Japan: The Super Mario Bros. Movie tops foreign box office in 2023
The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan has shared box office data for 2023 in Japan, revealing which were the 20 most successful movies in the country.
Unsurprisingly, the Super Mario Bros. Movie was the most successful foreign movie in 2023 in Japan, and the 2nd most successful movie overall (only THE FIRST SLAM DUNK recorded higher sales). Nintendo’s first proper foray in the movie business is a resounding success even on its home turf!
Foreign movies
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (14.02 billion Yen / $94.8 million. As of October 18th, box office revenue was at 14,000,490,640 Yen)
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (5.43 billion Yen / $36.7 million)
- Avatar: The Way of Water (4.31 billion Yen / $29.1 million)
- Fast X
- The Little Mermaid
- Elementals
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
- BTS：Yet To Come in Cinemas
- The Haunted Mansion
- Meg 2: The Trench
| Rank | Release month | Title | Box office revenue (billion Yen) | Distributor | |
| 1 | Apr. 2023 | The Super Mario Bros. Movie | 140.2 | Toho | |
| 2 | July 2023 | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning | 54.3 | Toho Pictures | |
| 3 | Dec. 2022 | Avatar: The Way of Water | 43.1 | WDS | |
| 4 | May 2023 | Fast X | 38.3 | Toho | |
| 5 | June 2023 | Little Mermaid | 34.0 | WDS | |
| 6 | Aug. 2023 | Elementals | 27.0 | WDS | |
| 7 | June 2023 | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny | 26.0 | WDS | |
| 8 | Feb. 2023 | BTS：Yet To Come in Cinemas | 25.6 | Avex Pictures | |
| 9 | Sept. 2023 | The Haunted Mansion | 21.7 | WDS | |
| 10 | Aug. 2023 | Meg 2: The Trench | 14.6 | WB | |
| 11 | May 2023 | Guardians of the Galaxy：ＶＯＬＵＭＥ３ | 13.2 | WDS | |
| 12 | Aug. 2023 | Transformers: Rise of the Beasts | 12.9 | Toho Pictures | |
| 13 | June 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | 11.1 | SPE | |
| 14 | Feb. 2023 | Titanic: James Cameron 25th Anniversary 3D Remaster | 10.9 | WDS | |
| 15 | Sept. 2023 | John Wick: Chapter 4 | 10.4 | Pony Canyon | |
Domestic movies
- THE FIRST SLAM DUNK (15.87 billion Yen / $107.3 million)
- Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine (13.88 billion Yen / $93.8 million)
- The Boy and the Heron (8.84 billion Yen / $59.8 million)
- Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny
- Godzilla Minus One
- Don’t Call It Mystery
- TOKYO Mobile Emergency Room
- Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village
- IDOLiSH7 the Movie LIVE 4bit BEYOND THE PERiOD
| Rank | Release month | Title | Box office revenue (billion Yen) | Distributor | |
| 1 | Dec. 2022 | ＴＨＥ ＦＩＲＳＴ ＳＬＡＭ ＤＵＮＫ | 158.7 | Toho | |
| 2 | April 2023 | Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine | 138.8 | Toho | |
| 3 | July 2023 | The Boy and the Heron | 88.4 | * | Toho |
| 4 | July 2023 | Kingdom 3: Flame of Destiny | 56.0 | Toho/SPE | |
| 5 | Nov. 2023 | Godzilla Minus One | 55.9 | * | Toho |
| 6 | Sept. 2023 | Don’t Call It Mystery | 48.0 | Toho | |
| 7 | April 2023 | TOKYO Mobile Emergency Room | 45.3 | Toho | |
| 8 | April 2023 | Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia | 43.4 | Toho | |
| 9 | Feb. 2023 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village | 41.6 | Toho/Aniplex | |
| 10 | May 2023 | IDOLiSH7 the Movie LIVE 4bit BEYOND THE PERiOD | 29.2 | * | Bandai-Namco Works/Bandai Namco Online/Toho |
| 11 | March 2023 | My Happy Marriage | 28.0 | Toho | |
| 12 | April 2023 | Tokyo Revengers 2 | 27.1 | WB | |
| 13 | Dec. 2022 | Fragments of the Last Will | 26.7 | Toho | |
| 14 | Jan. 2023 | The Legend & Butterfly | 24.7 | Toho | |
| 14 | Aug. 2023 | Shin Jigen! Crayon Shin-chan THE Muubii Chou Nouryoku Dai Sakusen – Tobe Tobe Temakizushi – | 24.7 | Toho | |
| 14 | Nov. 2023 | Kitarou Tanjou Gegege no Nazo | 24.7 | * | Toho |
| 17 | Dec. 2022 | Dr. Kotou Shinryoujo | 24.4 | Toho | |
| 18 | March 2023 | Shin Kamen Rider | 23.4 | Toho | |
| 18 | June 2023 | Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween – Decisive Battle | 23.4 | WB | |
| 20 | Nov. 2023 | Tonde Saitama ~ Biwako Yori Ai o Komete ~ | 23.3 | * | Toho |
| 21 | Jun. 2023 | Monster | 21.5 | Toho/GAGA | |
| 22 | Jun. 2023 | Akogare o Koeta samurai-tachi Sekai Ichi e no Kiroku | 17.9 | Asmik Ace/J SPORTS | |
| 23 | Sept. 2023 | Precure All-Stars F The Movie | 14.6 | * | Toho |
| 24 | Sept. 2023 | The Silent Service | 13.7 | Toho | |
| 25 | Dec. 2022 | Phases of the Moon | 13.0 | Shochiku | |
| 25 | Feb. 2023 | BLUE GIANT | 13.0 | Toho Lights | |
| 27 | May 2023 | Rohan at the Louvre | 12.5 | Asmik Ace | |
| 28 | Oct. 2023 | Analogue | 12.2 | Toho/Asmik Ace | |
| 29 | Nov. 2023 | Kubi | 11.6 | * | Toho/KADOKAWA |
| 30 | Sept. 2023 | Konnichiwa, Kaa-san | 11.1 | * | Shochiku |
| 31 | Dec. 2022 | THE SOLITARY CASTLE IN THE MIRROR | 10.9 | Shochiku | |
| 32 | Jan. 2023 | Ichikei no Karasu The Movie | 10.8 | Toho | |
| 33 | Sept. 2023 | City Hunter: Angel Dust | 10.6 | Aniplex | |
| 34 | Mar. 2023 | And Yet, You Are So Sweet | 10.1 | Shochiku | |
And here’s data for the whole movie business in Japan:
| 2023 | Year on Year | 2022 | ||||
| Admissions | 155,535,000 | 102.3% | 152,005,000 | |||
| Box office revenue | Total | 221,482,000,000 | 103.9% | 213,111,000,000 | ||
| Ratio | Ratio | |||||
| Domestic | 148,181,000,000 | 66.9％ | 101.1% | 146,579,000,000 | 68.8％ | |
| Foreign | 73,301,000,000 | 33.1％ | 110.2% | 66,532,000,000 | 31.2％ | |
| Average admission price | 1,424 | Yen | 101.6% | 1,402 | Yen | |
| Number of releases | Total | 1,232 | 1,143 | |||
| Domestic | 676 | 634 | ||||
| Foreign | 556 | 509 | ||||
| Number of movie theatres | 3,653 | 3,634 | ||||
