Contrary to Global Success, Crushing Defeat in Japan
Reflecting Japan's Strong Domestic Content Consumption
Audience Turns Away Due to Criticism of Japanese Whaling Industry
[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] James Cameron's film "Avatar 2: The Way of Water," which has caused a global box office sensation, is receiving unusual evaluations in Japan due to its poor box office performance. Avatar has fallen to third place in the Japanese box office rankings, giving up the first and second places to Japanese animations. There is also an analysis that the overall critical perspective on Japan's whaling industry portrayed in the Avatar films has deterred Japanese audiences.
According to "Japan Box Office Communication," which compiles movie-related information in Japan on the 12th, the number one spot in the Japanese box office from the 6th to the 8th was taken by "The First Slam Dunk," based on a Japanese manga. The second place was Makoto Shinkai's new work "Suzume no Tojimari," and Avatar ranked third.
The difference in audience numbers clearly shows the box office gap. For the number one Slam Dunk, 319,000 people watched over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday last week, and the cumulative audience over 38 days since its release reached 5.27 million. The second-place Suzume no Tojimari also attracted 281,000 viewers over the weekend, with a cumulative audience nearing 9.13 million. While Japanese animations took both first and second places, Avatar ranked third, with 147,000 viewers over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The cumulative audience was only 1.73 million, failing to surpass the 2 million mark.
This contrasts with the atmosphere overseas, including South Korea. According to the Korea Film Council's integrated computer network, Avatar, which was released in Korea on the 14th of last month, has held the number one spot at the box office for four consecutive weeks. The current cumulative audience is 8.9 million, soon approaching the 9 million mark.
The box office success is spreading not only in Korea but worldwide. In terms of box office revenue by country, China ranked first with $188.3 million (234.6 billion KRW), followed by France ($107.2 million), Germany ($92.6 million), South Korea ($85.6 million), and the UK ($69.1 million). Japan did not even make it into the top five rankings.
Of course, Japanese audiences were not initially negative about this new Avatar release. The first Avatar film recorded the highest box office success in Japan in 2009. Conscious of this, the new release was scheduled to be shown on 1,466 screens, reflecting high expectations. This is the largest number since "The Amazing Spider-Man" was screened on 1,092 screens in 2012. However, the performance after release fell far short of expectations.
In fact, this kind of "Japan-specific" phenomenon in the Japanese film industry is not new. Japan is nicknamed "the only country where the Avengers lost." When "Avengers: Endgame" caused a global sensation in 2019, it briefly reached number one but was soon pushed down the rankings by the newly released "Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet."
Various analyses have emerged within the Japanese film industry regarding this phenomenon. The biggest reason cited is Japan's status as an "animation powerhouse." Japanese audiences are already familiar with domestic animation and thus have no need to consume foreign films. One film critic analyzed, "In Japan, domestic content is overwhelmingly strong. There is no room for foreign content to captivate audiences."
The issue of movie theaters was also pointed out as a cause. The media reported, "This installment applied advanced technology, doubling the frames per second, which caused some theaters to experience playback overload and interruptions," adding, "Since viewers need to seek 3D or 4D screenings instead of 2D, the entry barrier has become even higher."
Some also analyze that the poor box office performance is influenced by the Avatar film's criticism of Japan's whaling industry. Previously in Japan, a scene in Avatar showing the hunting of "Tulkun," creatures similar to whales, featured a harpoon marked with "Ilpo (日浦)," which sparked critical public opinion.
As a result, on Japanese social networking services (SNS), there has been controversy claiming that director Cameron criticized Japan's whaling industry, effectively labeling the film as anti-Japanese. In fact, on movie review pages of portal sites like Yahoo Japan, Avatar is receiving "rating terrorism." Additionally, protests from Japanese users continue on Avatar's official Twitter account.
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