Japanese cinema is enjoying a moment of renewed visibility. A string of festival placements, booming ticket sales and smarter streaming tactics have nudged films from Japan back into global conversations—nowhere more visibly than at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, where seven Japanese titles appear across competition and side programs. That kind of presence hints at a healthier dialogue between filmmakers, festivals and global audiences.
Berlinale’s roster reads like a lively snapshot of today’s Japanese screen culture: animation sits comfortably alongside personal dramas, genre experiments and nonfiction work. In the main competition, Yoshitoshi Shinomiya arrives with A New Dawn, a formally daring animated feature. The Forum and Panorama strands favor sharper, socially aware filmmaking—Yusuke Iwasaki’s supermarket-set horror AnyMart and Takuya Uchiyama’s identity-minded Numb are good examples. Nao Yoshigai’s Masayume offers a meditative documentary take on memory and social change, while the Generation section introduces Chimney Town: Frozen in Time, a family-friendly animation that plays to children but speaks to adults as well. Berlinale Classics adds a historical layer with restored prints of Shōhei Imamura’s The Pornographers and Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Ninja Scroll, and Japan’s Hikari serves on the main jury—signals of both retrospection and forward-looking collaboration.
Back home, 2026 turned out to be a blockbuster year. Japan’s box-office hit JPY 274.45 billion (roughly $1.79 billion), a 32% rise over the previous year and beyond pre-pandemic highs, with admissions topping 188.76 million. Much of that lift came from homegrown tentpoles: Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle — Part 1 pulled in about $255 million and the Kabuki drama Kokuho made nearly $127 million and later earned an Academy Award nomination. Franchise stalwarts—Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback and Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc—added further heft, widening audiences domestically and abroad.
Anime’s global pull has shifted the economics. Overseas revenue for major titles now frequently rivals or surpasses domestic takings, giving studios more confidence to shorten theatrical exclusives and chase international windows sooner. Chainsaw Man’s release plan captures that shift: after a robust theatrical run, Reze Arc is set for a spring streaming bow on Crunchyroll. That quick handoff—extract theatrical revenue, then convert the buzz into streaming views and subscriptions—has become a common playbook.
Several forces are converging to fuel this momentum. Expanded licensing deals and a proliferation of anime-focused platforms have opened distribution routes; co-productions spread costs and accelerate timelines; merchandising and festival exposure boost global franchise value. Policy is nudging in the same direction: revisions to the Cool Japan strategy now favor projects built to travel, and marketing support is arriving earlier in a film’s life cycle.
The creative landscape itself is changing. A crop of directors from the mini-theater circuit are gaining traction with intimate, character-driven films that travel because they feel specific and lived-in, not engineered for export. At the same time, veteran auteurs—Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda among them—are mixing genres and embracing co-productions. That blend of fresh voices and established names delivers the variety that festival programmers and international buyers crave.
The central question now is whether this creative upswing can translate into sustained global audiences beyond festival acclaim. Distribution choices will matter: staged theatrical windows, thoughtful festival runs and well-timed streaming releases each play a role in building—and preserving—demand. Streaming partnerships offer the clearest route to scale, as Crunchyroll’s plan for Chainsaw Man demonstrates, but long-term success will depend on consistent curation, diverse slates and strategic marketing rather than a handful of headline-grabbing drops.
In short, Japanese cinema is not only resurging—it’s evolving. Festivals are showcasing a broader range of work, the marketplace is adapting to anime’s international strength, and creators both new and seasoned are experimenting in ways that make the country’s output feel unpredictable and worth watching.