The first slate presentation of CinemaCon 2024 was not a look at Warner Bros. or Disney films; it was a plea for how anime may be the unheralded savior of movie theaters.
It was a wake-up moment for the Caesar’s Palace Colosseum’s worth of local and regional exhibitors who hold little interest in the Japanese art form adapted by manga but are all looking for ways to make yen.
Presenter Mitchel Berger, Crunchyroll‘s senior VP of global commerce, had a three-part plan to capture and keep his audience’s attention.
Step 1: Remind theater owners they already know the Sony-owned Crunchyroll from its “Demon Slayer” and “Dragonball” franchises, as well as Makoto Shinkai’s 2023 critical darling “Suzume.”
Step 2: Wow them with new content, including 10 minutes of the highly anticipated “Spy x Family Code: White.”
And last, but definitely not least: Inform the CinemaCon audience (which skews white, male, older, and with strong midwest representation) exactly what anime is.
OK, so perhaps that should have been first. Theater owners responded to Berger’s pitch with what’s probably best described as polite applause. The full-throated support came from the arena’s upper levels, where there were some very enthusiastic fans in the press section — especially that one guy who really likes “Fruits Basket.” Good for media coverage, but perhaps not for screen count.
After, Berger told IndieWire he believed his presentation was “very well received.”
“We’ve had a couple of titles that have done well, so I think there’s an understanding that this type of thing works at the box office,” Berger said. “What I love about theater owners and this business is — we all to some level or another understand fan culture, it’s what we’ve built this on. I think anime fan culture is a whole different level.”
There was a number in Berger’s presentation that made the main floor perk up: $37 billion, which is the 2025 projection for the anime industry in all of its forms. Crunchyroll films will represent a small — but not insignificant — portion of that. Since 2020, Crunchyroll theatrical releases in North America have grossed $217 million. Berger also stressed that though Crunchyroll is a streamer, having theatrical releases with a generous window is a key part of the business model.
“Crunchyroll can fill a theater. Whether on a Tuesday afternoon, a Thursday night, or even an opening-day Friday,” Berger told the crowd. “Crunchyroll can build the hype, too. We talk to anime fans every single day. We don’t have to fire up our fanbase for a theatrical run. They’re already fired up.”
There was a lot of talk about that passion, both during the presentation and afterward with IndieWire. Perhaps the best part? Anime fans “don’t age out,” Berger said. He told the crowd that rather than try and be “something for everyone,” they’d rather be “everything for someone.”
As the one studio that doesn’t have its own streaming service, Sony Pictures traditionally kicks off the annual Vegas event; this year, it skipped CinemaCon. Crunchyroll aimed to make up for it with several trailers and a 10-minute clip from the upcoming English-dubbed release “Spy x Family: Code White” and announced three acquisitions.
Berger also announced three acquisitions for North America (and some international territories) including volleyball anime “Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle” (May 31) and soccer anime “Blue Lock the Movie — Episode Nagi” (June 28).
“The Dumpster Battle” is already a huge hit in Japan. The anime feature earned more than 8.5 billion yen (~$57 million USD) in its first six weeks, making it the highest-grossing movie (thus far) of the 2024 Japanese box office.
For those into video games and not sports, Crunchyroll will soon announce the details and dates for its “Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom” adaptation. Berger also debuted 10 minutes of footage from “Spy x Family Code: White,” which will be released in theaters April 19. It included a telepathic little girl, a spy, a deadly assassin, and a family dog that also has its own dangerous abilities. The fans inside the press corps were delighted; exhibitor response remains to be seen.
