was already broadcasted in TV animation. It is a film of part of the whole story. Therefore, the name of the original author Kotouge Koyoharu is much more known than the movie director Haruo Sotozaki. It is a movie with great power of the original.

The content is the story of Tanjiro Kamado, the protagonist, fighting oni (a ghost) with other members of the demon squad, set in Japan during the Taisho era. Tangjiro fights to bring his younger sister back to humanity. Oni killed Tangjiro’s family and turned his younger sister into an oni. There is no such detailed background in the movie. The movie version depicts the fight between oni and demons on an infinite train where 40 passengers are missing.

One of the reasons for the explosive popularity of the theater version is the influence of Corona. This is because, as the time spent at home increased, the time to watch cartoons and TV increased. The cartoon’Sword of Demon Extinction’ was serialized in the 2016-2020 cartoon magazine’Weekly Boy’s Jump’, and a total of 120 million copies were published in 23 volumes as a book. Even after a total of 26 TV animation series aired in April-September 2019, many people watched it through an online video service (OTT).

The theater version was released in October last year with more fans of the original manga and TV animation due to Corona. In Japan, most of the theaters were closed from April to May, when the emergency declaration was first issued, and even after reopening, countermeasures against infection were implemented by reducing seats by 50%. By the way, around October, there was a time when I was doing’Struggle Travel’ to encourage travel or’Go To Eat’ business to encourage eating out, so a lot of people were moving. Around this time, I also watched Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s movie “The Spy’s Wife” at a theater in Tokyo, and it was really full with no space between seats.

The movie’Sword of Demons’ surpassed 4.6 billion yen in box office revenue after 3 days of release, which was also the result of the screen monopoly. For example, at Toho Cinemas Shinjuku on the first day of its release, “The Blade of Demon Extinction” was screened 42 times a day on 11 out of 12 screens. The screening timetable became a hot topic, saying, “It’s like a train timetable.” The absence of Hollywood releases during this period also created an exclusive status. Toho, a film company that distributed “The Blade of Demon Extinction,” had a box office income of 15.4 billion yen (163.4 billion won) in November, more than 10 times that of November 2019.

At first, I was aware of’The Blade of Demon Extinction’ as a popular work among children, but I went to see it because many adults saw it and there were a lot of people who said “were”. I hadn’t seen the original manga or TV series, so I didn’t know the whole story, but the movie alone wasn’t difficult to understand. In particular, the description of the action scene was full of excitement, and it seemed to see the power of Japan, the animation powerhouse.

There is also an analysis that the contents of the movie matched with the period. Oni in’Sword of Demonic Destruction’ values ​​only the strong and ignores the weak. In particular, Rengoku Kyojuro, who appears as the hero of the movie, chooses to fight as a human until the end without falling into the temptation of “If you say you want to become an oni, it will allow you to live” just before dying in a fight with oni. A Japanese sociologist’s analysis also revealed that it contains criticism of the modern society that sacrifices others to live well. That is why not only children but also adults got sympathy.

Meanwhile, the total box office income of Japanese theaters in 2020 is expected to be estimated at 135 billion yen (1.433 trillion won). This is about 50% of 2019. Considering the huge hit of’Sword of Demon Extinction’, it can be said that the success of other works after Corona was mostly difficult. Excluding animation, Japan has a lot of box office income from overseas works including Hollywood. For the time being, it is predicted that the theater will continue to have a difficult situation due to postponement of the release of foreign works.

The biggest hit of’The Blade of Demon Extinction’ may be the charm of the work itself, but the biggest thing is that the popularity of the original manga and TV series increased during the time of staying at home due to Corona, and the timing of the movie opening was exquisite during a time when many people moved It seems to be the cause.

Aya Narikawa Former Asahi Shimbun reporter
▶Aya Narikawa = He worked mainly as a reporter for the Ministry of Culture in the Asahi Shimbun, Japan from 2008 to 2017. Afterwards, he studied film at Dongguk University’s master’s course in Film and Media. Currently, he is writing about films in various media in Korea and Japan.