The Mystery of the 41-Screen-a-Day High-Rotation Screenings of the 'Chiikawa' Movie
The movie 'Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island' (2026, Japan), released on July 24th, is being shown an incredible number of times.
At TOHO Cinemas Ikebukuro, it is being shown a staggering 41 times a day.
This is almost the same scale as the 42 screenings recorded on the opening day of the 2020 film 'Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train' at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku. However, that was under the special circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the case of 'Chiikawa,' it is reported that by the morning of the opening day, 18 out of the 41 screenings in Ikebukuro were already sold out, which is extraordinary.
It is less like a movie theater and more like the Yamanote Line timetable.
Even though there are many popular films this summer, such as 'Kingdom: Return of the Soul,' why was 'Chiikawa' given such a massive number of screening slots? Let us unravel that mystery.
◆1 The Importance of Toho as the Distributor
There are four main conditions that made the 41-screenings-a-day possible. The first is that the distributor was Toho.
Toho works with high-drawing titles like 'Detective Conan' and 'Kingdom,' making them an essential business partner for movie theaters. When it comes to a film the company is betting its future on, the number of screenings naturally increases.
Furthermore, the Toho Group owns TOHO Cinemas, one of the largest cinema chains in the country.
In fact, the most extreme case this time is the 41 screenings at TOHO Cinemas Ikebukuro. In addition, TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku has 29 screenings. TOHO Cinemas is taking the lead in supporting this high-rotation screening strategy.
The vertical integration from production and distribution to exhibition is a major strength for Toho in building its screening strategy.
◆2 The Short Runtime of 99 Minutes
The second reason is simpler. The movie's runtime is only 99 minutes.
In other words, it is physically easier to rotate. It is difficult to rotate a 2-hour and 40-minute movie, but with 99 minutes, theaters can say, 'We can fit in one or two more screenings per day.'
◆3 The Massive 'Chiikawa' IP
Of course, just being short doesn't mean any movie can be shown 41 times a day. If you showed an obscure French art film 41 times, you would have more screenings than audience members (laughs).
What is truly important is the drawing power of the Chiikawa IP.
For example, the total number of views on the official 'Chiikawa' anime YouTube channel exceeds 400 million. The high level of name recognition explains why nearly half of the 41 screenings on the first day were sold out.
That said, it is my impression that not many people could have predicted these results in advance. The massive number of screenings is also an investment by the theaters, betting on the popularity of the IP.
◆4. Eight Types of Random Bonuses
Finally, what seems to be having a subtle but significant effect this time is the theater-goer bonus.
The first wave is a 'Charm Mini Figure.' It is said that one will be distributed at random from a total of eight types.
The biggest point is that even if you buy out all the seats for the same screening, one person can only receive one bonus. In other words, if you want to complete the set, you have to enter the theater again for a different screening.
Fans buying dozens of CDs for AKB48 handshake tickets once became a hot topic, but this means that the method of throwing money at a problem to complete a collection won't work here. If you want to receive the bonus eight times, you must, in principle, enter the theater eight times.
This is where the 41 screenings come into play.
With this many screenings, you can watch it in the morning, watch it again at noon, and watch it again in the evening.
As a result, the demand from repeaters driven by the random bonuses and these high-rotation screenings are a perfect match.
◆Summary
Looking at it this way, it is clear that the high-rotation screenings for 'Chiikawa' are not just a whim, but a meticulously calculated business and product design.
The backing for this is the wealth of experience in high-rotation screenings that Toho has accumulated since 'Demon Slayer'.
It remains to be seen what kind of results this film's screening strategy will yield. Industry insiders are paying close attention to it as a litmus test for the future of the IP film business.
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The deeper continuation of this will be at the Tamachi venue starting at 7:00 PM today
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Well, when you learn about these kinds of box office and industry circumstances, movies start to look interesting in a different way.
However, the trouble is that some of these stories are a bit too raw to put into writing.
Stories that are hard to write on the internet are fine if they're live, I suppose (laughs).
So, today, Saturday, July 25th, is the once-a-year 'Interesting Movie Dojo' giant screen edition.
Not only the latest movie talk, but also the behind-the-scenes of the movie business, and even stories I've heard from industry insiders that make me think, 'Is it okay to write that?'
I'll be using the giant screen as a toy and having a full discussion with Rakugo performer Katsura Chikumon.
Everything beyond this point is exclusive to the venue.
◆Event Details----------------------------
July 25 [Sat] 19:00–21:00 (Doors open at 18:30)
[Tokyo Tamachi]
Minato City Industrial Promotion Center 11F Small Hall (4-minute walk from Tamachi Station)
Fee: 2500 yen (Please pay at the venue on the day)
Application Form
https://movie.maeda-y.com/form.htm
