Powered By ‘One Piece’ And ‘The First Slam Dunk,’ Toei Finishes 2022 With Best Box Office In Company History

Powered by the one-two punch of One Piece Film Red and The First Slam Dunk, Japanese studio Toei’s total box office revenue for 2022 reached a company record 32.56 billion yen (USD$246.6 million).

That obliterates the company’s previous record of 17.98 billion yen ($136.2 million at today’s exchange rate) set in 2009 when it released One Piece Film Strong World, live-action feature Mt. Tsurugidake, and two live-action films with extensive vfx – Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger the Movie: The Fateful War.

Gorô Taniguchi’s One Piece Film Red is about to conclude its Japanese theatrical run on January 29 as the most commercially successful film in the franchise’s long history. It kicked off its theatrical run on August 6 in Japan and has since grossed 19 billion yen ($147.8 million) from nearly 13.8 million admissions, both best for the Japanese market in 2022 and well ahead of Top Gun Maverick in second place.

The film has grossed another $35.5 million from markets outside of Japan, including $12.8 million in North America.

The First Slam Dunk – released on December 3 – topped the Japanese box office again over the past weekend and has made 8.28 billion yen (US$61.89 million) from 5.67 million admissions. The Inoue Takehiko-directed film is also doing well abroad and has made $7.8M in Korea, $2.3M in Taiwan, and $1.3M in Hong Kong, where it just opened this past weekend. Its global haul now sits at $73.3M.