Filmmakers wear face masks in a screening hall at a cinema nearly six months after it closed due to the coronavirus pandemic of July 24, 2020 in Beijing, China.
China News Service China News Service Getty Images
In a year ravaged by a deadly global pandemic, Japan’s box office set a new record.
A popular manga-based animated film called “Demon Slayer” became the highest grossing film in the history of the country, surpassing Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 “Spirited Away” album It has sold more than $ 322 million in ticket sales.
Japan, an island country in East Asia with a population of more than 126 million, has received less than 300,000 cases of coronavirus and saw only its box office receipts 46% in 2020 to $ 1.27 billion.
For comparison, the home box office fell 80% to $ 2.28 billion, as U.S. coronavirus cases have risen to 21.6 million since the outbreak began. Canada, which added the domestic box office, has seen less than 645,000 cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Japan is just one country in the Asia Pacific region of the world that has been diagnosed with coronavirus pandemic in such a way that case numbers have remained low and consumer confidence has remained high.
In places like China, Australia and South Korea, where Covid ‘s cases have plummeted, analysts and operators are seeing box offices recover and thrive.
In fact, Asia Pacific saw an increase in its market share in 2020. Although the global box office was significantly lower last year – around 70% of what it was in 2019, or around $ 12.4 billion – Asia Pacific represents 51% of ticket sales. In 2019, these countries accounted for 41%, according to data from Comscore and analyzes from Gower Street.
For comparison, in 2019, the U.S. and Canadian box office accounted for 30% of global ticket sales. In 2020, that market share fell to just 18%.
Asia Pacific has made strenuous efforts to combat the coronavirus including banning travel, setting up large-scale testing and detection detection, prescribing masks and enforcing strict rules on social distance. Whatever the approach of each country, their ability to reduce coronavirus cases and reopen their economies shows if the US can do the same, it will see results similar to.
So far, the response to the coronavirus in America has been slow and things are still climbing to historical levels, with hospitalizations and deaths also increasing.
Since August, when most theaters reopened globally, Asia Pacific has accounted for nearly 78% of the total box office worldwide.
The reason these countries have been able to kick back after the widespread closure of twin theaters, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Initially, these countries were able to bring their revolutions under control by locking down, establishing contact detection and enforcing mask orders. Reducing the number of cases and taking strict protective measures has increased the confidence of potential filmmakers.
Second, these countries had new, non-Hollywood films to release. Domestically, the box office stopped because there was no new product for audiences to see. Even when cinemas opened at limited capacity, most of the films shown were legacy titles such as “Star Wars,” “Jaws” and “Goonies.”
In Asia Pacific, studios had a steady stream of new content to lure people away from their courts. And filmmakers turned out in droves.
Two Chinese films generated more than $ 400 million at the local box office: “The Eight Hundred,” a war drama set in the 1930s, and “My People, My Homeland,” a five-part comedy film. short stories. Both of these films were released in the second half of the year.
For comparison, Sony’s highest grossing film in the US and Canada in 2020 was “Bad Boys for Life” by Sony. The action film starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence is the third film in the “Bad Boys” franchise and was released in January, before the virus began spreading in the US. It went for about $ 204 million when it ran in theaters.
No film released at home in the second half of the year showed nearly $ 100 million in collection.
Universal animated family film “The Croods: A New Age” and Warner Bros. the superhero series “Wonder Woman 1984” has both raised less than $ 30 million at home. “Tenet,” another Warner Bros. title, has been released that Labor Day weekend has not exceeded $ 60 million during its theater run.
“The road back to a normal big screen market will undoubtedly take a lot of time and a lot of patience,” Dergarabedian said. “But the lessons learned by the example of countries that have kicked back strongly over the past few months show that Covid ‘s well – managed response and engaging new films together can provide a spark. to light the box office wealth now and in the future. “
Disclosure: Comcast is the principal company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. “The Croods: A New Age” is an NBCUniversal film.