Overview: Japanese movies in 1990s

Overview: Japanese movies in 1990s

The number of movie theaters in Japan, after having decreased to approx. 1730 in 1993, began to increase mainly due to the increase of multiplex movie theaters. The number of theaters (screens) had reached approx. 2500 in 2000.

The number of attendance decreased to all-time low of less than 110 millions in 1996, and then remained in a range of 130 to 150 millions.

The yearly number of productions had increased from approx. 240 to approx. 280 in this period. The number of porn movies gradually decreased.
In 2000, it is presumed that the Top_10_movies were selected out of approx. 200 titles.

In this period, about a half of the box-office top 10 movies were animation movies, many of them being based on a popular TV animation program.

In this period, most active movie production companies were TV broadcasting companies. Terrestrial/satellite television broadcasting companies were associated with nearly 40% of the Top_10_movies in 1990s.
Thus, TV broadcasting companies had come to support Japanese movie industry both in quantity and quality. This trend has continued until today.

In 2000, Shochiku closed its shooting studio and sold the site. Around 2000, all the Japanese major movie companies had become a movie distribution company that might occasionally produce a movie.